7.9.09 Venice.

last gelato at grom's. so sad to leave yet in bliss cuz of the gelato.

Today was our last day in Florence, which was sad because I really did love being in Florence but I was SO excited to finally see Venice. I have always wanted to go there and I am fascinated that an entire city could be on water. We had the morning in Florence to sketch which we did and then me, Brady, and Ashlee among many others of us decided to hit up our favorite gelato place Grom’s one last time. Sadly, they didn’t open until 10:30 so we patiently waiting in a line outside the door for them to open their goodness to us. Then we headed back to the hotel and it was off to the train station to catch our train to Venice. We had about an hour before our train left so we all circled up our luggage like circling wagons for the night. Everything was just great until 3 very scary looking Italian policemen waltzed up to us and just said “passports! Passports!!” We all freaked out and just reached in our trendy money belts and I was the first to hand him my passport. He proceeded to write down all of my information from my passport as another policeman gathered the rest of the passports of the people nearest him. The first policemen then handed the 3rd guy my passport who then proceeded to walkie talkie who knows who and read him all of my info from my passport to the other guy. Not only did he read it once, but THREE times! Apparently he really wanted to make sure that I wasn’t some bomb threatening serial killer before he let me on a train to a city inside a country I was already in. Darrin came over to try and help us and told them our train was leaving in 15 minutes, but they just brushed him aside. After asking them why the heck they needed our passports, they simply answered “this normal check. This normal procedure.” My eye that is normal to just pick out random people simply sitting innocently in a train station and scare the crap out of them! Lindsey snapped a great sly shot of us getting interrogated.

one of the scariest moments of my life. i hope to never run into italian police again.

on the train to venice with a nub nub leg. check it out.

It was off on the train finally to Venice! It was about a 3 hour train ride but totally worth it once we landed in what I think is the most beautiful and breathtaking city in the world…or at least that I’ve ever been to. Honestly I was completely speechless when we landed and blown away by how incredibly elegant and beautiful the city is. Every building has charm and its own beauty and almost every window it seems has flowers spilling out of the windowsill adding to the ambience of the city. We made it to our hotel and from the outside it just looked like a really old building. As we were waiting to check in, we were right next to the canal and we peered in only to find a jellyfish! Yes there are jellyfish in the canal. I would have never guessed that but it was pretty cool although creepy at the same time. Darrin pulled us into the courtyard outside our hotel and I must input here that being in a city that has absolutely no cars or scooters or any motorized vehicle on land makes for a very clean very quiet place. We were the only people in the street and it was so peaceful just seeing the blue water right there and the buildings totally surrounding us I never want to leave. Back to Darrin though…he pulled us aside and said he had quiet announcements. He said that this was the nicest hotel we were going to be staying in and that we needed to be respectful and quiet and all that. Honestly when he said this I wasn’t really expecting anything grand since the outside was deceiving but then we walked in. I can’t begin to describe how beautiful it is so I will document it in pictures but needless to say, this place is out of this world beautiful. There are Venetian blown glass chandeliers everywhere you turn. It was just built a year ago so it is all totally new and totally beautiful. Ashlee and I are rooming together so we headed up to our room in the super chic elevator (really its that cool). We reached our floor to find upholstered walls in amazing fabrics and the coolest furniture in our hallway. The concierge opened our door for us and we both just gasped. Our room is GORGEOUS!!! Seriously the pictures will explain itself but I feel totally pampered and pretty. Really the room makes me feel pretty its that elegant.

jellyfish who greeted us upon arriving

the 5 amigos on the brige...what a lovely photo.

just a gondola comin down the river...no big deal. i love venice!

cutest picture ever! they all hang their laundry out to dry and i find it to be art.

my dinner the first night...check out the swirl on that roll

After catching my breathe from seeing the place we’ll be staying for not enough time, we all went together to the Ponte de Rialto bridge. Getting there was fun and like Darrin said, you just have to enjoy getting lost in Venice because it is so hard to get around. Around every turn is something cool and exciting and there are so many cool shops. Again I must point out how sweet it is having no vehicles on land, just people. It is a nice concept that’s for sure. We made it to the gorgeous bridge and got a great view of Venice. We were starving at this point so me, Brady, Ashlee, Lindsey, and Kaitlyn headed off to find us a solid Venetian meal. We found a nice place that was outside in a cute little piazza. I got the Cannelloni with ricotta cheese and spinach. It was great. We still wanted something for dessert and had seen crepes advertised so we found a cute little gelato and crepe shop that also had a gorgeous man who worked there. Seriously this man is pretty and Ashlee had a goal to kiss an Italian man in Italy. We got our crepes that were filled with chocolate and strawberries and were truly divine and then decided that Ashlee needed to kiss this man. Brady went in and talked to the guy and asked him if he would kiss Ashlee and he agreed. After some pushing and shoving we got Ashlee in there and they leaned over the glass and she laid one on his cheek. It was solid contact though and we tried to get him to kiss her on the lips but turns out he has a girlfriend. Too bad but still, she kissed an Italian in Venice! That was pretty much the coolest thing ever and added to our already awesome day in Venice. We were walking down the street eating our chocolaty crepe goodness when the chocolate began to drip upon my body. It dripped on my foot and kinda looked like blood so instantly I began to limp because I thought I was hurt or something. Brady noticed and began laughing and it was all downhill from there. We backed into a little alleyway and just laughed hard core forever. I was covered in chocolate and was trying not to wet myself so I was in an awkward position so that just added to our side-splitting laughter. It was a good time for sure. All in all I am in love with Venice. I never want to leave so I think I’ll move in to my hotel. Anyone want to join me? You wouldn’t regret it I promise. Its off to bed after probably the best day of my life. Buona notte!!!

ashlee kissing her italian crepe man...he really was beautiful even if this picture doesn't say so.

my little accident with the chocolate crepe. this doesn't capture the half of what happened there.

us bellas on a venetian bridge