Venice

Venice is renown for its beautiful setting, architecture and artwork - it is truly a remarkable city! It is one of Europe's most romantic cities. It is know by many names "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". I am delighted that I had the opportunity to see this extraordinary city. It is a very romantic area that would be a magnificent place to see with a significant other - I will just have to return someday when I have a significant other to go with. Venice is a fun place to go with a friend, especially after 3 bottles of exceptional wine.

After out long week of hiking in the Alps, Becky and I decided to head down to Venice for a couple of days. We made our way to Mayrahofen, where to our good luck, we found a train that was leaving for Venice in a few minutes. Unfortunately, that meant we did not have time to find a place to take a shower. We had been backpacking, had jumped into a glacier lake and had not taken a shower in 6 days, so we tried not to sit close to anyone on the train. The train ride through Italy was beautiful. When we arrived in Venice we found a reasonable hotel and took a shower. The next morning we made out way into the city and promptly found a gondola ride. After our breathtaking gondola ride through the stunning canals we were very hot, so we decided to find a nice restaurant along one of the canals for an early dinner. We ended up drinking 3 bottles of delicious wine and staying there for several hours. Our waiter was very entertaining and the more wine we had the funnier he became. On our way back to the hotel we decided to get some sweets, but we were laughing so much that they closed the store and refused to serve us. The next day we made our way back to Austria, with a small stop in Verona. All I have to say about Verona is that Juliet's Wall is not like it is in the movie Letters to Juliet.

 Our third bottle of wine :)!

I am so glad we decided to take a quick trip down to the "City of Water" - it is a uniquely beautiful area that I hope to visit again some day.

Things we learned in Italy

1. Venice is very hot and humid
2. The city of Venice is the second train stop not the first
3. Even though you have a reservation on the train your seat may be taken
4. You can't order just bread at a restaurant
5. Swimming in the canals is probably a bad idea
6. A gondola ride would be perfect with a significant other, although it is fun with a friend
7. Ambulance and police patrol on boats in Venice
8. In Venice, you can see 700 hundred year old building as well as modern bridges and buildings
9. Venice is actually a very small city
10. If you get on the train without a ticket, you may get a free ride
11. When using public restrooms, plan your bathroom breaks together to avoid paying more
12. Hotel prices may change depending on who is at the front desk
13. It is appropriate for a male to carry a man bag and wear capris and be straight
14. It is fashionable to wear pants that make you look like you are a flying squirrel
15. Look for restaurants with air conditioning
16. While your friend is in the bathroom don't take the room/light key
17. You know you've had too much wine when your contacts no longer keep things clear
18. Becky and Megan + 2 bottles of wine = giggle factory
19. Making a what we've learned list means we are in the FBI
20. When Megan is high maintenance good things happen...awesome restaurant service
21. Putting two tables together is preparing the bed.
22. Always keep lips moist just in case you need to cat whistle at hot Italian men
23. Crying after a bad phone call will get you a free class of wine from a nice server
24. After rolling off bed go back to task as if nothing happened
25. When you go into a sweet shop drunk and giggling they might close