Venice: Day 2: Gondola & St. Marcos

The lovely Diana took us all to the train station again this morning.  We wanted to take the vaperetto again so we walked kind of far away to the station that we needed to get to St. Marcos Square.  We did get to see things that we hadn't seen before so that was good.
We decided to ask about the gondola ride first thing so we knew what to expect.  We found a really nice gondolier who spoke English and gave us a good deal.  We thought we'd do it later in the day but decided to just do it then with the nice gondolier.
I thought that a gondola ride would be a lot more private, but it's not.  There are people all over the place and many other gondola's in the water.  It was still a really fun experience.  Our gondolier showed us some cool sites like where Marco Polo lived.  We went on a 45 minute ride around many different side canals and then back to the main water way.  I worried I would feel motion sick but it wasn't too bad.  We all had a really good time taking in the sites from the gondola.  What a fun experience. 

After our awesome gondola ride we went to check out St. Marcos Basilica. There was a really long line to get into the building and I was feeling a little wheezy so I decided to sit out of seeing the building.
I enjoyed people watching while they went through the church.  We could have gone up the bell tower and seen all of Venice but the line was super long for that as well.  We also didn't know if there would be an elevator.  So we decided to skip going up to the bell tower and go get some lunch.
We found a yummy lunch place and I enjoyed a good pizza.  After lunch we decided to see a couple more churches and sites on our way towards the train station.  It was super hot and we were all so tired.  So after seeing some more churches and buying a couple more gifts we were all done in Venice.
Diana wasn't able to come get us from the train station until 8:00 this night so we had a few hours before then.  We decided to take our train that we usually take into Sorrano but we took it past there all the way to the end of the line.  We were all looking forward to sitting in the cool train and taking a little nap.  We also got to see lots of farms, big houses, and even a sun flower farm.  It was all very pretty and I am glad that we did it.
After we got to the end of the line we got tickets to go back to out station where we called Diana.  She came a few minutes later and we were back in our lovely room.  We showered and finished packing before going to bed.  We had an early morning ahead of us and a good nights sleep was just what we all needed.

Venice: Day 1 - Part 3

After we got back from our awesome tour we were hungry and ready for lunch. We found us a nice restaurant and I ordered me a yummy pizza.  It is Italy after all, so pizza was exactly what I wanted.  It was really good.  Kind of spicy and delicious!
After our yummy lunch we headed out to explore Venice.
They have these amazing canals that run throughout the city.  The people who live there don't have cars they have boats.  They bring in food and supplies by boat and take out the trash by boat as well.  It was pretty interesting to see the garbage boats and how they bring in supplies to the shops and restaurants.

We did lots of shopping in the shops and just enjoyed walking around and taking in the sites.  So many old, beautiful buildings and churches.  Many cool bridges and canals.  You could definitely get lost wondering around the island taking in the sites.
We got some yummy gelato as we walked around and shopped.  We would be walking in between buildings and then they would all open up into a really neat opening.  Some would have benches, others cafe seating, and some would just be empty.  
Diana was meeting us around eight at the train station so we made our way back to the train.  We just had to call Diana once we got to our station and she came super fast.  It was a great day in Venice and we all had a great time!

Venice: Day 1: Part 2: Murano & Burano

We got on our tour boat and headed towards Murano.  It is a little island off of Venice and they are known for their blown glass.  Our tour guide took us right to this shop where we got to watch a guy make a vase and a horse.  It was really neat to see him make these things in person.  The horse was especially awesome.  At first it just looked like he was pulling randomly at the soft goo and then it magically turned into a horse and was hard as glass.  Such a fun thing to watch.  And they had a drink vending machine where they sold water for .45.  Made me very happy because it was so hot and humid.
They had so many really fancy things in their store and it was expensive stuff.  Like oh my heck that is a lot of money, expensive.  I hadn't gotten Tony a gift yet from my trip and I thought he would appreciate something from the Murano glass store.  So I got him a really nice green dolphin.  It was kind of pricey, but Tony like quality things.
After we were all done there we all got back on the boat to go see Burano.  Burano is another little island off of Venice.  This town is known for its hand made lace and also it's bright colored buildings.

We started off by watching a lady making the lace.  They sew on the outside of the fabric.  They said that it takes 7 different women to make anything in the lace because each woman masters just one kind of stitch.  So one small lace item takes like a month to make.  It was pretty interesting to watch her doing it.  They also said that she was one of the youngest lace makers they had because it's a dying art that the younger generation isn't interested in learning.

