Hotel Terme Bologna Abano Terme

... I rode around on one of the water bus boats last night for like an hour, sitting outside, freezing my **** off with a huge grin on my face.

Venice is gorgeous. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. This is one time when Vegas didn't get it quite right. You just can't replicate this place. Imagine walking down a normal suburban neighborhood, but everywhere you see cement or grass, replace it with water. It's almost impossible to imagine without seeing it, I think.
Venice, Veneto, Italy josiezim

... still alive.

We got settled back on board and thought we better have something to settle the nerves so we had a few cocktails by the pool and not much time later I ripped up the divorce papers and we were once again happily married .We enjoyed a romantic spa with 10 German kids and then fell asleep on the deck in the sun for an afternoon siesta well time was marching on and I was time to get ready for Dinner as our Dinner time was 6.30pm each night ...

... perk!) we headed out for the day. Our plan was to make our way over to a house owned by Wake Forest where 16 Wake Forest students are studying for the semester, including one of my good friends Satie and two of my sorority sisters. The house ended up being on the complete opposite side of Venice and because the streets are so confusing and hard to follow, it took us over two hours to make it to the house, but eventually we found it. The Wake Forest house is the old U.S. Embassy ...

Venice
Raining and pouring for the morning in Venice..but we braved the elements and the buses and the Italians and other tourists to head from the motel (on the mainland) into the city of Venice. We were soaked by the time we got off the bus but the “Australian Drowned Rats” (ADRs) carried on.. We somehow bought tickets for a boat trip.. And then took the wrong boat but ended up on a great trip down the Grand Canal…even in the ...

After the wedding we spent a few days in Venice before flying home. This is one of the cities I wish I could walk around without anyone else there. I am sure it is much more beautiful without the hundreds of people on every little bridge. It was a lot of fun wandering around, getting lost and then finding a place to enjoy a glass of wine.

cheers

... My wife could not believe her eyes. She would have never thought that I could organize such a surprise. A few days after we return back home with my wife always more beautiful and in love and I relaxed, with a serene mind and with the back and legs of a twenty years old fellow... oh well at least in the spirit. I have left my pain in Italy, in Abano Terme and in 6 months time I'll surely be back because thanks to the treatments and the ...

... for Diana, and underwear for me. I'm not sure how underwear qualifies as warm clothes, but it was a best-effort sort of thing. Goal 4: met, although as soon as I finish writing this blog we're going to dinner. (P.S. Food in Venice is ridiculously expensive. A cup of coffee is 5 bucks. You can surmise the other prices from that.) Goal 5: kind of met. Found Rick Steve's 2005 guide in a used bookstore, and had to content ourselves with that. I suppose it ...

... exit through the gift shop. Back to the boat to go to Burano where they make lace. All the lace items are handmade and are so beautiful. Hankies, pictures, tablecloths and napkins, blouses, scarves, capes, even skirts. Many of the houses on Burano are painted in bright colors. It's both to be able to find your house and to make it stand out. The last island was Torcello ...

... cool. The first make was ridiculous. Everyone went nuts. Then when France missed their second kick, the place went even more nuts and the people who knew soccer kind of understood that Italy was standing at history's doorstep at that moment. The final kick, drinks flew up, as did confetti, and more drinks were consumed, some with confetti in them. People were hugging and posing for pictures and taking pictures of the TV and smiling and drinking and everything you can ...

We departed Split on a huge ferry and set sail into a great sunset. Destination, Venice. We actually arrived in Chioggia which turned out to be an hour bus ride from Venice after a sweaty walk through the town to locate the bus terminal. We perhaps a little stupidly didn't have any accommodation arranged in Venice as we were arriving early and we thought as it was later in the season it wouldn't be too difficult (we later learnt Venice gets over ...