Venice

Ah Venice. I've been to Venice three times and each time was a completely different experience. This time, however, was something totally unexpected. Venice was totally flooded. It had been raining when we arrived but we didn't expect the whole city to be covered by 6 inches of water. To say the experience was one I'll never forget is an understatement. I feel kind of bad because my friend didn't really get to see the positive side of Venice. I'm not a huge fan of this city but I have had some really lovely memories there so it's not all bad. I didn't take too many photos because I was scared of my camera getting wet but hopefully you can see what I mean.

After some debate, I just took off my shoes and walked around barefoot.

The winds were very strong, so the city looked like an umbrella graveyard.

The bridge of Sighs looked as lovely as ever though

No gondolas were heading out that day.

The canals were still picturesque.

You can see how high the water actually came up in the canals and how useless my umbrella was... :/

Note if you are ever in Venice when this happens. Not all of the water taxis run when there is high water. We sat at a stop for about an hour before we decided to walk and ask the woman selling tickets. She looked at me like an idiot. We had to walk across the city to catch the taxi that could bring us out to one of the islands to stay with our couch surfer. By the time we got there, we were in a bad mood. However, our couch surfer was a really nice guy who was a glass blower by trade. He took us to a DELICIOUS pizza place and taught us a bit about glass blowing. It made the trek out there worth it (almost). I'm glad we got to see another part of Venice!

I'll try not to let this experience taint my opinion of this unique city. If you've never been, it's definitely worth a stop!

Can't Wait

I'm off to DC early tomorrow to see my two favorite peanuts! I'm going to take family photos for their Christmas cards. I can't wait!

Rome Part 3 - The Forum

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum (ha!), we had a really bad breakfast/lunch. There are a bunch of cafes right along the road facing the Colosseum and we thought it would be cool to sit and stare at it while we ate. Which it was. However, the food was not good. My recommendation? Stay off the beaten path if you want delicious food. This should be a given but we wanted the view so we paid the price.

Did you know that when you pay to get into the Colosseum that you also get entrance to the Forum? And your tickets are good for 2 days? No? Neither did I! It was awesome to get more for our money and the Forum was awesome. You could wander in there for hours. We hadn't really planned on going there so we only stayed for an hour or two. I did manage to take a TON of photos though so be prepared. I really loved this place so it was hard for me to narrow down which photos to show you. PS, I love the juxtaposition of old and new/ hard and soft so there are lots of photos with flowers and ruins... 

  

  

  

After the Forum, we went to the Mouth of Truth which I learned about from Roman Holiday. They only allow one picture per person now which wasn't the case 10 years ago when I was there. Oh well, it was still really fun! Plus, the chapel it's in front of contains St. Valentine's bones apparently. I even bought a little Mouth of Truth brooch. Which reminds me, I need

Rome Part Two - The Colosseum

On our walk over to the Colosseum, we found this area of ruins just hanging out. That's what I love about Rome, history everywhere!

 

The second half of the day in Rome was spent at the Colosseum. The previous time I came to Rome, we did not go inside because as you can see from the photos below, there is plenty to see right around the site! You have the Arch of Constantine, the old Roman road and lots of photo ops with the Colosseum itself :)

I was surprised that the lines weren't longer to get tickets but maybe because we were there late in the afternoon, there weren't as many people. Since I had never been inside, I decided to pay for the audio tour and I'm glad that I did. It was really interesting to learn about the history of certain areas, actually know what certain things are and hear about the hierarchy that existed when the Colosseum was in use. Fascinating!

  

Before we went to dinner, we headed to Villa Borghese Park which overlooks Rome. My friend wanted to see it at sunset which was really beautiful. It looked like a really nice park so if I'm ever back in Rome, I will definitely take more time to wander around instead of just going for photos.

More of Rome coming soon! The second day in Rome, we went to the Forum and the Mouth of Truth!