We were able to walk around that store and see all the different lace items.  They were pretty, but I didn't buy anything there.
After that store we had about an hour where we could wander around the island.  A nice lady from Chili hung out with Teagan and I as we wondered.  We saw lots of shops and then wandered around seeing all the bright colored buildings.  Our tour guide told us that they paint their house bright because when it's foggy it is easier for the fishermen to find home.  They also would paint their boats the same color as their homes.  It was really pretty.  Lots of canals and bridges on this island too.  I really liked walking around the island and I was really glad that we went on a tour.  We really learned a lot about things from our tour guide and had a really good time.

Venice - Day 1: Part 1

We had a tour set up for us to go to Murano and Burano to see the glass blowing and lace making.  We had to meet at a statue close to St. Marcos Square at 8:00 am.  We were a little stressed as to how we were going to get to the train station that early in the morning but Diana said that she would take us there.  It was super nice.
After we got to the train station we got passes to take the vaperetto to where we needed to go.  Since we were there so early in the morning we were able to enjoy Venice without a million other people roaming the streets and crowding the boat.
We got to enjoy the sunrise and all the really cool buildings while riding the vaperetto.  It is so pretty there.  Teagan and I were totally geeking out at how pretty everything was and how much fun we were having on the boat.
It really was so nice being in Venice so early in the morning.  We didn't appreciate how lucky we were until we came back from our tour and their were a million people every where. 

Sorrano, Italy

We finally made it to our Bed &  Breakfast Friday afternoon.  We were thankful to have the cab come and get us and bring us to Casa Diana.
Diana wasn't there so she just left on note on the door of which room was ours saying we could just go in and she would see us later that day.  She also left a key.
This B & B was in a neighborhood area and not much else was around that we saw.  We did see a restaurant down the street and that was about it that we could walk to.
She has three units plus her home.  We were in the outside unit that had one bedroom with a queen sized bed and bathroom plus a kitchen/dinning/family room area that had bunk beds for Teagan and I.
The room had air, which was great.  It was located in the main area so Teagan and I could feel it really good, but they couldn't feel it in the bedroom.
After we unpacked a little and rested up, we were ready for some real food.  We hadn't had more then an orange earlier that morning in the train and we were all ready for some food and water.
We walked down to the restaurant.  We were not sure when they would be opened so we took a chance hoping they were open at six, but they were not.  Their door said they opened at seven.  So we walked back to our room to wait until seven.
We came back and they were open and we were able to sit down and eat.  I got a pizza because, hello, it's Italy.  I tried a 4 cheese pizza that had some funky cheeses on it, I was not in love.  But it wasn't terrible.  They brought us some sorbet after our meal (without asking if we wanted it and then charged us for it).  It was refreshing and delicious.  The owner of the restaurant then wanted to bring us all coffee.  I told him we don't drink coffee and to please not bring it.  He thought it was really odd that we were all drinking just water and not beer.  He thought we were weird for not drinking beer either.  The water was perfect.
After we ate we went back to our rooms and got ready for the next day.  We were able to meet Diana and her daughter and they said they would take us to the train station the next morning.  We were kind of stressing about how we were going to get to the train station that early to make our guided tour reservation.  So that took away our stress and we were very grateful for the ride.
After that was all resolved we all went to bed for some much needed rest in our new place.

France to Itally

After we left the Louvre we got to a subway stop and made our way back to our hotel.  I had gotten us an Uber that was to meet us at our hotel to take us to the train station.  I didn't want to worry about taking the metro and subway with all of our luggage.
We stopped at the little grocery store and pastry shop to buy food for dinner that night and maybe breakfast the next morning while we were on the train.  My mom bought some croissants for breakfast, but they got all smashed with all the transporting we did.
Our Uber driver was crazy.  He would get mad at the other drivers and one time he even stopped and got out of his car to confront another car.  The driver of that car drove on ahead so he didn't actually talk to them, but it was pretty crazy that he did that.
We got to the train station in good time, thanks to our crazy Uber driver.  It turns out that we were there way too early.  We thought this train station would have been like the other one in London so we wanted to make sure we had lots of time.  We thought that they would have security and maybe customs because we were leaving the country.  But no, none of that.  It was the only place that we went that didn't have any sort of screening or security.  We were all very surprised.

Our time finally arrived for us to board our train.  We found where we needed to be and dragged all our luggage into our little room where we would be spending the next 14 hours of our lives.  I would love to say that it was cozy but comfortable, but I cannot.  It was not comfortable at all.  The seat back tilted in from top to bottom and it just wasn't comfortable.  I had a really hard time getting comfortable.

