Hotel Villa Odino Quarto D'Altino

I'm just packing everything up for my cruise. Eeeee! I am so excited. And I've actually planned ahead and have four nights post-cruise booked. Look at me being on top of stuff. However, it's another budget airline situation to get me to Sicily, but at least this time I am prepared. Which I think is half the battle? At least I thought that's what GI Joe always said.

It is FREEZING in Venice. Granted, I probably don't have the right attire, but still it is cold, cold, cold ...

... Well Tilly liked a nice bracelet with gold and blue Turquoise so I said to the man we only have a small amount of lira so what price could he do it for as we were trying to work if it was a good price or not and converting Lira to Euro and then to $ we were confused well we said that we will have a look around and may come back this is when the man starting shouting in Turkish you have just broken my business and kept screaming at us so we started to walk ...

... 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 ...

... out of place but enjoyed the experience….another boat ride back up the Canal.. Not sure if we had a ticket… and then a different boat.. Again not sure about ticket to Murano Island where they make the Venetian glass…saw a demonstration on making glass figurines etc and of course visited the shop.. At this time the sun came out and it was time for the GONDOLA… another great experience with carlos the (never shut up - even ...

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

... the run up to christmas it was very festive with lots of Father Christmas's wandering about giving out sweets. Its such a beautiful place to just wander about. We also took a trip out to Murano to see where the glass comes from. Had a lovely day there with a visit to one of the factories and got to see a glass horse being made. We had a lovely christmas. Luckily Father Christmas found us and we got some great presents. The girls got new bikes ...

... to be out on the water. It was such a unique place and SO beautiful! The Piazzas and churches were elegant...but even church entrance was by water. The Grand Canal was an awesome site, also. We were going for a gondola ride, but the 100euro price for 25 minutes sent us to a great dinner instead. And of course, gelato for dessert! YUM! From Cheryl: To me Venice was a maze of waterways ...

... of you at ONE security check it gets on your nerves a tad. Luckily they opened another security check before we all went mad and got to the waiting area where we had a toasted panini before boarding the plane that was half an hour late. If you ever come to England and fly Ryan Air anywhere, people are so used to them being late they always add 15 mins at least to their printed times. Oh well, even after paying the additional uss fares and the overweight fee, it was still a ...

... went * did * bunch of l*undry, *nd Ry*n *nd I*n hike through the next 3 vill*ges. L*te th*t's *fternoon, we spent * few hours b*cking up our photos onto CDs. Th*t process is so expensive. I spent *t le*st $50 getting th*t done. I*n got his c*mer* stolen the night before so I didn't w*nt to risk it. I uplo*ded some pictures, but th*t cost me me *nother $15 for 300 pictures. I h*ve so m*ny more to uplo*d. I *m going to * f*mily friends house th*t lives ...

... Venice when we arrived, and apparently there's NEVER snow in Venice. (something about the air currents and the canals..) I think the weather hates us. haha We took a day trip day to the island of Murano, where they make and blow glass. It was really nice..and very cool to see them making the glass vases. We've also eaten our fair share of gelato and pizza..mmm... So, yes..the trip is still going great. Hope you are all well. Sarah