V-necking in Venice

I am now on my way to Interlaken Switzerland which will be so different than anything we have done up to now. And Venice was a great transition to it. We visited St. Mark’s Basilica but that was basically the only sight we went to see. Our last day in Venice we got an all day bus pass, but by bus I mean boat or “aquaboos” as I prefer, so we could travel to the other islands around Venice. We went to Lido for most of the day which is the resort island. We walked on the beaches which were covered in shells which were usually whole. Then we sat down and fell asleep on the shore with the sun and the water and the wind and the sand. There was an art exhibit on the island so there were random pieces of modern art along the sidewalk. We stopped at a little café and got some fun drinks/desserts. I got a yogurt/gelato/fresh strawberry/chocolate chip dessert which was wonderfully refreshing after a day at the beach. As we were enjoying our treats there was some sort of political group marching through the streets, I couldn’t exactly tell what they stood for or what they protested but I could tell that it probably involved the legalization of marijuana…or if it was in the US it would.

That night we went to a restaurant that probably had the best atmosphere of anywhere we had gone. There vines on all the trellises, roses, fantastic lighting, and gardens. The food was good, not the best we’ve had but we’ve had some amazing food so it was still great. After dinner we went back to the mainland of Venice and hung around the main square in front of St. Mark’s where each café has live music playing, it didn’t compare to the duet the day before but was still really enjoyable.

Now we’re on our train heading for Switzerland and the Alps. We don’t have any sights to see and probably most of our time will be spent hiking, or zorbing, ice climbing maybe, parasailing, or if we wanted to spend $400 dollars we could go skydiving over the Alps…or maybe we’ll just be hiking…for free.

 

Venice = A-maze-ing

Last night when we got in we were hungry and were looking for a place to eat. As we left the hotel to search an Italian family of about ten walked out the same time and mentioned that they were looking for food too. So we joined forces and chatted as we walked the streets. The father of the family talked to us about American culture and movies and the history of Venice, but mostly involving the pollution. We found a pizza place and got our pizzas, surprisingly the onion pizza was really good. Obviously not something I would order on my own…but the onions were unexpectedly mild and added nicely to the overall flavor of the pizza.

The next day we just walked around Venice getting lost and finding ourselves again. The city was so much cleaner than any of the other places we’ve visited, I can’t even believe how much more beautiful this makes the city look and feel. Even if you don’t notice the litter in other places you are always picking up on it subconsciously and it pulls down the heart of the place. The streets were clean, and all the houses had flower boxes fill with colorful flowers and the plaster of the walls breaks away revealing the ancient bricks behind them. Oh yeah, and then you realize that you’re standing on a bridge over water that runs green through each street.

In one square in front of a church there was a classical guitar and violin duet playing piece after piece. I could have just sat there reclining on the steps of the church and listened to the music forever. It was so peaceful, even though the square was busy I could just get lost in the music. There were tons of hand blown glass shops and shops selling an amazing variety of masks for Carnival. After we got our gelato, we headed back towards the hotel but decided to get groceries before heading back to the hotel to get some sleep.