Plaza Hotel Padua

... it alone there. (Murray also found a barber shop to trim his beard – he had been complaining for about a week how long it had gotten!) In the meantime, I stayed back in our hotel room, enjoying a lazy morning of CNN –watching, journal writing, and maybe even a little cat-napping.

Around midday, Murray returned and we headed out (via two different vaparettos) to the Island/Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, just across the water from Piazza San Marco. Our ...

... with the rest of the parents on the sidelines.

After a quick dessert in Burano, we grabbed the ferry for the hour+ ride back to Venice (this time, we discovered on the map that if we got off at the first stop back in Venice, we could walk back to our hotel much more quickly than taking two more vaparettos to get there). We spent a few hours in our room before grabbing dinner at the local l’osteria, which we really enjoyed. We had ...

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I took the chance this time to purchase a bottle of brandy in Toronto and stored it in my carry-on. Oops! Upon arriving in Paris we were required to clear customs to connect to Venice and we only had 1 hour to drink the brandy or relinquish it to their customs department. As time allowed, we exited customs and checked the carry-on into luggage wrapping the brandy with a sweater and hoping for the best.

... is definitely the best time to visit, even if the weather is cooler. Fewer crowds make for a more pleasant experience while walking the narrow streets and bridges.

Sailing out of the city on a giant 150 ft. Windstar yacht towards Slovenia & Croatia was absolutely beautiful. We saw million dollar yachts along the main canal, St. Marks Square & the frilly exterior of Doges Palace, and the tall bell towers of the city's most important churches.

Today is my last day in Padova.  Tonight, at 10pm or so, my host father will drive me to the airport, and at 6:50am tomorrow, I'll wave goodbye to Italia.  It's funny how many people keep asking us if we're never coming back, haha. Strange.  My last Sunday in Italy.  I'm glad it's been successful thus far -- I had to buy butter, just went now at 12:30 to the supermarket, and good thing!  It ...

This morning we drove to Venice Italy past some of the best scenery of the trip... the Brenner Pass and Dolomite mountain range... it was absolutely breath-taking... sadly, I had the WORST motion sickness I have EVER had... but I got to sit at the front of the bus!!! However, trying not to be sick for several hours in extremely exhausting, so it wasnt very fun. But we made it to Venice with no embarassing roadside-sickness stops... I was relieved to get off the bus... only ...

... and most impressive church I have ever seen in my life. It had more than 10 seperate chapels attached to it, and as we entered, they were celebrating mass in Italian, which of course meant I had to record the beautiful monks singing in italian during the mass! (Got that for you Mommy) Well needless to say, its dedicated to St. Anthony, because thats where his body is.. So yea, I said a prayer to everyone over the body of St. Anthony, which is in a tremendous tomb, your even ...

... I was getting goose bumps just looking around at the buildings, the water and the gondolas... it's straight out of a fairytale book. For hours and hours, I walked around. It's so cool how there are no cars, just cobble stone streets, some so narrow, barely wide enough for one person. I eventually found myself in the famous San Marco (Saint Mark's) square. Again, I was cursing in my head. The Basilica is so stunning and all the people and pigeons in the square is also quite a sight to ...

... ride (must be done if you're in Venice) (Dean got some great little movies on his camera, the Gondolier whistled Italian tunes, just lovely) it's nice to wander through the maze of streets but all it will lead to is a hole in the pocket. As many market stalls, masks and glassware as there was I couldn't get enough of it. I'm going to collect masks! My purchases were small compared to what I wanted to spend (lucky Dean held all the cash). I bought a nice Italian leather wallet, I like ...

... ornaments and candle holders. The detailed craftsmanship really can't be described. What was most awe inspiring is the fact that St. Mark himself is buried right in the church. His remains were brought to Venice from Alexandria (Egypt). The remains were hidden in a barrel of pork in order to sneak them by the Muslim's who wouldn't want to examine a barrel of pork too closely. As we were walking by the crypt, Mark captured the magnitude of the moment by simply ...