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Published: August 3rd 2008
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(If you are ever in Venice and have the option, canal view or air conditioning, AC is the answer.)
Saturday morning we awoke excited for our free breakfast. (Sometimes, at real hotels, breakfast is included.) Considering the amount of peanut butter sandwiches we have been eating, free breakfast sounded great. (We bought a small jar of peanut butter in Salzburg. We have ate it daily since. It is cheap, easy and does not require refrigeration.) To make a long story shorter, we realize that crusty buns with packages of butter and jam = breakfast. Hmm. And a very sweet lady serving coffee, unsweetened hot chocolate and grapefruit juice. On the plus side, it is so bloody hot right now in Italy that the butter spread easily. Not exactly the breakfast we were looking for. We did mention that we should have brought down the peanut butter to have with the buns and jam.
We basically wandered around Venice for most of the day. It was quite nice. Lots of shopping could be done (however we don't want to carry anything else) so we did not buy anything significant.
At about 3:00, we boarded the water bus (so much
fun and we have pictures!) and headed to the train station. The train to Rome was fantastic. It was our best first class experience yet. They gave us a free (non-alcoholic) drink and hard candy. It may not sound like much but our standards are pretty low. We got into Rome around 9:00pm. I cannot even describe the train station to you. It is huge and more like a shopping mall. The subway (Metro) is right there in the basement and lots of shops. They have a huge international bookstore that I plan to hit tomorrow. Once we got to our hostel, we dropped our stuff and headed to the Trevi Fountain. It (apparently) is the thing to do at night in Rome. It was beautiful, far more impressive than expected. Best news - our room here has air conditioning.
We had a great day today. We went first to the Colosseum - very impressive. Then we headed off to the Spanish steps for a photo opt. Next to the Borghese Gallery - a private art collection, very worthwhile. Then we walked down to the Pantheon and over to the Trevi Fountain for gelato. At that point (10 hours
later), I decided to spend a bit of time relaxing at the hostel and reading up for tomorrow's Vatican trip. Sherrie is off to tour some more. She is the energizer bunny.
As previously mentioned, we are off to visit the Pope tomorrow. He won't be there (unless he heard we were coming) as he summers elsewhere. He has an entire country (yes, Vatican City is a country) and he summers elsewhere. We are not planning on anything but the Vatican tomorrow. I figure by the time we go through St. Peters and the Vatican Museum, it will be time to head for the train station. We leave for Cinque Terre around 4:00pm. It is a small area, consisting of 5 little villages along the Italian Riveria. We are very excited to relax there. There are hiking trails, kayaks and beaches. What more could you ask for! I am also meeting up Tuesday morning with a couple friends: Susy Klumpenhouwer from Listowel and Rhonda Stanley (Norwell) are travelling together and we are hooking up for the day. Should be lots of fun.
(I don't have picture of Rome yet. Sherrie has went off to buy the adapter that
we need. Hopefully they will be up soon.)
Take care,
Steph and Sherrie
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Val
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So ENVIOUS...
I so envy the two of you touring around and doing as the Romans do. I especially liked knowing that you indulged in gelato without me. It looks hot there - make sure you wear your sunscreen, ladies. It sure sounds like you are having a great time. I'm loving this whole blog thingy...keep us posted, you are doing great, Steph!