Our Great European Christmas Vacation- Italy part 3

Our train rolled into Rome late in the afternoon on December 31 and after collecting our bags, we set off on foot for our hotel.  It wasn't a far walk, but none of the street signs matched the googlemaps directions I had taken a screenshot of, so it did take us a bit to find Hotel Colosseum.

When we finally did get checked in, we rested a bit before showering and hitting the town for dinner.  I was craving a steak and we wanted something a bit nicer for dinner, so we began our search.  Unfortunately, based on the part of town we were in, there were no steakhouses to be found (probably none in all of Italy, but who knows).  We settled on a local joint that was filled with people and the waitstaff seemed to know everyone, a good local place.

Sadly, no shot of our delicious food or the loads of people.  It was packed.  Trust me!

I ordered strip steak with mushrooms and Kevin ordered steak and mash.  Not mashed potatoes, just mash.  Poor choice for both of us!  Kevin's didn't look too bad, maybe a thin skirt steak with what looked to be mashed potatoes, which he said tasted like mac and cheese.  That was not an issue because he loves mac and cheese.  My little strips of steak were swimming in a plate of oil.  I had to stab each piece with my fork and hold it up to drip dry.  It was not appetizing at all.

As we were eating, droves of people were streaming past and heading down towards the Colosseum and the ruins, so as soon as we finished our *delicious* meal, we headed that way as well.  Of course we had to stop and purchase some 2014 flashing glasses (it wasn't Times Square, but we were ready to celebrate).  Kevin negotiated really well to get them!  We proceeded on down the road to take numerous pictures in front of the old Roman architecture.

We would have continued on to the Tiber River, which was the plan and was where the fireworks were set off from, but I just didn't feel safe.  There were hundreds of thousands of people going in a million different directions and idiots kept exploding firecrackers and pop rocks all around us.  They were loud and frightening and just made me feel so jumpy and unsafe!

As we were walking back, we noticed all of the Roman ruins were lit up with music accompaniment!  Really cool!  There were also lasers shooting off the ruins and street performers.  We walked down via dei Fori Imperiali to the end of the road towards via del Corso to check everything out and then headed back to our hotel.

About 11:00 or 11:30pm, we went up to our hotel rooftop to watch the fireworks.  They were awesome!  We could see for miles and everywhere we looked there were fireworks going off.  Of course, I couldn't catch them all with a panoramic shot, but it was amazing!  People were also setting off Chinese lanterns and they were awesome to see on fire, just lifting up over the city!  We were with an American couple on the roof and had a terrific view.  Right about midnight all of these Italians came out of nowhere and crowded the deck, getting right in front of us.  I shouldn't have been shocked since that was the theme of our entire stint in Italy!

We soon went down and off to bed.  Unfortunately, I woke in the middle of the night and got sick.  Maybe from the copious amounts of champagne I consumed.  Maybe from the questionable "steak".  Regardless, I do not recommend getting sick in a small bathroom in Rome.  I definitely hope this is not foreshadowing of how I'll spend my entire year.  Don't they say what you do New Years Eve will be what you end up doing all year?  Fortunately, it's mid-March and I haven't been sick again.  There is a stomach bug going around at work so knock on wood for me!



New Years Day we allowed ourselves to sleep in!  If I had to get sick, this was the perfect time in the trip!  Rome shuts down on New Years Day, so I already knew that none of the attractions we wanted to see were open and I had originally scheduled it as a rest/laundry day.  Neither of us really wanted to do laundry at this point, since we had so few days left in the trip, so it was a complete rest day.  We did end up venturing out around dinner time.  The roads were deserted.  Just trash from the night before.  We spent a good 30 minutes trying to figure out the metro.  The ticket machines weren't working.  There was no one on duty.  Gates were open so you could just walk on in.  I can't remember what we ended up doing, but we finally got on the metro and made our way down to the Trevi Fountain.

Here's where all the people were!  Goodness!  We both tossed a coin in for good luck and then started walking.  Leaving the Trevi Fountain, I spotted our friend from the day before in Florence.  He was in front of us in our 2 and a half hour line to climb the Duomo dome and said he would be traveling to Rome.  I tried to say hello, but he didn't hear me.  Such a small world!

