Phase Three: Pisa, Verona, Venice

Sadly left Florence bright and early .... first stop of the day - Pisa.  Slightly disappointed. The tower itself was really cool...ya know tilted and all..but other than that... not much going on.  It is a huge tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere next to a mcdonalds.  Bunch of vendors harassing you and asians with their fanny packs making peace sign pictures (have an exact picture of that) and people looking stupid posing as if they are pushing the tower.  Of course I got my own shots in and then I was ready to peace.  Sophs ankle was hurting her from the night before...she rolled it walking off a curb...so she had to stay on the bus.  Then we got on the bus after an hour or so and headed out to verona.  ugh. so far. Got there as the sun was setting and got to see the house of Juliet...who knew such thing existed? There was a statue of her that you go up and touch her breast and it is some kind of good luck...cool?  Then dinner with contiki in a cute little restaurant.  Start with a cheese platter then Gnocchi with tomato sauce then  chicken and tomatos... o man.  Sophs ankle still really bothering her.  no va bene. (cant believe thats the first time i have used that in the blog so far haha)   Back on the bus ... venice time.  Way too much bus today...oh wait our hotel isn't actually in venice?!? ugh really no va bene.  Lets get some sleep.

Hotel is really nice but it is kind of annoying that it is not on the island... we have breakfast (coffee yogurt my fave!) then the group all hops on the train together to go to venice.  We all get on a group ferry together... where the hell are we?!?! this place is crazy... literally no real streets or cars.  Get dropped off at San Marco and take it all in.... Soph decided she had to go see a doctor cause she cant walk for her ankle...amadeo took her....the rest of us climbed the bell tower to see the view of this watery place.  Then met up with the group again for a lace and glass blowing demonstration.  The lace was pretty...i didn't know they were famous for it in venice...but the glass blowing was what was really amazing...I know Murano is the island that is famous for it but we didn't have enough time to get there... but the demonstration was really really cool...we then broke off from the group...had to pay money to use the toilet (wtf) then stopped for lunch on a small side street.  Got some great pizza and bread of course.  There is glass and masks everyone....quite the touristy place...we bought some wine (3 bottle for 9 euro best deal ever) then had to buy some cups and a cork screw... preparation for our gondola ride.  Got a gondola... couldnt open the wine...broke the corkscrew in the bottle of wine...awesome..alex then leans over to take a pic and drops her camera (with a million photos from the trip) in the venice canal. FAIL! Best worst only gondola ride ever.  hahahaha besides all that it was really pretty and cool to see the city from the canal and we laughed the whole time at our ridiculous experience.  After the ride we managed to open the wine...we sat and looked out on the canal as we drank them and reminisced on our wonderful week. Then we did what we were told is the number one thing to do in venice...but down the map, wonder, and get lost....we walked through the maze of the streets for over an hour and it was fascinating.  This place is so weird.  We got to one part of the city that was residential with little school kids playing...who lives here?!?  Then we watched the sunset over the grand canal and headed over to the train station area...met up with some syracuse kids and walked along a touristy street going in and out of the stores selling junk and more junk...Taylor bought a sailor hat.  We found a place that had like kegs of wine...they filled liters of recyclable water bottles with the wine for 1.50 !!! Amazing deal..so we walked the streets with our water bottles of wine in sailor hats hahahahha.  Went to our last italian meal... I am soooo stuffed at this point idk if my stomach can take more.  We shared friend calamari then i got pasta fagioli...yum... a man on an accordion came in and sang to us...so typical.  Then took the train home and get extremely lost...ugh not fun at all.. kind of nerve racking...but we eventually made it..thank god..soph was totally out of commission from her ankle so we all had some bonding time

next day trains planes and automobiles again.... train to the main train station...train from venice to verona...shuttle to verona airport...plane to LONDON GATWICK baby!!! Had to take Soph in a wheelchair the whole way home ..o man... at least we got to cut all the lines hahah.  Then tube to marble arch and walk home to edgware rd!! Italy was amazing but o man was it good to be back....weird that london now feels like home kinda...what a longgg day of travel...almost finished my book!

Overall the trip was absolutely amazing! I love Italy. Florence was the best.  I can't wait to go back and explore even more.  I feel so lucky and privileged that I got to have this experience and see it all. I will never forget how much fun and how fascinating it all was.

Ciao!