Sheraton Padova Padua

... del Ghetto and stopping to explore the Jewish Ghetto. The Jewish Ghetto in Venice is one of the oldest ghettos in Europe, and Venice has the unique distinction of literally terming the word “ghetto.” However, as many Jews know, unfortunately the practice of ordering the Jews to live in one place, locking them in at night, and forcing them to follow a certain set of rules, was not a new one.

At the entrance to the ghetto, we found an awesome ...

12.2.09 A Three-Island Tour

We were up and out of our room for breakfast a little later than usual today – because, hey, you can do that on an 11-week vacation. For breakfast, we found a place near Ponte di Rialto called "Mister Sandwich." Hah. I bought several yogurts at a grocery store on the way there (Lactobacillus acidophilus is good for my stomach!), so I had the yogurts plus an orange/hazelnut/chocolate biscuit and fresh-squeezed OJ ...

... Venice - Ferrara - Ravenna - San Marino
Oct 12: San Marino - San Leo - Urbino
Oct 13: Perugia - Assisi - Cortona
Oct 14: Siena - Bologna - Vicenza
Oct 15: Venice

On a previous trip to Europe we were advised to purchase the duty free at the connecting location. We discovered that once you are in the European Union countries, the duty free price would only apply if you are travelling to an International ...

... people-watching was great and the basilica is lovely at night. St. Mark's began to flood, and it was interesting to watch all the water from the icky canals surge into the streets.
We could tell it was high season compared to our original visit in late March. The streets were more crowded and I had no idea they could shove that many people on a vaporetto boat. Overall, it is such a unique city, and a lovely place to just wander the quiet back streets. Off ...

... sandwich or something.  Where you sip spritz!  At any reasonable time of day. I will miss the CAFFÈ.  This can't be underestimated, but I fear that I have taken it completely granted for the last few months.  After all, it's NOT hard to find good coffee here, it costs 0,90€ and you get it anywhere almost.  I didn't even realize how good it was till I ordered a cappuccino in Munich, and ...

... off to go on a gondola ride to get the the truely venetian experience. It was really neat, but I'm pretty sure it was rush hour because there was gondola's EVERYWHERE. After that we found ourselves a little restuarant for dinner (pizza and pasta of course) and then went to the Rialto bridge and took some lovely photos before heading off on to the bus again to drive to our hotel which was a fair ways away... but it was a nice hotel and we pretty much went straight to bed!!

First off, we were late getting on the road to Padua, and we had a 30 minute pit stop at a random auto grill along the highway. It was quite interesting to see all the Italians who worked their stare at the Americans in amazement. We then went to a chapel called Santa MAria Christina, which we were unable to get into except for the ...

... friend. While strolling a busy shopping street by San Marco the next day, I came across a store with an amazing window display of traditional papier mache masks. You see the masks everywhere in the tourist spots, but there was something about this shop that attracted me inside. I soon found myself chatting with the guy working there named Tomaso. We talked about the masks and my travels. We chatted a lot about India... he's been there several times and is doing social work with abused ...

... ice cold. Night had drawn it's dark curtain by the time we reached Fusina and we were all wanting a second dinner. We tried out the pizza place back at the camp ground, another mistake. We ordered two pizzas, they took ages and she brought the boys one out and it was charcoal on the bottom, so when she brought out the second one we said 'look it's charcoal we don't want that' she fobbed us off saying 'That's the way we do it round here' and was back behind the counter before we knew ...

... from Athens to Venice. The gate agent pointed out that the tickets, which we had purchased the previous afternoon, were for the previous day. It was the travel agent's error, and we didn't have to pay any penalty, but still something good to know. - When traveling by train, it's really good to know where the track for your train is located so you don't miss your train. I think this one is pretty self explanatory. It's these little lessons that keep us on our toes!