Trevi Fountain

The last time I was in Rome, we ate at a really good Chinese restaurant near the Trevi Fountain and I tried in vain to find it!  I really wanted some bland rice and wonton soup.  Pizza and pasta just weren't my top picks after being in Italy that long!  I never found the restaurant, but we did end up over by the Pantheon and looked at that for a quick second before deciding on a restaurant on a side street- Hostaria De' Pastini Pizzeria.  The waiter was very nice and understood that I had an upset stomach and allowed me to order items not listed on the menu to get something bland.

After dinner, instead of braving the metro again, we just walked back to the hotel.



January 2 it was time to tackle Rome!

Our first order of business was the Vatican.  We ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed out for the metro and took it over to Vatican City.  Upon exiting the metro, droves of people were walking towards St. Peter's Square and other people were shouting at us to take their tour.  (Word of advice-if you're in my face berating me for not wanting to take a tour with you, it just re-confirms 100% that I absolutely do not want to be on a tour with you.  And telling me and others around me that I'm a typical American doesn't hurt my feelings, because, let's face the facts-that's what I am.  The Canadians you were also yelling at might have felt differently.)

The line to get into St. Peter's Basilica was so long and snaked around the entire square.  However, it moved REALLY fast!  And after our 2.5 hour wait in Florence, we were ready for anything.  We had time to read the guidebook, wave to the pope (his window faces the square) and Kevin went to find a Gatorade...maybe 30 minutes and we were in!

St. Peter's Square

We first checked out the Atrium with the famous bronze doors leading to the main church.  We admired the Holy Door, which is the door on the far right, when entering, that is only opened on Christmas every 25 years.  It won't reopen until Christmas Eve 2024.

St. Peter's in HUGE!  At least two football fields in length.  When we entered, we just stood there staring!  There's too much to take in at one time!  There are markers on the floor that show where other famous Basilicas and Cathedrals around the world fit inside St. Peter's.  Somehow, I wasn't able to spot those markers this time, but it just shows how huge it is!  If Notre Dame, the Duomo in Florence and St. Mark's can fit inside St. Peter's....you know it's big!  Coming straight from Florence, it was really cool to see more of Michelangelo's work.

Forgive the pictures...with the natural light coming it, it was hard to get clear shots!

The dome is 130 meters tall.  The words ringing the dome say, "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church." (Matthew 16:18)  And Peter is there!  Under the main alter.  I wasn't tall enough to see down there, but Kevin could and snapped some photos!  When these little old Italian ladies saw he was tall enough to take pictures down there, a few asked him to take a photo for them.  You know Kevin, he was happy to please the little old ladies!  2,000 years ago, the area of St. Peter's square, where the obelisk sits in front of St. Peter's was a chariot racecourse.  The obelisk was in the middle.  For halftime entertainment, the Romans killed Christians.  One of those was Peter, the apostle, around 65AD.  He requested to be crucified upside down because he felt he was unworthy to die as Jesus had.  His remains were buried nearby and when Christianity was finally legalized in 313AD, a church was build on this site...Peter underneath.

Back inside, we were admiring the bronze canopy that covers the main alter.  The little alter would be lost in such a huge space, but thanks to Bernini, who created the seven-story bronze canopy, you can't miss it.  It's truly the focal point.  Makes me a little upset how it came to be though!  Bernini used bronze that had been stolen and melted down from the Pantheon.  He didn't steal it.  The Barberini family commissioned the canopy and ordered the Pantheon be raided for the bronze.  Horrible!  And beautiful!

We stood in line to rub Peter's foot.  Well, the statue of Peter.  It's one of a handful of pieces of art that was part of the earlier church and people come from all over the world to kiss his toes (now rubbed shiny and smooth by all the activity they get).

Walking behind the main alter, we admired the dove window (another Bernini work) and the rest of the apse.  The apse is the area where Mass is held daily for regulars and tourists behind the main alter.  It is a church after-all.

Mass wasn't happening here, but when we walked over to the left transept to see the exact spot (according to tradition) where Peter was killed 1,900 years ago.  Mass was happening and we got in trouble for taking a picture.  Really?  Peter died here!

About this time, we saw people walking down some secret steps near the St. Andrew statue by the main alter...so we went too!  Lo and behold we found ourselves in the crypt where numerous tombs of past popes lie.  And there was Peter's tomb.  No photos allowed, but Kevin got a few and a tour guide got on him...it was the only time I thought we might get in trouble.

