Ciao/Hallo!!!!

So we have now moved most of the way through Italy (and found yet another confusing keyboard...) as we are at our last Italian stop! We have treked through Roma, Firenze (Florence), Venezia (Venice), and Bressanone (Brixan)!!!



So. When we got to Florence, I thought we had found a little piece of heaven. I didn't think places could be as beautiful as Florence, and I fell in love instantly. Florence was a great rest stop for us; we finally decided that since we had just finished our first month of travel that we could actually start to take it easy and not just go all day everyday which is what we had been doing. We stayed at a campground type hostel which had the cheapest rooms and the best view. Honestly, we were paying next to nothing to be able to sit on the terrace of the restaurant and gaze upon the beauty that is Firenze as it opened up beneath us. Our first night there, we forgot that at night it gets colder and that we were sleeping in a tent so the air would be just as cold as it was outside... Needless to say, we froze. However the next day we were PREPARED. But Ill get to that in a bit... We woke up the next day thinking that we would head into town and look at everything Florence had to offer because that must be what the other one wants to do. We both really just wanted to take the day off and sit around, which thankfully we discovered after a wonderfully refreshing shower. (Seriously, you all have to realize how lucky you are that you get hot showers all the time... once you dont have it, you miss it so much.) Anyways, we headed back to the tent and Niki was having a little nap while I was reading the Kindle and when we were hungry and too hot from sitting in the tent in the middle of the day with the door shut we decided to just stay where we were for the day and recuperate a bit. So we headed up to the terrace for a little lunch and proceeded to play cards for the next several hours (we need a new game, crazy 8's is getting old...) and then when it was dinner time we still hadn't moved from our table, so we started catching up on our journal writing. We probably sat at that table for over 7 hours, rotating between eating, playing cards, talking, and writing. When it was finally too dark for Niki to write anymore, we remembered a very important task we needed to complete: Laundry. (another thing everyone takes for granted... Having clean laundry (jeans specifically) right out of the dryer is the best feeling in the world.) So as we did our laundry we sat and ate twix bars while watching Romeo and Juliet on Niki's ipod (a small screen but the movie had the same impact... we were very very involved in the plot.) People walking by were laughing at us as we would react to different scenes (thankfully I was able to hold back my tears until we were back in the tent... that movie/play gets me everytime.) The next morning we woke up feeling refreshed and ready for a day out on the town. Ok not really. I woke up feeling fine, Niki however was suffering from food poisoning... Awesome. But she was a trooper!!! and we headed into town anyways. We decided Florence was just too beautiful to miss. We went to the famous cathedral there, then had a bit of lunch, then walked around and got a little lost for a bit, then looked through one of the markets and finally decided it was time to head back to the hostel. Next morning we were off to Venice. We planned to take an earlier train so we could see some of Venice before having to go to bed, however it seemed everyone was headed to Venice on the same day we were. We had to book a train that was 2 hours later than we'd wanted as the 2 trains before it were booked solid! Niki was still suffering from food poisoning so at least she got to sit down and try to relax for a bit before we got on the train. Ok. I thought Florence was beautiful... and thus Im having a really hard time thinking of a describing word for Venice. It is quite possibly the most incredibly gorgeous, awe-inspiring place i have ever seen. I will be going back there one day. No matter what. Even just walking out of the train station and getting our first glimpse of the Grand Canal was breathtaking. However since it was around 6pm we decided we had better just head to the hostel (another campground) and get settled for the night. The next morning we headed back into Venice (we were about 30km outside Venice, just by the airport... their airport is called Marco Polo and made me giggle.) and decided to check out some glass blowing on the island of Murano which was a 30-40min bus/boat ride from the train station. This boat ride turned out to be a great tour of the city as it took us all along the Grand Canal before heading to various islands, and finally stopping at Murano. Sadly we didn't get the chance to see any glass blowing as we were there on a Saturday and they are only open on week days. But that didn't stop us from shopping our little hearts out and admiring the unbelievable glasswork. After a few hours of walking around we decided that we should start heading back considering the sky was darkening and it looked like a storm was a'brewin!! Apparently everyone else had the same idea at the same time... Talk about being packed in like sardines... Oh well. As we were heading back to Venice we saw a few cruise ships that were being towed through the Grand Canal (one of them was a Royal Caribbean ship that I plan to be on one day.) Talk about a fantastic vacation!!! Not only are you on a cruise ship with every luxury at your disposal, but you get