Falling behind...

Well we are in Prague... and the last blog post I gave you was... Rome/Cortona. The places we've been in between:

• Florence
• Cinque Terre
• Verona
• Venice
• Vienna

Now do you REALLY want me to try to catch up on that?!? I could give you a quick overview, but that's what I did on the last post about Rome/Cortona! And I'm starting to get too lazy to add pictures, but the posts really are much nicer when there are pictures. Oh my. I've been pretty good at keeping pictures up to date (somewhat) on Facebook, but to sit down and write about everything seems like so much work. On the contrast, I've been journalling regularly...

Okay fine. A quick overview. Just because I like to share our adventures. I'll even post a picture of each :)

• Florence - The whole renting a car bit was a good idea until we reached Florence. Then it proved to be a pain. We were so happy to be rid of the crazy thing. Highlight of Florence - shopping way more than we should have. Mom bought a leather jacket, we both bought shoes, presents, etc.
• Cinque Terre - Round two for me. Equally as stunning the second time around. We lucked out with a gorgeous day, and basked in the sunshine as much as possible. One thing I noticed is that as we are much closer to tourist season, a lot more shops have opened up. Despite this, we went to the same restaurant that I had gone to the last time, and ate the same dish that I ate the last time - penne with crab flesh! Amazing and delish! Finished off the day wading in the Mediterranean Sea in Monterosso.
• Verona - Finally a new city for me. Not that I don't enjoy all parts of Italy, but it was nice to have a chance to explore somewhere new. Here we saw the Verona Arena, Juliet's House and Balcony, and the Castle Bridge. Beautiful, beautiful city. Ate out in a cute, classy little restaurant tucked away in a side street called "La Groccia".
• Venice - Last stop in Italy! Turns out our hostel was a much longer walk away from the train station than we anticipated, and we were exhausted by the time we arrived. Not so much fun to walk with those big packs after all the shopping we did in Florence! Venice was as charming as always, but it was nice to see it slightly quieter than it was during Carnevale. Here we took the water bus to tour the grand canal, and saw NB (A friend and Cortona Alumni) relaxing on the side of the canal! Small world! We also started getting creative with our less-expensive meals, and bought all kinds of ingredients for a salad. Lettuce, peppers, zucchini, ham, mozzarella cheese, and a mediterranean dressing... very yummy!
• Vienna - Pictures aren't up from this one yet, so you won't get a preview on here. Sorry! To get to Vienna we had to take a three hour intercity bus from Venice to Villach - right across the border into Austria. We got to sit at the very front on the upper level of a double decker bus! Cool!! After the bus ride it was another 5 hours by train to Vienna. Long, long day of travel. The first full day in Vienna we bought concert tickets to a show in the hall where Mozart performed at the young age of six. It was an incredible concert - Mom said she almost teared up it was so beautiful. There were three violinists, one cellist, one pianist, one opera singer, and two ballerina's. So worth it. We also toured the State Opera House, which was really cool as well. Afterwards we went out to eat a typical Austrian meal at a restaurant recommended to us by the receptionist at the hostel. It was a small, intimate setting with live music and amazing food at reasonable prices. Perfect way to end a perfect evening. Day two in Vienna - we toured the Schoenbrunn Palace and Gardens. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about some of the history of the Hofburg Dynasty. And palaces are just plain cool. Afterwards we toured the MozartHaus - one of the apartments where Mozart lived during his stay in Vienna. Also the apartment he was living in when he wrote "The Marriage of Figaro". Not as cool as I'd expected, but still fun to visit. In the evening we bought standing room tickets for the Opera "Elektra". Standing room is exactly that... standing... for the entire performance. And we were silly enough to wear dress shoes. Silly girls. Regardless, it was a worthwhile experience.

Now lets all cross our fingers that it doesn't take me so long to post about Prague. Which, by the way, we've fallen in love with already. It is beautiful!!

Venice & Carnevale

Friday morning Erin and I boarded a train for Florence, to squeeze in a little shopping before we met up with the rest of our schoolmates in Venice. She found herself a leather jacket (yay!) and I found a few souvenirs/gifts that I'd been looking for. We arrived in Venice around 3pm, and immediately began shopping for the perfect masks. To learn about the origin of Carnevale, click here. I found two that I absolutely LOVE! We wandered around some more, settled into our hostels, and then ventured back out for supper. Traditional Venetian cuisine (as you may have expected, it being a sea-front city) is seafood. We ate linguini with spider crab. YUM! Friday night was pretty quiet, as the main events of Carnevale didn't start until the following night.

Saturday morning, we slowly made our way through the streets of Venice, exploring the shops along the way. Venice is best known for it's masks and it's Murano glass... so shopping was a necessity. Upon arriving in the main square, I must admit I went a little camera happy... But how could I help myself with sights like these?

I also discovered how having a dSLR causes people to automatically assume you are a professional photographer. As I was making my rounds, snapping pictures of everything beautiful, I discovered these two:

And was approached afterwards by the non-costumed gentleman to ask for my card. My card? Yes, so he could get the picture from me... Luckily a friend of his had also captured the picture and we left it at that. However, it was a curious (and slightly ego boosting) encounter.

Shortly before dinner we all headed back to our respective hostels, donned our fancier masks and dolled up for the evening. Pizza for supper, and a night of enjoying Venice festivities! This included more masquerades around San Marco square, concerts, and plenty of partying. The thing about Venice at night (as we discovered) is that it is MUCH colder... I suppose that may be due to the water. Throughout the evening I managed to earn the nickname "Little Orphan Annie". Why? I have no idea, but how could you resist such a cute face...

Sunday morning, we HAD planned to meet up back in San Marco square, where the main festivities took place. Little did we know that Sunday had even MORE celebrations than did Saturday. Not exactly a prime meeting place, we discovered it was a little like searching for a needle in a haystack. After playing "sardines" - literally (and not the version of hide and seek) for a solid hour, we gave up and headed to the train station. Luckily, most of our group had planned on the same train time and I had found my way back with around 5 minutes to spare. I'd say the entire morning counted as one of those adventures I could have gone without.

The last adventure of the weekend, and probably one of the highlights, was arriving in Camucia to see Sergio waiting.

Not for us though. Contrary to popular belief.

But, he was kind enough to offer that we could squeeze (all four of us) into the backseat of his little Mr. Bean car. Our other options were to call a taxi or wait for the bus. So we all piled in, and got very familiar with each other. Haha. The first thing I did upon arriving in the hostel was microwave my leftovers. Somehow in the rush between trains and figuring out how to get home, I forgot to eat between 10:30 am and 6 pm. Kyra was one cranky bear, at least on the inside.

Venice

This city fascinates us. Where we are staying, there are no vehicles besides boats. But how could there be? Too many bridges connecting everything! We were insistent on learning how the city was built, and how it could survive, so we irritated a few street vendors until we found what we were looking for. Venice is actually built over a bunch of islands, 120 to be exact. And to connect all the life within, there are over 400 bridges! Unfortunately, Venice is sinking. Someday everyone will move to the mainland, life will fall beneath the water, and it will be no more. As peaceful as it is, without the noise of vehicles and sirens, don't put your feet in the water - there is an open sewer system. Yuck.

While in Venice, we noticed a large amount of glass stores, and mask stores. Venice is known for it's Murano glass - and its gorgeous. Too bad it would break in the backpack... The masks are for an annual festival held in Venice. Other fun things we did: ride the water bus around Venice, saw Piazza San Marco, and rode the water bus to the small islands of Murano and Burano. Murano is where the glass comes from, Burano is fun because all the houses are different colors!