Day 12 and 13

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Amber's Journal:
Well we did it again- went to bed without writing! First I will catch up on yesterday. The first thing we did was take a boat out to the Island of Murano and toured the glass factory. Murano is very well known for its glass. There were some really cool glass candlesticks that I fell in love with but they were so expensive! Like $100 a piece! Next we took a boat to the Island of Lido, which is the island that separates Venice from the ocean. Our purpose was to hang out on the beach, which we did, and it was awesome. The beach we went to was very crowded and unfortunately had a few topless women but the ocean was beautiful, the weather was great, the sand was soft and there were lots of cool seashells. We played frisbee standing about waist deep in the ocean. It was a lot of fun! After that we went back to Venice and walked to a section of town on the edge called Santa Elenas. It's a residential, real-life, non-touristy part of Venice and I loved it. It had beautiful parks and fountains and buildings and real life stuff like playgrounds and soccer fields. I love Italians and their lifestyle, so it was fun for me. It was also cool because it is like a completely different world from the heart of Venice which doesn't have trees, parks, fields, or wide open streets anywhere. I really love Vencie as a whole and am so glad we went there. I was actually a little bummed to have to leave today. Despite the decay and sometimes broken down appearance it really is a cool city and very unique place. And it was super cool to get to play on a beach in Italy! Our hotel wasn't the coolest in the world but I'm glad we stayed there because it was cool to meet Jeff and Linda. When we left Venice this morning we drove straight to Lake Como. We had originally planned to stop in Milan and see the Duomo but it is a huge city with lots of one way streets and our GPS system sucks so we decided to forego it. Especially since we have already had such bad driving experiences in Italy. We actually got lost again this morning trying to get back on the freeway from the Mestre train station. Poor Preston. He is the one doing all of the driving so it is especially stressful for him. Also, we had to pay like $25 more in tolls today. Ugh! Driving through Como was CRAZY and the road from Como to Lezzeno is crazy as well. Very tiny and narrow with lots of tight curves. Most places barely fit 2 cars across but people com flying around the corners! I had like 4 heart attacks today. Lake Como is gorgeous though. The lake is huge and completely surrounded by mountains. The forests are more like rainforests than anything. Very lush and green! The hillsides are quite steep but there are cute little towns built into them. Our hotel, the Hotel Aurora, is awesome. Across from the hotel is their restaurant which has sliding glass doors around the whole thing and looks out over the water. The food was very good! Below the restaurant is a huge dock out over the water with a trampoline, foosball table, and beach chairs. I whooped Preston at foosball like three times in a row. It was awesome. Out in the water they have a giant water trampoline and canoes, kayaks, and bikes that you can use for free. The people are cool too. I would totally stay here again! We took a nice walk then drove down the road to Bellagio which was a cool little town. We wandered around there a bit before we came back and had dinner. We got to enjoy our great dinner looking out over the lake as the sun went down and the lights started coming on all across the lake. It's a beautiful place and definitely worth another visit.

Preston's Journal:
Last night we didn't make much time to write, but it was a great day. We started a little late, heading to the island Murano. This is where all the glass makers are. We went to the glass museum, and looked at a couple shops. The stuff made out of glass was very cool, with some crazy designs and colors, but also very expensive. From here we took the boat to Lido, the island between Venice and the ocean. This was my first experience at a beach on the ocean. It was so cool (except for the small percentage of women sunbathing with not tops). We walked around and played frisbee in the ocean, collected shells for ourselves and family, sat in the sun, and just relaxed... on the Italian beach... how cool! I'm glad Amber looked it up, because the beach was great. After this we went back to the room, changed, and headed towards the opposite side of Venice, Santa Elena. This has large parks and the residential non-touristy stuff in Venice. We enjoyed the nice walks, trees, grass, and great Italian people. This was a pretty part of town, and very different from the rest of Venice. To finish our evening we had some Italian pizza (very good) and a lazy walk back to the hotel room. This morning we left the apartment at 8 am, caught the boat, then the train back to our car in Mestre... leaving Venice behind us. Our car was safe and sound (thankfully) but had to pay 40 Euros for the parking. Getting from the lot across from the train station back out to the freeway was harder than it should have been but we finally made it. We decided not to stop in Milan because of traffic, and went straight to Lake Como. Traffic in Como was crazy, and the roads here are SO small! I'm surprised I haven't gone into the cliff, the car, or the lake yet. The lake and surrounding area, however, is beautiful. It is really nice here. The place we are staying in is very nice, at a very reasonable price. They have a good restaurant, canoes and kayaks, lake-front access, a foosball table, nice rooms, and great people. Amber and I played a few games of foosball (she beat me pretty good in 3 out of 4) then drove to Bellagio. This town is a clean, upper-class, very pretty place in the "crotch" of Lake Como. We walked around and looked at all the shops. Returning to our hotel, we had a nice dinner (dressed up even) and came back to the room. I think the meals have been more money than we had planned (especially because you can't get free water) but... guess we just have to deal with it... after all, we're on vacation in Europe. Oh, and it's strange saying Amber and I have been married for more than a year now... wow!

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