Good food, great wine, and gorgeous memories

Buongiorno from Italy. 

 

As mentioned previously, our travels prove to be endless. Not that I’m complaining. On Wednesday last week, we boarded a plane and spent the next ten hours trying to sleep. We arrived in Munich, Germany, on Thursday morning and then flew to Venice, eventually arriving at our hotel in the afternoon. 

 

I had always pictured Venice like the postcards: a cute, quaint little Italian town with narrow streets, old architecture, and picturesque gondolas floating around. I forgot that since it is right on the coast, it is very much a coastal city with boats, warehouses, and the whole industry built by the water. 

 

Don’t get me wrong, it also is the quaint European city I envisioned, but our hotel was nearer the industrial side of the city, and it was interesting to see all the boats and docks. 

 

We enjoyed Venice greatly, except for the rain that poured on us most of the one full day we were there. We did manage to tour the Venetian Arsenal museum where we learned about the history of the Venice navy. While walking near the port, we got to see a lot of old and cool boats–before it started raining. 

 

We then found a cafe and wandered around the best we could without getting entirely soaked (which we did). We even showed up for our gondola ride because we hadn’t heard anything otherwise, and there they told us to come back two hours later and try again.

 

We had already paid for the tickets, so we decided to stick around instead of walking the hour back to the hotel and calling it quits. It was raining so hard that we were the only idiots walking in the street while everyone else had found awnings, doorsteps, and alleyways to hide for the time being. Utterly drenched, we eventually gave up and went to a coffee shop where we waited out the two hours. 

 

Thankfully, the rain had stopped and the sun had even come out to say hello for the first time that day when we climbed into a gondola at 5 p.m. It was cool to glide through the water and quiet little alleys for half an hour. We even got to witness a proposal! We were passing another gondola when I noticed the guy was on his knees holding the woman’s hands and talking to her. Then lo and behold, he pulls out a ring box! She said yes and all of us in other gondolas nearby clapped. So that was sweet. 

 

We then took the high-speed train to Florence, where we stayed for two days. I had visited Florence for spring break while I was studying abroad so I took Jack around to some of my favorite places and we explored new ones together. 

 

He even booked us a pasta making class for one of the nights we were there, and we had a blast making tiramisu, ravioli, and tagliatelle while getting full use out of the unlimited wine that was advertised. What’s funny is, we even sat at a table with two other Americans, a mother and daughter, who were from Minnesota! I swear, it’s always a small world, no matter where you are in it. 

 

Needless to say, the trip so far has been filled with good food, great wine, and gorgeous memories. Now, off to Rome! 

 

My Determination: “Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.” — Leonardo da Vinci