to go through the Grand Canal in Venice. Lucky. So by the time we made it back to Venice (and jumped ship at the wrong piazza...) we decided to have a late lunch and then hopped back on a boat to the correct piazza and went back to the hostel. The next day we decided to stay in Venice and just walk around. We thought about going into yet another famous cathedral (it would appear they are all famous here in Europe...) but decided instead to get some crepes (yes. we are addicted. can you blame us?) and then go shopping!!! again!!! but this time we were shopping for ourselves!!!!! which was fantastic and I fully believe it was well earned. We can't spend ALL our money on gifts (mother, that means you! <3) and after enjoying the beauty that is Venice, we headed back to the hostel with high hopes of going swimming!! (they had a pool!) However, when i dipped my foot in the pool we decided it was far too cold and we would just go sit in the jacuzzis instead. Apparently in Europe their jacuzzis aren't hot tubs. they simply are small little pools of water with jets and the water is not heated. Needless to say we were not impressed. However we settled for having very hot showers instead. When we went for dinner we said we had to have just plain old spaghetti as we had been in Italy for a couple weeks and still had not had spaghetti!!!! Shameful, I know. So as we were enjoying our spaghetti, we heard a familiar voice (something we really don't expect here) and it turns out our friend Pavel (one of the guys we met in Nice) was staying at the same hostel!!! so we invited him to sit and have a drink with us as we ate (he had already eaten. we actually did offer him food.) Pavel then saw a girl he had met earlier on the bus and invited her to sit with us as well. Natasha was a very sweet girl from Sydney Australia (so many aussies!!!) and we then spent the night trading horror stories about Rome (Pavel had €500 stolen and his camera broke, Natasha witnessed someone get attacked and have their purse stolen on the metro, Niki's story, and one where I saw someone being beaten up outside the train station...) Since we were so deep in conversation we hadn't realized how late it was getting so we ended up getting kicked out of the restaurant and we walked over to the bar to continue our conversation. We met an American there who was telling us about Amsterdam and we were comparing different slang terms used between Canadians and Americans... It was entertaining. Then with the midnight hour fast approaching, and so many things left to do, Niki and I bid farewell to our friends and headed back to the trailer to pack and set up everything for the train in the morning. (I forgot to mention our roomate from Venice. we call him Youngin' as he was 20, but looked to be 14-15 TOPS. he was from Brisbon and was very nice, he told us to go to Bruges instead of Brussels... We'll see about that...) Anyways... so we went to sleep and were up with the sun the next morning so we had time to get into town, have some breakfast, do some last minute shopping (I'd forgotten to pick up something I needed...) and then wait for the train. Onward to Verona!!! (Two households, both alike in dignity,In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutinz, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From fortrh the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows Do with death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.) (Everyone who took english classes in high school should be able to recognize this passage.) Sadly we didn't have time to look around Verona, but I have plans to go back there someday and explore. We then arrived at our haven, known as Bressanone. Niki's aunt Elda and the entire family here is fantastic and unbelievably hospitable. We have our own room, we have keys to the place so we can come and go as we please, we have free reign of the kitchen (bad idea.), we have a warm and very comfortable bed, we can get up whenever we want, we can go to bed whenever we want, and we are loved and looked after. It is FABULOUS here. And to make everything even better, Bressanone lookes like a picture from a fairytale. There are cute little churches up on the hills, and Elda's house looks down over the whole town and its just adorable and beautiful and I love it. Also, its amusing that all the signs here are all in Italian and German as they are so close to the Austrian border. So for our first full day here in Bressanone, we decided to sleep in late (until 11:30), then when we went to find food, we instead found Elda who we thought was at work and she prepared us an entire meal! After that we headed back to our flat (the house is separated into 2 flats that are identical by a couple sets of marble steps... so cool.) and decided to check what was on tv as we haven't watched tv since we left home. Sonja told us she had some really old movies in english that we could watch if we so desired... her so called "really old movies" consisted of movies like Grease, Titanic, the Bachelor, Forrest Gump, and a whole bunch of episodes of Full House. We are in heaven. We watched Grease and stayed in our pjs for most of the day, then showered, had some coffee, and headed out to explore a bit around 5:30pm... we made it back to the house around 7:30 since everything in town was closing for the night. We were fed yet another wonderful meal and then became facebook friends with Elda. And now Niki is giving me a look saying its bedtime so I should go. We will update again soon!!!! Miss and Love you all!!!!!!