Day 6-Venice, Italy

This morning it was back on the coach for some travel time to Venice; we went straight to the hotel to drop off our stuff so we could get the ferry to take us over to the city of canals. We, like most tourists, stay off the actual island of Venice because it is so tiny. I had been to Venice years ago as a kid and it was weird how familiar things were on the ferry ride over. First Ryan took us past the famous Bridge of Sighs then to St. Mark’s square, which would be our meeting place for later. After a crazy night in Florence I was ready for a relaxing stroll through Venice.

For lunch we just got some take away of paninis and pizza so we could wander, but when we ended up in a dead end we stopped to finish off our lunch as well. We hung around St. Mark's Square for a while with all the crazy pigeons. When James saw a kid walking around with a pigeon on his head James was determined to get on too. After a bag of food and like 15 minutes later, James finally got a pigeon to jump on his head for a few seconds, haha. Of course souvenir shopping took place; Jen and Desiree got great Venetian masks with these really long Pinocchio noses. I stopped along the way at an ATM to pick up some more Euros for the rest of the trip. **Travel Tip: When taking money out of the ATM if your card is rejected more than once, then move to a new machine because the ATM could eat your card, and then you’re out of luck.** Shopping makes people hungry so we stopped to fill up on gelato, which is amazing and I will miss it dearly when we leave Italy tomorrow.

After walking through Venice it was time for a new perspective, seeing Venice from the canals. Ryan is amazing and he treated each gondola to a bottle of champagne for the ride. Jen, Dan, Desiree, Erika, James, and I were in a gondola together and tried to get our gondolier to sing, but he said only in the shower. No worries, Jen had been practicing her Italian phrases from “Ryno in your Pocket” and told our gondolier in Italian “The gondola is sinking!!” He obviously didn’t believe it but he played along and proceeded to tip us sideways almost out of our gondola. Jen and Desiree’s faces were priceless.

After our gondola rides, Ryan said we had the opportunity to see a glass blowing demonstration, which Venice is famous for. It was amazing to watch how a blob of nothing because a colorful, beautiful snail within minutes. The rest of the glass gallery was amazing, but be cautious of the “you break it, you buy it” rule. The most expensive item I saw was a 59,000 Euro chandelier!! To end our day in Venice we went to another group dinner, where we were served platter after platter of pastas and meats. We even got serenaded by a man with a clarinet. We took a ferry back to the hotel and now I’m ready to catch up on some sleep before we head to Austria tomorrow. I’m looking forward to the activities like white water rafting and mountain biking in the countryside of Austria!

Day 5-Florence, Italy

Before leaving this morning we were reminded by Ryan, that “church clothes” would be necessary if we wanted to go into some of the churches and historic places, meaning girls needed their knees and shoulders covered. This morning’s walking tour was a perfect way to start exploring Florence. Our tour started in a square with a fake David statue, which I opted to picture as the real thing, since it can take hours to see the actual David in the Academia. We finished our tour at the Duomo, which was beautiful and has two overlooks that you can climb to the top of for only a few euros. Our guide was interesting and informative; she told us all the history to appreciate Florence better.

We then had time to explore the city on our own. Luckily for Jen, Erika, Desiree and I, Dan had studied abroad in Florence, so we once again had our own personal tour guide. After grabbing bottles of water to combat the summer heat we went to the Biboli gardens. Outside the gardens was this statue with super long legs so after a few fun photos we went inside. Once in the gardens we kept running into our statue man and even more crazy sculptures. The gardens were beautiful, and something different than wandering through churches and museums. After we ran out of statues we decided to get some lunch and found this great place with air conditioning, a two-course lunch special, and a comfy couch with our table.

After a rest and maybe even a quick nap we went back into town for a leather and jewelry demonstration, which Ryan set up if we wanted to go. The girl at the leather shop was hysterical; she figured broken English would be better than speaking to us in Albanian. She told us all the misconceptions, which I previously had believed all of, and she showed us how to purchase quality leather products. Then it was on to the jewelry room, where I bought a puzzle ring, but if it ever falls apart I don’t think I will be able to get it back together, even after the demonstration. After a full day in Florence I was ready for a nap, but it was time to get ready for a big night.

Before going to our group dinner we took our official group photo at this beautiful hilltop that had the most amazing overview of the city of Florence. Dinner was in another beautiful location, and we got to meet up again with some of the Contiki groups we saw last night. To add to our Italian experience, a woman entertained us with live opera singing, and the notes she hit were amazing. I guess someone got inspired by the romantic singing because a guy on one of the other tours proposed to his girlfriend, right there at dinner. We began to dance and things when the dance floor opened us and the DJ started playing some music, the Macarena and even New York, New York. The night was just getting started because after dinner we went to Space Electronica Discoteque. Our first drinks were free and Ryan introduced us to a bartender whose specialty was Long Island Ice Teas. The start treatment continued upstairs on the dance floor when Kyle and Kevin hooked us up with the VIP room. It was amazing, I felt like a celebrity. The VIP room overlooked the dace floor with huge glass windows; we even had our own bouncer guy at the door.

After a night of drinking and dancing we took some cabs back to the hotel, but the night wasn’t over yet. Some of us got the late night munchies and Kevin found a street cart open down the block. **Travel Tip: To experience the local culture, look for locals, usually places like surrounded with locals will be popular and good to try.** Hoping for some authentic Italian street food we asked the guy what was the best thing he had, needless to say we were surprised when he said hamburgezas. So we went with the recommendation, and Kevin, Brandon, Simmy, Nikki, and I got hamburgezas. It was probably the worst hamburger I’ve ever had but it was a great way to end an amazing day and night. Tomorrow it’s off to Venice to wander alleyways and canals as we finish off the Italian leg of our tour, can’t wait!