Hotel Terme Orvieto Abano Terme

... his school was throwing a party for the kids that go there. I had wanted to be grapes for Halloween but couldn't find balloons, and I knew it would be cold and I wasn't sure how I'd wear a jacket over my balloon grapes. John and Michael didn't dress up and Meri had a witch hat. It was sad to not go all out like I probably would have at home, but it was still fun. The party with the kids was interesting, I'm not sure why we went, even though we got ...

... Palladio), "Villa Marcello"(dated<br>1700) and "Villa Emo". This villas are also easily reachable through by<br>bicycle tracks ,which allow you to stroll around the Venetian<br>territory, enjoying both nature and art. <br><br>One of these tracks takes you also to the "Cervara's Oasy", a natural<br>Park where to enjoy the river Sile's spring and all the nature around<br>it. the guests will be hosted in an ...

... warm. Such a nice change from Vienna and Prague where we had to wear about four layers everyday. For dinner Laura took us to a part of town we didn't see where all the young people at night come to drink wine and hang out in the piazza. The pizza was delicious as was the wine. We then walked home from town on the quiet streets.<br><br>I really enjoyed my stay in Padova, I wished I had had more time to explore and wander the streets and maybe make it to Venice.

... Anyway at least I met a nice Gelato shop owner and bought some nice gelato. The hostel owners were also nice although their breakfast was pretty **** which is unusual and lousy for an international youth hostel. During the day the streets were dead but by 1700 the streets were thumping with people, it didn't feel like an out of the way place at that point. I had a nice sleep though even though the woman in the next bed was a terrible snorer.<br>

... hotel.<br>Now off to Padova...a bit of hairy driving around the lake..not because of drivers, but narrow winding roads with nowhere to go. It was a relief to hit the Autostrada, even though they are generally boring driving. It was a long drive to Padova and we were excited to finally pull up at Nadia and Claudio's. Nadia is a schoolmate of John's.......just a few years ago. After a late lunch Nadia took us into Padova and showed us ...

It turns out going in reverse with a caravan is not easy (unless your day job is truck driving). That is what I realized when I heard the "bum" while driving backward in a narrow lane of an Italian highway toll point. I hope that the repair of one tail light will not make this trip much more expensive. But we really had a beautiful day. We drove through the Alps passing a long set of long tunnels and bridges and then all the way to Venice. We are sleeping in a ...

... 10 Euros of fresh salmon and salad vs the 75 Euros we paid the night before for pizza and lasagna that even Woolies would not put on the shelves. We purchased three small water colours of Venice and two small Venetian masks on the way home with feelings that today had been quite a full and productive one. Thursday 31st May Mark and I went for an early walk through San Marco square. We headed for the Frari and produce markets before heading out to Burano and Murano. More later!

I arrived in Venice after a flight from Girona (Barcelona) to Treviso. After the 45 minute bus ride into the Piazzale Roma, I walked in the rain towards the Ferrovia train station. The directions to our hotel/hostel were down the smallest, darkest alley in Venice to a green door with a note posted on it to call Giovanni when I arrived. Given my phone didn't work ...

... and get home and find a great place to rent for about $250 a week, it seems so affordable now. The Italians are happy folk excluding the odd weirdo! We went over to the island of Lido to check out the beaches and fry ourselves for a while under the Mediterranean sun. A couple on there honeymoon one night were making fools of ...

... pizza. Cheapest eats in town, what can you do? I'm not complaining. Then it was back for more shopping. It get's dark so late here that by 3:30 I found myself looking at my watch thinking the time must really be getting on. Um,apparently not. It get's almost totally dark around 5. So I walked around a little more with the goodies I had bought and spent too much money on, but how many times are you in Venice is my reasoning. Then I stopped at various places along ...