Rome and Venice

Greetings from the airport in Venice!

We finished our 2nd day in Rome as another jam packed day with tons of walking. We woke up, rode the Metro, and headed to the Vatican. Our tour was filled with all Americans and the tour guide spoke great English, so both were a plus. The Vatican was truly amazing and Mom even took one picture illegally in the Sistine chapel (which was soo beautiful). St. Peter's Basilica was also very great and after the tour we headed to the Roman Forum (closed b/4 we could get in but had great views from the outside) and the Colisseum (also closed early b/c of the winter and again great views from outside) so both of these encounters were slightly disappointing, but still very greatful to see in real life. We then moved on Circo Massimo where they held the ancient chariot races, but is now just an open field area so we had to use our imagination to hear the horses and think of the grand stands used to watch the races. Finally, we walked on to Trastevere and managed to get very frustrated and very lost at night. Our dinner that night was very good (I had true Carbonara) but the server was not very friendly. We rode the bus home and collapsed after such a long day.

Yesterday, we woke and took a taxi from the hotel to the train station in Venice. This was another frustrating part of the trip b/c the trains are meant for short trips and not to handle our large luggage. Therefore, we were unable to stow the luggage above us and had to leave it in the aisle. Someone had to stay awake constantly on the train to make sure no one messed with the luggage or took it with them at a stop. I managed to get a quick nap in while not looking at the nice Italian countryside outside, which helped to recover from the busy days so far. We passed 2 towns that were completely white with snow, so that was a great treat. When we arrived in Venice (4 hours after the start of the train ride) we had to haul all the heavy luggage through the narrow streets and over bridges to reach our hotel. Seems like yesterday was a pretty annoying day. We checked in our hotel (beautiful) and met our great tour guide (Federica) for our nighttime private walking tour. She was a great tour guide and showed us more local areas of Venice with amazing views and gave us tons of information about the city. We even took a short gondola ride across the Grand Canal for 50 cents euro each. We went to a local (tiny) restaurant and had some local fried food and wine. The tour was a great way to end the crazy day. We even saw that dogs are allowed in all buildings (including restaurants and the butcher shop).

This morning we woke up and did the touristy areas on our own including St. Mark's Square, Basilica, and the local market. We managed to get around Venice very easily, so finally we had a more relaxing day. We did some shopping for souvenirs and headed back to the hotel to prepare for our trip to the airport (to fly to Frankfurt). We had a private water taxi that stopped where we met a private bus to take us to the airport. We sure feel like celebrities sometimes! With a perfect on-time arrival at the airport we knew things couldn't end so perfectly today....therefore, we are on a 6 hour flight delay due to mechanical problems with our plane. Supposedly, as soon as they get the plane fixed, it will leave Frankfurt to come get us here in Venice and then take us back to Frankfurt. We are now using internet for 12 euro for 2 hours so this is a very pricey post. Tomorrow will be another fun-filled day with our castle tour in southern Germany.

Hope to blog again soon! Thanks for all comments :)

-Melissa