Monday, June 05, 2006
I need an editor!
Yikes! So I just noticed my creative labeling of days in the last post. I think it is a good sign. Losing track of days that badly only happens on holiday, no? Donna has since fixed it and also added photos.
The delay with posting was once again caused by the inability of a hotel to provide Internet access. For 3 Euro an hour, I could use their computer but their computer doesn’t have our beautiful pictures so I opted to wait. I am struggling to get the blogger site to work on the connection we're using here in Florence so I am going to just post links to our photos at snapfish.
Saturday, June 3
Today was a travel day, and our roughest yet by efficiency standards. Due to a traffic jam in rural Germany presumably caused by its residents leaving before the crazies (see the picture Josh linked to) enter to attend the World Cup, we were set back about two and a half hours. Our final destination was Venice though we had stops planned in Innsbrook, Austria and Verona, Italy.
We stopped in Innsbrook for lunch and for a shopping stop at a famous crystal maker who Donna can tell you about. You may see one of her purchases hanging around her neck in some of the photos we have. I skipped the crystal shop and wandered around the city. Donna charged me with taking photos of “pretty stuff”. I think I did a decent job. The city is set in a valley and has a clean, beautiful river running thru it with snow-capped mountains in the background so getting post-card worthy photos wasn’t too difficult.
From Innsbrook we headed to Verona. Donna and I donned US soccer paraphernalia just to make sure the Italians know we will mean business on June 17. Unfortunately I think there were only two or three Italians in Verona. Nonetheless, we got a group photo by a statue of Juliet whose left breast is incredibly more shiny than RB (right breast). Apparently this is due to the myth that rubbing her left bosom gives you good luck in love. Donna and I left that for the others as we are quite happy with our luck so far, at least I am! She can speak for herself. We were quite pleased with the warm temperatures in Italy. It was probably close to 72 when we stepped off the bus. 72 feels pretty awesome after over a week of rainy and chilly weather, or rilly as I like to call it.
After a quick hour walking around Verona, we hopped back on the coach to head for Venice or Venezia as it is known here. We finally made it to our hotel a little before 9. The hotel isn’t in Venice—I’m not really sure where it is, Treviso maybe—but the hotel staff served us a heck of a meal so I don’t really care where it is. We had a four course Italian meal: pasta, roasted chicken, salad, and fruit. Donna skipped out on dinner to degrump after a long day on the coach. She should be well-rested for our big day on the island of Venice tomorrow.
Sunday, June 4
Bonjorno! Today was my kind of day. We were dropped off by a ferry in Venice and after watching a quick glass-blowing demo, were left to set our own agenda for the day. Donna and I took it pretty easy, moseying around the city where the only modes of transportation are boat and Pete and Tom, aka right leg and left leg. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was warm in the sun but not too warm, and perfect I dare say by the water. The pictures will show that we actually got some color in our faces today…pretty cool, eh?
This was news to me, but Venice is known for its glass and lace. Donna wasn’t into the lace and nobody wants to see me in lace, so we decided to purchase a glass vase. We also got a couple of T-shirts, one you will probably see in the pictures.
Like Verona, Venice is a city of tourists. Pretty much everyone speaks English so Donna had no trouble ordering EIGHT scoops of gelato today, four at a time. I neglected to mention that she had four yesterday in Verona. Our group is having a competition to see who can eat the most and I think Donna has eaten more than everyone else in the group combined. She is a machine. I’m beginning to think it is the only reason she planned this part of the trip. She assures me the competition has nothing to do with her eating prowess, that the attention she’s getting is a bit embarrassing.
My favorite part of today was hanging out in Campo San Marco, or St Mark’s Square.
I had planned to re-enact the “I love this woman” commercial with Donna and the pigeons; I even had a videographer/sister-in-law on standby, but alas Donna wasn’t up for it. No surprise there. I don’t think I’d have been up for it anyway, due to the sheer amount of people in the campo.
We wrapped up the evening with a six-person gondola ride and an authentic Italian meal. An Aussie couple joined the four usual suspects for the gondola ride: we had a good time cruising thru the canals of Venice.
The best part of dinner was the red wine. It put everyone in good spirits and made for an entertaining ferry then bus ride back to the hotel. The food was pretty good, but nothing too special.
Tomorrow we leave Venice and head to Florence where Donna will no doubt check out the local gelato.
I certainly hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Thanks for checking in with us. We’ll post again soon.
All the best,
Andre W.
