Wow ok! It’s been a while since I’ve had access to the internet, so here we go…

We got into Venice around noon on Monday the 29th. It was really weird- we walked out of the train station and there was a canal! Took the water bus system (an even weirder concept) to our hostel, which was on La Giudecca, a set of islands south of the main islands. So… the islands of Venice kind of look like a fish with a wave under it. We were on the wave, right on the big canal that separated us from San Marco’s square.

After checking in to our hostel and dumping our stuff, we jumped on a boat across the water. Went in to St. Mark’s cathedral, which has some really cool (if sinking and bumpy) marble floors. Took a tour of the Doge’s palace, which was really interesting but also quite huge. It took a long time. We did get to walk across the Bridge of Sighs though and go into the dungeons. That was pretty cool.

We really just wandered around after that. Had dinner at a little restaurant in a piazza with Prince playing in the background. Ah, Italy. We ended up walking through the city, over the Rialto bridge, and back down to the train station, so we took the busboat back to San Marco’s square. It was already dark at this point. The different restaurants on the square had bands outside all playing music. When I say bands, I mean like piano, violin, clarinet, etc. But it was really cool. We went from place to place trying to decide which one we liked best. And then we went to sleep because we were tired.

The next morning, we took the boatbus down the Grand Canal. We saw a fruit market off to one side and decided to get off and explore. What we didn’t realize was that next to the fruit market was the fish market. Yummy. It was actually pretty cool (I need a new adjective), if a little nasty. Everything was quite fresh. Some of it was still alive!

We had to catch our train to Verona so left Venice around noon. Verona is very small; we stored our luggage at the train station, then walked down to the city center. They have an amphitheater there that’s about the same age as the Colosseum. It’s not as big, of course, but it’s made out of rose marble and is still used today for opera and rock concerts and things. Pretty nifty.

Went over to Juliet’s house. Didn’t do it for me. For one thing, the balcony is to the inside of the courtyard, which doesn’t make any sense because everyone would have heard Romeo. And I don’t know. It was very pretty, but didn’t speak to me of Romeo and Juliet. Of course, I really don’t like that play and don’t find it to be romantic at all, so maybe I’m just being a crotchety cynic. The people that owned the house were the De Capatelo family or something like that so in the 1800s, when people saw the balcony and heard the name (kinda like Capulet, no?) they made the connection and dubbed it Juliet’s house. Never mind that she never existed. Rubbed the right boob of the statue there. It’s supposed to bring you good luck in your love life. The statue is only from the 1960s, but that boob is sure shiny already. Walked down to a pretty square with expensive restaurants… we ate lunch somewhere else. And then that was really it. There isn’t a whole lot to do in Verona. We made it back to the train station with extra time to spare, we were so ready to go.

We went back to Piacenza that night, Tuesday. It just made more sense than spending more money on another hostel or hotel. Especially since there wasn’t anything to do in Verona! And then we had Wednesday to run errands and pack and get ready to leave. Lauren left for Paris the same day I left for home.

So we spent Wednesday buying socks and groceries; rode bikes down to the train station to get Lauren’s ticket to Paris. That was an experience, since the roads are cobbled and not all the city streets have bike lanes. Bought myself some absolutely fantastic “5 fruits” juice that we’d had in Siena and drank in like 5 minutes. I only have a small carton so I have to make it last as long as possible!! Packed up all my stuff. And then that was it, really.

Left from Malpensa on Thursday morning. Got home at 6:45 pm California time on Thursday night. My parents and Hugo were there to meet me and take me out to Chinese food for dinner. Then I came home and took a shower, as I hadn’t bathed in 36 hours, and fell right asleep!

The shower was especially nice since they don’t have anything like our showers over there. At least not where I stayed. In Piacenza, you have to turn on a boiler like an hour before you want to shower if you want to have any hot water. And even then, there’s no shower curtain or anything. You just sit on a stool in the tub and the shower head thingie is on the wall next to you at eye level. And in the hostels it was just a stall with a flimsy curtain and you spent the entire time strategizing how not to get your clothes wet. And in the apartment in Rome it was a tiny little stand up stall with water that kept alternating boiling hot and ice cold with little in-between. Anyway, the point is I’d missed my shower and was glad to be back!

I’ve been running errands and things today. Woke up around 7:30 to take Hugo to get his paycheck and I’m trying not to let myself nap or anything so that I’ll be back on track with the time difference. It’s 2:30 right now and it feels like 11:30 pm for me. I’m sleepy. But I’ll survive.

It’s good to be home and I’ll see you all soon!