Venice, the long trip home & final thoughts

It'd be interesting to know our impressions of Venice if we'd visited during the first part of the trip, rather than at the end. Don't get me wrong... it's a beautiful city, but we were so exhausted, and I was losing the battle with a cold so let's just say it wasn't our favorite stop on the Italy tour. It didn't help that it took a 6-hour train ride to get there, but we were very impressed with ourselves for managing 3 transfers in small Italian towns and getting everywhere we needed to be on time while hauling luggage.
We arrived in Venice at dusk and this was the first view as we walked out of the train station:

Then, we got on a boat for the 40 minute ride down the Grand Canal to our hotel. That was pretty cool.

The next morning, we were so tired, we couldn't get out of bed. Thankfully, it started thundering and raining so we had an excuse. We finally ventured out around noon and the tiny streets were jam-packed with tourists... so much so, you couldn't help but feel claustrophobic. Everyone seemed to be smoking and in such cramped quarters it's like they're all blowing it in your face. Yuck! Unfortunately we don't have fabulous food stories from here... everything was just so-so (again, maybe it was the cold & exhaustion, but I don't think so).
We did love working our way through all the colorful shops full of Murano glass... the famous glass made off the shore of Venice. They've been making it there since at least back in the 1200's and it is beautiful. The shops are also full of gorgeous masks (like mardi gras masks). The annual Carnival of Venice is right before lent and back in the 1600s & 1700s, you could do anything you wanted with anyone from any class, as long as you were wearing a mask.
Our last night, (Friday), we hate to admit we were in bed by 8:30 p.m. We didn't get the great night's sleep we had hoped for due to noisy neighbors and the mosquitoes that were stalking us. It was absolutely maddening that everytime you were about to drift off, one would buzz your ear... ugh!!
Our journey home began at 6am Venice time... with us having to repack to fit everything in our suitcases. Mission accomplished so we headed to breakfast for our last capuccino :( and then took a 90-minute boat ride to the airport. Our 9 hour and 20 minute flight was direct from Venice to Philly. In Philly we had to go thru customs & recheck our luggage. I landed in Phoenix at 8pm local time (5am in Italy) only to discover my suitcase didn't make it. To add insult to injury, a few hours later, Jaime (who was in Cleveland) and I both discovered we had food poisoning... so that kept us up all night, again! Not fun! (US Airways finally delivered my bag late last night with a broken handle. Awesome!)

The traveling, jet lag, food poisoning, lost/damaged luggage couldn't possibly overshadow this amazing trip. There are so many things we will miss...

(especially our morning capuccino)
Our experiences were unforgettable and I hope that if you are considering traveling you'll go ahead and book now. Go! Do! See!  Fall in love with a language, a street, a pasta dish. You'll definitely learn something & it just might be life-changing. We're already trying to decide where to go next year.
Thanks for following our adventure!
Ciao for now,
Jill & Jaime

Pisa = Disney of Europe... and Cinque Terre

Jill and I are leaving Cinque Terre today for Venice, our last city on our 2 week tour of Italy.  Backing up from our last post, we left Florence with heavy hearts and lighter wallets and jumped on a train to Vernazza (one of the 5 towns of Cinque Terre) and decided to stop in Pisa along the way.  We arrived in Pisa, which was jam packed with tourists also trying to get the the Leaning Tower.  After a short but hot and smelly bus ride, we jumped off and walked with the sea of people toward this famous tilted building.  The tower itself is definitely leaning maybe even more than we originally thought, but the true sight to see was the line of people throughout the Piazza, attempting the Pisa Pose... a photo op of holding up the tower.  After we posed for our very touristy pics, we got out of there as quickly as possible (actual time in city = 1 hr).  Pisa really seems to be the Disney of Europe.

Back on the train we went and we arrived in Cinque Terre, which is absolutely stunning and quite peaceful.  Jill and I did the hike through all the 5 towns, 9 km total and elevation facts unknown... but it took a little under 5 hours of up an down hiking.  We'll let the pictures speak for the views we enjoyed throughout our stay.

This is Vernazza... the 4th of the 5 villages. We stayed here. Ahhhhhh! Population about 1,000.

Shot of Vernazza taken on our hike. You cannot imagine the climb up stairs with luggage to stay in this town. But that challenge was quickly forgotten when we received our best greeting ever from the incredibly enthusiastic Monica, who rented us the room. She makes you feel like you are a family member.

Above is Corniglia (pronounced Cornelia)... 3rd of the 5 villages

The reward for our hard work... an Italian beer (Moretti) and Acqua (water)

Our new friend, Tyanne, who lives in Portland, OR but is from Apache Junction, AZ!!! She was traveling alone so we invited her to have dinner and drinks with us at Il Pirate with the famous Canoli Brothers... Gianluc and Massimo who are hilarious! (Unfortunately our pix with them are on Jaime's camera.)
We are off to Venice... Ciao for now!
Jaime & Jill