The delay with posting was once again caused by the inability of a hotel to provide Internet access. For 3 Euro an hour, I could use their computer but their computer doesn’t have our beautiful pictures so I opted to wait. I am struggling to get the blogger site to work on the connection we're using here in Florence so I am going to just post links to our photos at snapfish.
Saturday, June 3
Today was a travel day, and our roughest yet by efficiency standards. Due to a traffic jam in rural Germany presumably caused by its residents leaving before the crazies (see the picture Josh linked to) enter to attend the World Cup, we were set back about two and a half hours. Our final destination was Venice though we had stops planned in Innsbrook, Austria and Verona, Italy.
We stopped in Innsbrook for lunch and for a shopping stop at a famous crystal maker who Donna can tell you about. You may see one of her purchases hanging around her neck in some of the photos we have. I skipped the crystal shop and wandered around the city. Donna charged me with taking photos of “pretty stuff”. I think I did a decent job. The city is set in a valley and has a clean, beautiful river running thru it with snow-capped mountains in the background so getting post-card worthy photos wasn’t too difficult.
From Innsbrook we headed to Verona. Donna and I donned US soccer paraphernalia just to make sure the Italians know we will mean business on June 17. Unfortunately I think there were only two or three Italians in Verona. Nonetheless, we got a group photo by a statue of Juliet whose left breast is incredibly more shiny than RB (right breast). Apparently this is due to the myth that rubbing her left bosom gives you good luck in love. Donna and I left that for the others as we are quite happy with our luck so far, at least I am! She can speak for herself. We were quite pleased with the warm temperatures in Italy. It was probably close to 72 when we stepped off the bus. 72 feels pretty awesome after over a week of rainy and chilly weather, or rilly as I like to call it.
After a quick hour walking around Verona, we hopped back on the coach to head for Venice or Venezia as it is known here. We finally made it to our hotel a little before 9. The hotel isn’t in Venice—I’m not really sure where it is, Treviso maybe—but the hotel staff served us a heck of a meal so I don’t really care where it is. We had a four course Italian meal: pasta, roasted chicken, salad, and fruit. Donna skipped out on dinner to degrump after a long day on the coach. She should be well-rested for our big day on the island of Venice tomorrow.
Sunday, June 4
Bonjorno! Today was my kind of day. We were dropped off by a ferry in Venice and after watching a quick glass-blowing demo, were left to set our own agenda for the day. Donna and I took it pretty easy, moseying around the city where the only modes of transportation are boat and Pete and Tom, aka right leg and left leg. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was warm in the sun but not too warm, and perfect I dare say by the water. The pictures will show that we actually got some color in our faces today…pretty cool, eh?
This was news to me, but Venice is known for its glass and lace. Donna wasn’t into the lace and nobody wants to see me in lace, so we decided to purchase a glass vase. We also got a couple of T-shirts, one you will probably see in the pictures.
Like Verona, Venice is a city of tourists. Pretty much everyone speaks English so Donna had no trouble ordering EIGHT scoops of gelato today, four at a time. I neglected to mention that she had four yesterday in Verona. Our group is having a competition to see who can eat the most and I think Donna has eaten more than everyone else in the group combined. She is a machine. I’m beginning to think it is the only reason she planned this part of the trip. She assures me the competition has nothing to do with her eating prowess, that the attention she’s getting is a bit embarrassing.
My favorite part of today was hanging out in Campo San Marco, or St Mark’s Square.
I had planned to re-enact the “I love this woman” commercial with Donna and the pigeons; I even had a videographer/sister-in-law on standby, but alas Donna wasn’t up for it. No surprise there. I don’t think I’d have been up for it anyway, due to the sheer amount of people in the campo.
We wrapped up the evening with a six-person gondola ride and an authentic Italian meal. An Aussie couple joined the four usual suspects for the gondola ride: we had a good time cruising thru the canals of Venice.
The best part of dinner was the red wine. It put everyone in good spirits and made for an entertaining ferry then bus ride back to the hotel. The food was pretty good, but nothing too special.
Tomorrow we leave Venice and head to Florence where Donna will no doubt check out the local gelato.
I certainly hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Thanks for checking in with us. We’ll post again soon.
All the best,
Andre W.
Andrew 3:59 PM
2 Comments:
Andrew, I agree that you need an editor. Due to my great knowledge of the italian language, I can tell you that it is in fact spelled "buongiorno". Nevertheless, I am still greatly enjoying your lively narration of events.
Grazie, bella.
For all the practice we do, we always seem to freeze when it comes time to put it to use. I guess this holds true with writing as well! ;-)
For all the practice we do, we always seem to freeze when it comes time to put it to use. I guess this holds true with writing as well! ;-)
