BOB the "sleep dancer" and Blown Horses. What, that isn't what you think about when you think of Venice?

We woke up and had breakfast at the hotel and got on the Coach to drive to Venice. We drove through the Appennine Mountains and through Bologna (where spaghetti was born!) We got on the boat to Venice, which has been dubbed the “sinking city” cause the island actually is sinking into the ocean every year! You could see, walking around the canals, that some of the steps are now a couple steps shorter cause they are submerged into water.

We saw St. Mark’s square (the historic center of the city) and the Doges Palace, a gorgeous castle. We also got the chance to watch a glass blower work his trade at a local glass shop, and he gave us Contikiers a special show (He blew a horse. Nice, haha!) and he showed us how glass blowing works. He gave our tour a discount at his store, so I bought a gorgeous, handmade glass necklace there.

The streets were so small and bustling, and the pigeons were prevalent in the square (ew. bird poop), but I loved Venice so much! It was my favorite city on the trip so far. We spent the afternoon wandering the city, ate some gelato for lunch and walked around by the water. We then met up with the Contiki group in St. Marks square and went on a boat ride through the canals with a bottle of champagne provided by Contiki, and an Italian guide dressed in a Where’s-Waldo-esque outfit and a perpetual cigarette in his mouth. It was gorgeous though and so much fun.

We took a big boat back to the mainland for dinner. We had this 4 course Italian dinner, and listened to some great live music while we ate (wine included with dinner. naturally.) After dinner we were kinda warn out from lack of sleep and excessive alcoholism so we decided to take the five-or-so extra, unopened bottles of wine that our waiters left us at the table at dinner and proceed to hang out at the hotel. Let’s just say that the night ended with a game of “2 minutes in the hot seat” and a blacked-out-Brittany. I'm a damn good uh... sleep dancer. Enough said! Haha!

“I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it.” Rosalia de Castro