They were made for 4-6 people.  The head rest folded down and someone could sleep on that.  Connie slept on the bottom, my mom slept in the middle, and then Teagan slept on the very top.  I didn't feel comfortable sleeping on the bunk bed so they let me sleep on the bottom of the other side without having the middle bed down closing in on me.  I thought that was very nice of them.
We ate our baguette with butter, cheese, and ham for dinner.  I really needed a break from our room so I convinced Teagan to go to the dining car with me for a drink.  I got a 7 up and sat in booth.  I felt much better being outside of the room.  Teagan wanted to get back so we didn't stay out for very long.
After we got back we got ready to go to sleep.  I was pretty tired and hoped that I would be able to sleep okay...and I did.  It was actually more comfortable to lay down on my bench then to sit on it.  Connie and my mom woke up first and opened up the blinds to look at the country side.  I stayed laying down as long as I could before getting up and getting ready for the day.
Our train was running a little behind and got into our stop at about 9:00 am on Friday morning.  We got off our train and tried to figure out what to do from there.  Connie and my mom decided to take the train to the stop closest to our Bed & Breakfast.  They failed to make a plan on how to get from the train station to our B & B.
So we walked around to see what we could find.  We knew their was a bus station but we didn't know if they took coin or if we needed a ticket, so we tried to find out.  We found a bar and went in and asked for help.  Since we were so far away the tourist part of Venice, they did not speak English.  We don't speak Italian.  So that was fun.  He did call Diana and she told him how we take the bus to her place.
So we went to the bus station and waited the half an hour until the bus came hoping that we could pay with coins to ride the bus.  We were wrong.  We needed tickets and so the driver would not let us ride.  AND that was the last bus of the day going where we needed to go.
So we walked back to the bar and asked him to call us a taxi.  He did and we waited for the taxi for what felt like an hour.  We did meet a nice Italian girl who spoke English and she talked to us while we waited.  When our taxi got there it was so wonderful.  He had a large enough car and he took us right to our B & B: Casa Diana.  He was pricey but we didn't care, we were just so happy to finally be there.

Paris - Day 4: Arc de Triomphe & Louvre

On our last day in Paris we started out our day with eating yummy croissants from the pastry shop next door.  Delish!  Then we hopped on the metro and then took the subway to our first stop, the Arc de Triomphe.  It is a really cool arch way that they built a long time ago as part of their festivals.  It is so big that we were able to go up into and see the city.
We were not exactly sure how to get to the arc because it is in the middle of a huge round about.  They have cars and buses going around in circles in what seems like no rules or order but they all seem to do it without crashing into each other.  But they don't have any pedestrian crossing to get across the street.  We finally asked a city worker and he directed us to the underground entrance that they have to get to the arc.  So clever.
It is really pretty up close.  Lots of details all over.  They had an elevator to take us almost to the top (since Connie was having a hard time with her foot) and then their were only a short stair case to get you all the way up.
You could see so much of Paris and the surroundings from the top.  It was super cool and really showed me how much more their is to see in Paris.   Guess I will have to come back with Tony some day.
After we saw all we wanted at the arc we got on the Hop On Hop Off bus that took us to the Louvre Museum.  The bus took us all over the town and it took a good long time to get us to the Louvre, but we did finally get there.
We got off the bus a stop early so we could get some lunch.  We stopped at a little shop and got some yummy food.  I got a yummy sandwich with meat, cheese, on yummy bread.  After we ate and used the restroom, we were ready to get to the Louvre.
By the time we got their we only had about two hours before we needed to start heading back to the hotel for our luggage.  We made the most out of our time time in the Louvre by going to the main things that we wanted to see first.
First thing we did was see the Mona Lisa.  We saw many other fine paintings on our way to the Mona Lisa.  Many naked men and women.  It is always super interesting to me how many naked people are painted and sculpted from the olden days.  Why were they so fascinated with the naked body?  Interesting stuff.
I am not a big art person.  I don't have a good memory for this stuff so I really just walked around.  There were a few things that I thought looked familiar and that is what I took a picture with.  So of course, Mona Lisa.  Yes I was one of those dorks who took a selfie with the Mona Lisa.  I don't really like pictures without people I know in them, so why not stick my head in the corner?  There were lots of people trying to get close to Mona Lisa and take pictures.  You had to wait in line.  It was a little maddening.
After that we saw he headless angle statue.  She also doesn't have any arms.  I am not sure the significance but I thought it looked familiar.  I also took a picture of small sphinx.  It was in the Egypt section so I assume that it was from a pyramid.  Could be wrong.  It was interesting to me.
After we used up all our time at the Louvre we found a subway stop super close and made our way back to our hotel where we retrieved our luggage before heading to the train station.  What a fun day we already had and it was only going to get more adventurous.