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Great view!Today was another good day! The coach ride this morning was very quiet! We drove for about 2 hours before making our service stop….IN ITALY!!! Hooray, Italy!
We got to the docks of Venice around 1pm. We had to wait for a while for our transport to arrive to pick us up. Apparently that’s how things work around there- people do what they want, when they want. It seems to be a pretty corrupt area, according to Paul. You have to pay people off in order to get things done and get them done correctly. The boat ride in was really nice. Paul gave us a bit of a background while we were riding to the city, then gave us a brief walking tour of St. Mark’s Square before we went to our Venetian glass blowing demonstration. After the demonstration, we had the day to ourselves.
I spent the day wandering around with James. We did some shopping, as he loves his fashion. We shopped for a bit, then just wandered around the town. We didn’t have a final destination or a plan, so we just walked. Paul's advice for Venice was to "just get lost," so we did
just that. We had a map, but only used it to find our group at meeting time. We actually ran into several dead ends! It was such a nice day! I think my favorite part was sitting on the edge of the city, dangling our feet over the edge of the water, licking our gelato. It was so relaxing and absolutely beautiful. It’s such a beautiful place. The buildings are amazing, and the canals are so intriguing - you never know what is around the corner! It is so easy to get lost in that place! There were so many street vendors selling artwork. You can get caricatures, watercolors, black and white, scenery…basically anything you can imagine. And it’s good, too! There are gelato shops and all sorts of food places. The scenery is amazing.
So far, these Italian people have been noticeably different than people in any other country we’ve visited. They are a lot cockier. They just have this air of superiority. They just think they are better than you. And they are very overtly sexual. The eye contact and sexual innuendos couldn’t be more obvious. It’s crazy.
Before we met up with the rest of
Me
Me in front of the canal. the group for the optional gondola ride, we grabbed a bottle of sparkling wine!!! I was in a gondola with James, Nick, Phil, Kristina, and Kevin. It was nice. We were escorted around Venice by an authentic gondolier. Our driver was kind of blah, but the ride itself was fun. We drank our wine, chatted, and just enjoyed our ride through the lovely canals (despite the odor at times).
After the gondola ride, we all went out to a pizza place for dinner. Pizza in Italy (and most European countries) is a lot different than at home. It’s not thick by any means, and any toppings you order, are just thrown in the middle of the pizza. For example, if you order ham, you’ll get a couple of slices of ham in the middle of the pizza. Likewise if you order peppers. It’s strange. Good, but strange! I had some wonderful lasagna. Mmm, it was good!
Before we got back on the boat to head back to our hotel, we had a run-in with the local street merchants! Ha ha! There are all sorts of people who sell fake designer purses and handbags. Apparently this is highly illegal,
St. Mark's
The Square and you can get in a ton of trouble if you’re caught purchasing one. They keep the purses in huge garbage bags, and have this whole system in place to notify each other if the cops are coming. Anyway, the boys were totally messing with the bag boys. It was kind of funny. James has now gotten like 4 man bags. A couple of other people on the tour purchased bags too. Who knew selling fake designer bags on the side of the street was such a lucrative business!
I am NOT going out tonight! I’m exhausted! Besides, tomorrow is Rome, so I’ve got to be good and rested!
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