We couldn't get back upstairs from the crypt.  It lead us outside and we had to go back in the front doors to see the rest of the basilica.  We made it back in to check out The Pieta.  It's a statue of Mary holding the dead body of Jesus taken off the cross and Michelangelo carved it at 24 years old.  It's a masterpiece!  Unfortunately it's behind bullet-proof glass because Christmas morning 1972 a crazy guy with a hammer came in and started smashing it up.  Come on crazy people...ruining it for everyone else!

We walked along the side and stepped into a small chapel space that we think is the tomb of Pope John Paul II.

Then we checked out the rest of the left side of the church and looked at this massive nativity scene before we finally exited for good.  It was time to climb the Dome!

We could have taken the elevator for 2 extra Euros each, but we decided to walk.  Not sure if that was wise.  Probably wise, it just took a long time to walk up!  When we finally got to the roof of St. Peter's we stopped for a few pictures before climbing on up to the tip top.  The climb was much like that of the Florence Duomo except the dome was in much better condition!  Guess that's what Catholic church money will do for you!  The inside of the dome was awesome!  The letters you see from below are two meters tall each and the mosaics are phenomenal that close!

The views from the very top were great!  To see St. Peter's square leading to the street and down into Rome was cool!  As was the top of the Pantheon and the Vatican gardens!

We climbed down and ended up back in St. Peter's, but we left after snapping a picture of the Swiss guards and made a bee-line for the Vatican Museum just around the corner.  Luckily, I purchased our Museum tickets online in Florence and we had an assigned time to be there.  The line was wrapped around the block and was crazy long!  We bought a "pizza" from a snack cart and took 5 minutes to devour it before entering the museum.

I won't bore you with the Museum.  Truly, at this point we had seen so much, the goal was to get to the Sistine chapel and I didn't care about much else!  We snaked around the Egyptian rooms, took in some Greek and Roman statues, saw the "Hall of Animals" and this huge marble basin.  We looked at a huge Roman pine cone that was outside.  We saw tapestries and elaborate rooms that reminded me of the Doge's palace.  There was a whole Raphael wing that included frescoes and some works of art I studied in college in Art History...

And then, because we had been walking forever and if it took any longer, I would have collapsed, we reached the Sistine Chapel!!! (cue Hallelujah trumpets)  It was totally different than I remembered it in the past.  I guess because I was picturing a huge room the first time, when we walked in, it seemed so small.  This time, I kept telling Kevin it was so small and then when we walked in, it seemed enormous.  I shouldn't have said anything!  It was awesome to see the famous "Creation of Adam" fingers and all of the other Michelangelo frescoes.  To think that Michelangelo laid up on his back, six stories high for four years painting this room is one thing.  Then to know that it's fresco (wet plaster that is painted and then dries....if you mess up, you have to scrape the plaster off and start over) that's just crazy!

We sat down so we could read along with Rick Steves' and really appreciate each panel.  As we were sitting a lady, who seemed to be blind or crippled, was helped up on the bench beside us.  She was reaching up for this lattice screen and crying.  The people with her said something about, "maybe you'll be healed here."  It was a crazy thing, but also made me think that people really do pilgrimage here just to touch a piece of St. Peter's in hope they'll be healed.  It's like people reaching for Jesus in the Bible.  Such an unreal moment!

Unfortunately after being in awe in the Sistine Chapel, we couldn't just leave...we had the long walk back to the front doors of the Museum.  We past many papal relics and tapestries and finally, FINALLY, spotted the bathrooms and a snack bar.  We actually went outside to sit on a bench, in the rain, just to rest a bit before attempting our trek back to Rome.

Somehow we ended up back at the Pantheon and it was still open, so we popped in and took a few photos.  Pretty cool because it had rained!

Next it was time for gelato at my favorite spot-Della Palma.  They have like 150 flavors!  Delish!

Then it was back towards the hotel and we stopped for a WONDERFUL Chinese dinner.  No more Italian for me!  A couple beside us was from the states had been traveling about as long as we had.  They too couldn't bear Italian food anymore, so they were enjoying some Chinese.  They were from Florida, but the husband had actually just come from Cary, NC on business before their vacation oversees.  Small world!

Our final day of adventure started with breakfast at our hotel and then we walked down to the Colosseum for a tour.  After waiting in line for awhile just to get to the ticket booth, we learned that all of the guided tours were sold out...except one at 2:20pm.  We asked if we could buy tickets then and come back at 2:20 and miraculously, that was okay!

