So the last few times I've written I realized I forgot to mention some things- mostly because we are all sleep deprived. We've had really long days, up at 5:30am and to bed around midnight. The hotel accommodations have varied from nice to ewww. This hotel is pretty good. So on to things you should know:
1. If you come to Europe be prepared to pay to use any public toilet whatsoever including gas stations or rest stops. Anywhere from .30-1.50 euros which is about .50-2.00 American. It's ridiculous! oh, and the toilets are gross!
2. Hotels don't have washcloths- you have to supply your own.
3. Hotels don't provide you with Kleenex or conditioner and sometimes you don't get a hair dryer.
4. I was excited for Swiss chocolate in Lucerne the day before last. Out of all of the tons of chocolate choices I thought I picked a milk chocolate bar with peanuts and was extremely disappointed to find out that it was dark chocolate, no peanuts and more of the dry cocoa taste. Again 2nd error caused by language barrier!
5. More new words from my travel buddies from New England, Aussie, England, and Canada: I've got the shits- which means your annoyed and angry, cop a squat which means I've got to take a pee right now, losing my marbles, posh and bloody.
6. Everyone is trying to hook me up with a man because they can't believe I'm single. In London the two ladies I hung out with- one of them wanted to hook me up with her son who is 30 and lives in Michigan. Apparently in Amsterdam a creeping weirdo was following me and I was oblivious so at least Kelly noticed and saved me. Then I got hit on in Lucerne in the hotel elevator by a 50 year old Italian man who called me Bella and wanted to know where I was from. My creeper beeper went off on that one.
There was a big thunderstorm that swept through and shook the hotel early morning bringing rain. However we continue on our lucky streak of sunny and warm weather. I'm getting quite the tan! Today was the eagerly anticipated Gondola ride in the canals of Venice. We were seranaded by an accordion player and a fat Italian opera male singer. What they don't portray correctly in the movies is that in a city built over/in a swamp where does all of the sewer go? We still aren't completely sure but we know some goes into the canal water hence spots strongly smelling of fecal matter. Not quite as romantic as one would expect but still a very cool experience. Plus the movies show hot Gondola drivers when in fact we only saw two out of hundreds that was handsome and it wasn't ours. Hence we come to the story behind the title of this post. Emma and I saw a cute gondola driver steering people around, she whistled at him but had food in her hands so when he looked over I was the one that waved. He then proceeded to holler out to me "Madam please I'm not a dog!" Next time a man whistles at me I'm using that line except inserting "sir". :)
Following the Gondola ride I spent the day wandering around Venice getting lost because that is apparently what you do in Venice! And yes I got lost but not for long. I also had yet another gelato. It's becoming a daily habit... Tomorrow we head out very early for Assisi and then on to Rome by late evening where we will all be having a dinner and a tour of the treasures of Rome by night which includes the throwing of three coins over your left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain. Stay tuned for more adventures!
Gondola ride in Venice.
Beautiful Assisi!
Famous Trevi fountain. Romantic Comedy "When in Rome" was based off of the Trevi fountain.
One of my wishes.
This photo was taken in a palazzo at night. A lot of these performers can be found all over and this was a really wonderful moment where this little boy couldn't tell if this was a real person or not. He kept inches closing like he wanted to find the courage to touch the man to see if he really was real.
Dinner in Rome. All of the women received roses at the end of dinner.
