Venice

Venice was really pretty but Dubrovnik is still my fav!! We took a boat ride from the ship to almost the entrance of the grand canal. We saw an ambulance, i don't know why i thought it would be a car but it was a boat. I wish i had seen another to take s picture. The whole front street facing the water was full of all of those kinda junky souvenirs that I love so much! They had other stalls full of paintings that people said was their own artwork. They were beautiful pictures of mostly places in the canals or of the gondola boats. I really wanted to get one for trav and Greta but they didn't take credit cards!! We took a ride on a gondola because of course you have to. I don't think it was worth the80 euros but I guess it's an experience to remember. The guy was really nice but didnt really talk to us or even sing!! That was the whole part I was excited for. It was a quick half hour trip in a big circle. I think if you go to do a gondola ride try and have more than two people to split the cost!! Also don't take kids if they are still in a stroller. You go up and down and over lots of bridges but many of them have stairs and only few have ramps. Unless you had a cool stroller like the baggage porters for some hotels. It had wheels sticking out of the front so they just had to lift the cart some and then the wheels made it so they weren't struggling so much (daddy something we should do for the wheelbarrow with fire wood!) we wondered around looking at all of the shops with the hand blown murano glass. We didn't actually get to go to murano but I think when I come back in a few weeks I definitely go out there! The stores had some awesome wine bottle stoppers but I doubt if I bought one it would make it home. We went to st marks square and saw the basilica. While waiting to get in i noticed that up under the terrace and in arch ways there were biblical paintings on the outside. They are still bright and pretty. I guess they have probably repainted or something to protect the colors. Also the archways were super cool! They had all of these carvings into them. Those were so detailed and small. It's amazing to think of how old they are and how they are still there. We went in but they didn't really tell you what was going on. We thought we could walk around but all we did was exit! There is a set of stairs we saw that takes you to the terrace for 5 euro. So I guess that's where we needed to go! We found some food but apparently having a sandwich on the front street of Venice is really expensive!! We walked around for the rest of the day. We found an h&m and the only McDonald's in Venice!! Also there are just about as many churches in Venice as there are islands. I think it's 120 churches on 118 little islands that make up Venice. Or something around there. The big ones we saw were so detailed and ornate. And huge!

Now we are sitting here waiting to get off the ship. We have to go to the train station to board the train at 4 and we don't get there until 10. Yuck. We are staying at the same hotel in Rome that we stayed in last week. Morgan is taking the bus to fco at 8 and then I am headed to see the Sistine chapel and then I am on my way to Naples!!!