So, we had some time to kill and entry into the Roman Forum, so off we went.  I have to tell ya'll if you didn't already know.  I LOVE Roman history!  I took a class in college and I was hooked immediately!  The first time I went to Rome, just a year after my course, I was so pumped to share my knowledge of the ruins with my friends.  This time was no exception, except 10 years can do a number on your brain.  I remembered a lot, but thank goodness we had Rick Steves to fill in the blanks.  Regardless, my little "kid in a candy store" excitement was still there!

After hours in the forum, we stopped for lunch and rested a bit before our Colosseum tour.

The tour was awesome and I'm SO glad we paid the extra to go!!  Not only did we get to enter the "floor" of the Colosseum where the gladiators would have fought each other and wild beasts, but we were able to go down to the bowels of the Colosseum where the gladiators lived as prisoners (some of them) and where the props for these "spectacles" were stored.  It was so cool to go down there.

In addition, we were able to climb with our guide up to the topmost floor of the Colosseum (that's still safe for climbing) and get a common man's view of the arena and the surrounding ruins.

We were both exhausted and so tired of walking, but I had two last spots I needed Kevin to see.  We walked over to the Circus Maximus (where chariot races used to take place) on the far side of the Palatine Hill.  The area is completely blocked off, where last trip we could walk right down to the ruins.  But they've excavated so much, which made me REALLY happy!

Then we continued on to the Tiber Island.  It's an island that once held the ancient temple to Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine and healing.  The temple was designed to look like a ship, which you can still see today with a snake wound around a ship's mast (the symbol of medicine) in the stone.  Now it's home to a hospital.  Irony, I think not.  We got to see and walk across the Pons Fabricius (Fabricius Bridge) which is the oldest bridge in Rome and rub the noses of the quattro capi (four headed statues) that flank the bridge.  It's good luck to rub their noses, so everyone has done just that and rubbed them off.

After walking back towards our hotel, taking the wrong path and winding around the Capitoline Hill, we finally made it back to the hotel to rest a bit before heading back to our Chinese restaurant from the night before for the exact same meal.  Our American friends from the night before were there also, but when I waved, I got nothing back.  Oh well.  I saw you!  I know who you are!

Then it was back to the hotel to pack our bags for the long trip home.

We were up around 5am to take an hour taxi ride to the airport.  We flew to London and had just enough time to switch planes before it was time to take off for home.  I was so happy to get off that plane and into my house, I can't even tell you.

What an awesome trip!  I hope ya'll have enjoyed following along!

Our Great European Christmas Vacation- Italy part 2

We woke up Sunday, December 29 to more church-bells ringing and a damp, but pretty morning in Venice!  After packing up and enjoying our last breakfast at Hotel Pantalon, we walked back to the train station to catch our noonish train to Florence.

Our bags were getting heavier with trinkets and I knew our hotel in Florence was a good 20-30 minute walk from the train station, so we opted for a taxi right away!  We were at the hotel in no time-across the Ponte Vecchio bridge.  Our room was ready, so we checked in and got settled a bit before heading out.

Check out that purple bathroom!

We grabbed a pizza to-go and strolled across the Ponte Vecchio bridge.  We snaked around to Piazza della Signoria where the original statue of The David used to live.  It was moved because it was damaged and a replica stands in it's place.

We wandered over to the Duomo-Florence's Cathedral and decided it was too late in the day and the lines were too long to make that tour worth it.  So, we snapped a few photos and moved on.  

We continued on to The Galleria dell'Accademia which houses Michelangelo's statue of The David.  I remember seeing The David the last time I was in Florence, but I didn't remember the waiting in line part until we were there and the line ended at the exact spot that I picked it up last time.  It was maybe an hour and a half wait and Kevin and I took turns in line.  While I was in line reading the guide book, he spent a bit of time looking at local leather shops searching for a wallet made in Italy.

We got some of the last tickets of the day (success) and spent a bit of time touring the gallery.  Kevin snuck an illegal shot of the statue...at this point, I guess we were both pros at the sneakiness!

When we left we circled back around to the Piazza della Signoria and enjoyed some gelato as we walked back to the hotel.

The gelato shop was named Queen Victoria!

After a long day, we didn't really feel like trekking out for dinner, but we didn't want to settle on the hotel restaurant, so we walked down the street and ended up at Cafe Bellini right across from the Pitti Palace.  I had the BEST vegetable soup of my entire life and Kevin enjoyed his pasta!

Then it was back to the hotel to watch the Italian version of MTV because it was the only thing in English and by this point we were missing our native language...then off to bed!



