Hello from Venice!

Sorry I missed yesterday!

We ended up not being able to stay a second night at that sweet hostel. We told the guy the first night we were there that we wanted to stay a second night, and he said that he was 99% sure that it would be fine, but would check and confirm it with us. We didn't hear anything that night, so we assumed that it was fine. Yesterday morning we got up, showered, and got ready to go see the sites around Florence. On the way out we saw the housekeeper, and that's when she told us that we couldn't stay the second night because someone had already booked it. We weren't very impressed that they waited until 11:00 that morning to tell us. So they said that we could stay in another room, but it had a shared bathroom. Lowen just said that we would go somewhere else, and then they actually made an effort to find us somewhere to stay. We ended up getting a little apartment that was a few blocks away, so it ended up ok, but we didn't have internet or a big screen tv anymore. :(

Anyway, after all that it was well after lunch time, and being the type of person who loves being on schedule and being efficient, I was not impressed, especially because we only had the one day in Florence. But we walked around and saw a lot of really cool things like the statue of David, the Duoma, and a neat bridge with jewlery shops lining it and hanging off the side. It ended up being a fun day. We were finally able to find a bank that allowed us to take out money. Lowen and I were down to less than 10 euros between us, and since I had no credit cards anymore, I was getting worried! But we took out money and I'm fine again. We stopped at a nice place and had some wonderful pizza for lunch. Mine was the Marinera pizza and had only tomato sauce, garlic and oregano on it, but it was super great. By the end of the day I was exhausted! We did a lot of walking, and since we were short on time we had to walk fast! We stumbled on the pricy strip... with shops like Tiffany & Co, Rolex, Gucci, Prada, etc. We went into Tiffanies and the Rolex store and just looked around.

By the time we got back to the hotel I was pooped! I changed into the dress I bought in Greece and we went to the same restaurant we were at the night before. Once again it was wonderful.

Oh, on our way back to the hotel room we stopped and bought some laundry soap because there was a small washing machine in the room. We thought there was a dryer, too, but on closer inspection we found it was some kind of air conditioning unit. Unfortunately we discovered this after we put a load in, so we had to hang all of our wet laundry from anywhere we could find in the room. But it worked out alright; most of the stuff was dry by morning.

This morning we got up, and I wanted to shower but the water was cold :(. We got ready and stopped at a bakery before we went to the train station. We learned from our train ride from Rome to Pisa that you need to pack a lunch! We were pretty hungry by the time we reached Pisa. So today we stopped and got some sandwiches and cookies. Then we went to the train station, but the 10:37 train was full so we had to wait for the 11:37 train. This train was nicer than the one from Rome. This one we had assigned seats, and we weren't facing the people across from us and the seats were cleaner and more comfortable. It also went a lot faster and was a lot smoother. It was also more expensive, but it was nice that our trip was about 1/2 the time for about the same distance.

Once we reached Venice we found the hotel. It is actually a very large room (by European standards). We are planning on staying tonight and tomorrow night, spending the day in Venice tomorrow. After we checked in, we wandered around a little and then got some super yummy pasta. Although the portion was a little small, and both Lowen and I are hungry now. I think we will grab something on the way back to our room.

Venice is known for it's beautiful glass. There are shops all over with vases, figurines and jewlery. I already bought myself a green bracelet and a beautiful blue vase.

So the plan for tomorrow is to take a ride down the main canal on a ferry and then walk around the city back to the hotel. I am very excited to see the city!!