When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's amoreeee

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The journey began with meeting the bus at 6 am. I slept the entire way to Venice, I was exhausted from the night before catching up with Marissa who just got in that day! So nice to have my roomie here 😊

Arriving in Venice.. we had to take a boat over to the island. This weekend was Venice's carnival where people dress up in crazy costumes and walk around. The best way I could describe it is a giant Halloween party that lasts all day and night. Some costumes were absolutely beautiful, others a bit scary. It was soooooooooo crowded, at times miserable because you literally had to waddle your way through the tiny streets and bridges. We took a tour around the city, it was hard to listen to our tour guide because of everything going on! We saw all the gondoliers and little canals you see in the movies. It costs about 20 euro per person to take a gondola ride.. we never got too. Katie and I split calamari and a caprese salad for lunch. Then we went back to our hotel and hung out for awhile.

That night we ate at Pizzeria Trattoria de Campagne. One of the best meals I've had yet! I had a seafood pasta, tried some of Katie's lobster raviolis... AMAZING! Venice is known for their seafood. The rest of the night we walked around a bit, went into a little store and danced to that's amore! Then we caught one of the last trains back to our hotel, which was across from the train station (our hotel wasn't nearly as nice as Rome but it was clean and the breakfast wasn't bad. Nothing too special). The train ride back was a bit scary. The police were herding everyone to get on the train. We got on the train and there was a squid like looking costume.... Courtney asked if he was calarmar and he said "No.... dick" in an Italian accent. Then these other guys packed the car we were in and just started pushing... I finally pushed my way through to the next car... pissed off to young Italian girls, but an older one noticed the look on Kristin's face that she was uncomfortable... I spoke to her in Italian and she helped us all in. She was dressed as a cowgirl with pink eyelashes. The rest of the ride was fine. One of the culture shock positions where you can't really do anything about guys being weird or crowds of people pushing around... you have to just suck it up, move and deal with it.

The next morning we went to Murano and Burano. My favorites!

Murano we watched a glass blowing. We go the best seats in the place, right in front! First, the man made a traditional vase. He swirled it around, put it in and out of the fire. Then when he was done they told us not to touch, he put a piece a paper in it that instantly went up in flames! That's how hot it was! Second, the man made a horse before our eyes in a matter of seconds! We didn't have much time on the island so I just looked at all the gorgeous glasses that I wished I could afford. The best part was at the dock was seaglass in the water... guess who got some! I did! I have pretty pieces of blue and green glass.

Burano, my favorite place... reminds me of the Bahamas with all the bright color houses. This day it was warm and sunny, I couldn't have asked for a better day! We had an our to look at all the lace the island is famous for. Katie and I ran around the island went into some residential parts and looked at the houses. We go pizza quick right and ran onto the boat before it left! I wish we had more time there!

The ride back the sunset was beautiful. The sky went from purple to apricot to pink to blue...

We got back around 7 and came back to dinner made by Jon, who has been staying the week from home with Leah, it was the perfect ending to a hectic weekend. 😊

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