The 30th we woke up earlier than usual and after enjoying a Florentine morning from the hotel's rooftop patio, we made a beeline for the train station.

We had tickets to Pisa!  We grabbed some breakfast at the train station and then took off.  I'm glad I brought a book with me because our train stopped numerous times on the journey and we were delayed by about an hour when we finally arrived in Pisa...I didn't care because I was enjoying my book!

Our only order of business was to get to the leaning tower and ASAP!  We arrived and took the obligatory "hold up the leaning tower" pictures before getting tickets to climb to the top.

Unfortunately, our climbing time wasn't for another 2 or so hours, so we spent some time touring the Pisa Cathedral and having lunch at Pizzeria Toscana before getting in line for our climb.

Yummy Pizza!

The climb was crazy!  With the lean of the tower, it really threw my balance off!  I expected to climb the inside like a lighthouse, but the middle is completely open.  We got out on one landing and we walked around taking pictures.  I thought we were at the top, but we weren't and we had to go higher.  When we finally reached the top, we were able to see the bells that have been used over the years for the tower.  After-all, all of these towers are the bell towers for the Cathedrals.  After a bit at the top, we were able to climb on down.

Back to the train station and back to Florence we went.

An orange tree with fruit at the end of December!  Amazing!

It was a long day and the Duomo had closed early, so we got some gelato and went back to the hotel.  Eventually, Kevin went downstairs and ordered to-go from a local shop and I ate some leftovers from lunch before we crashed!



Day 3 in Florence-New Years Eve, we woke up with a plan: Climb the Duomo Bell Tower, Climb the Duomo Dome and get to the Uffizi Galleries before we had to leave.  We packed up our stuff and checked out of our room before walking over to the Duomo.  It was so early that we were able to go straight in and climb to the top of the Bell Tower right away.

It was a BEAUTIFUL morning!

When we came down, we went to get in line for the Dome, but it hadn't opened yet.  We ended up in another line because I thought we could get to the Dome from the inside of the Duomo, but that was wrong.  So, while we were inside the cathedral, we went ahead and snapped some photos!

We ended up back outside in a line that we waited in for two and a half hours before we made it inside to climb the Dome.  Fortunately, as we were waiting, we were able to have breakfast gelato and just enjoy the atmosphere.  (Breakfast gelato was just chocolate gelato that I ate early in the morning!)  Unfortunately, it was a two and a half hour wait and it was chilly out.  We had to do calisthenics to stay warm, but then our bodies just hurt from standing for over two hours.  There was a lot of stretching going on!

We finally made it in and climbed to the top.  The climb was crazy with narrow passageways and tiny staircases all the way to the top, but the view was amazing!

Sadly, all the waiting in line forced us to miss the Uffizi Galleries, so we'll have to go back one day so I can finally tour them.

When we got down, we grabbed lunch at a restaurant on the way back to our hotel, grabbed our bags and taxied it to the train station again so we could ride to our final destination: Rome.

Our Great European Christmas Vacation- Italy part 1

December 27 we woke up super early to check out of our hotel in Interlaken and take the train to ITALY!!!  Thankfully, the staff packed us a bag of croissants to-go since we would be missing our last breakfast, so delicious!  We took the train into Milan, switched trains and then took the second one to Venice.  It's my personal opinion that ALL trains lead to Milan.  (I've probably been to Milan more than any other city in any country outside the US and I've never actually seen the city, only the train station.)

Leaving Switzerland and entering Venice

 We arrived in Venice around 2pm and spent a bit of time in the train station getting our train tickets for two days later before making the trek over bridges and down canals, past churches and graffiti-ed walls until we arrived at our hotel- Hotel Pantalon.

After dropping our bags, the first order of business was to find an ATM to pull out some Euros.  A nice man in an unnamed pizza shop directed us to the closest ATM, so of course, as a thank you to him, we doubled back and got the most delicious slices of pizza I've ever had in my life from his shop-for the most reasonable price EVER!

Fueling up for our adventures!

Then we started our exploring!  The goal was to get over to St. Mark's, so we started our journey.  Of course we had to go over the Rialto Bridge, so we stopped to snap some shots of the Grand Canal as the sun was setting.  We had our first gelato of the trip!  There were some cute Christmas shops set up along the way, so we stopped at those too.

When we finally got to St. Mark's, it was closing for the day and people were everywhere!  We took some time to snap shots of the golden mosaics on the outside and walked over to the Bridge of Sighs.

By this time it was pretty dark, so we made our way back to our hotel to find something for dinner.  We ended up across the street from our hotel at a Trattoria and had the best meal with a Liter of wine.  Yes, I just said LITER!  Kevin didn't realize how large a liter was until it arrived! E la vita!  All of that wine had us crashing early!

The following day we woke up to numerous church bells ringing all throughout Venice.  We got ready and went down for our hotel breakfast before tackling the day.  On our walk to St. Mark's Basilica, I found a shop with beautiful Venetian lace and bought a tabletop piece for my mama!  It was fun to hear what makes Venetian lace true Venetian lace.
Fortunately, we didn't have to wait in line to get into St. Mark's.  We spent a lot of time following Rick Steves' steps again and checking out all of the many golden mosaics that cover the entire church.  It is said that the body of Mark, the apostle (like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) was in Alexandria, Egypt and two visiting merchants of Venice "rescued" his body and brought it to Venice giving the city instant religious status.  Mark was made the patron saint of the city and his symbol, the winged lion is ALL OVER VENICE!  The church is said to be built over Mark's body.  However, some say that the body is really Alexander the Great's body and St. Mark's was burnt in Alexandria.  Either way...

Kevin and I paid the extra few Euros to go behind the high alter to the see the Golden Altarpiece where the tomb of St. Mark lies behind the grate, or Alexander...  Anyway, it was really cool to see it!

Next we climbed the stairs to the top of the Basilica, paid another few Euros and saw the original Bronze Horses before stepping outside to look down over Piazza San Marco and check out the replica horses.  It was a gorgeous day!

We happened to catch the 24 hour clock chiming.

When we climbed back inside, we walked through the upstairs gallery/museum before leaving the church all together.
We were famished, so we walked along the water until we found a little restaurant to eat in.  Of course we had pizza again!  After eating, we walked back over to San Marco and entered the Doge's Palace, a place I've never seen.  What an amazing home for the Doge (Duke/ruler of Venice) and the government!

We spent some time in the courtyard before walking inside and climbing the Golden Staircase to the first floor of the palace where the Doge lived.

The Doge's Palace is build onto the side of St. Mark's, so St. Mark's is the dome you see over the courtyard.  Secret entrances between the two exist!

Next it was off to the government rooms: executive, legislative and judicial rooms made for senate meetings, elections and judgements of criminals.  Pictures weren't allowed, but we snuck some again!

We saw armory and the weapons museum.

And ended with a visit to the Hall of the Grand Council which could accommodate up to 2,000 people at a time (it was huge).  Paintings of portraits of former Doges line the top of the walls in chronological order.  One Doge is "blacked out" because he opposed the will of the Grand Council, was tried for treason and beheaded.  No one wanted to remember him, so he was blacked out, but now he's the most famous!  We found ways to sneak shots even after getting reprimanded by a guard!

After leaving the Grand Council room, we wound around across the Bridge of Sighs (YES we got to walk across it) and toured the prisons!  They were dark and cold and really creepy!  I would not have wanted to be a prisoner in Venice!

When we left the Doge and his beautiful palace, we walked down by the water because I REALLY wanted a painting or print from Venice.  (I failed to buy one on my last trip and have regretted it since.)  Well, we found a guy with paintings and etchings and bought a beautiful etching for 10 Euros (a steal).  It was of a bridge and a canal, gondola included, with the St. Mark's bell tower in the background.

We started walking back to the hotel debating if we were going to take a gondola ride now or later.  We wanted to go over to Murano to see the glass blowing, but they were about to close for the day, so a gondola ride was the last "must do".  The only problem was that no gondoliers had asked us to ride and we didn't want to beg to ride and look desperate, we wanted to finagle a deal somehow.  Lo and behold, we stumbled upon a gondolier that actually asked us if we wanted to ride, no deal, but we rode.  Here's the crazy part.  You can only see the St. Mark's bell tower from one bridge and one canal in all of Venice and we happened to be on the one gondola that went under that bridge.  The etching we had just purchased was the ride we were taking.  How perfect!  It was meant to be!

After our ride, we got coffee at a little shop and I wasn't feeling so great, so we headed back to the hotel to rest for a little bit.  I was feeling a little stuffy, so we sought out a pharmacy a little later for some meds and had a fabulous dinner at Ristoteca Oniga.

It was back to the hotel to crash after a busy day.  The next morning we were off to a new spot...