We had another fantastic
breakfast today! Probably the best one yet. The seat we sat in overlooked the
canal our hotel was on. The hotel served eggs, bacon, mozzarella balls, grape
tomatoes, several cereals, fresh fruits, cheeses, pastries, breads and yogurt.
The jam for the toast even came in mini jars. We were seriously impressed. It
was again, a great way to start the day. We took our time getting ready and
relaxing in our awesome room. When we were finally ready for the day we had the
hotel hold our luggage and we went off to do a little more exploring. We made
our was to the Rigoleti bridge and I hated how many people were crowded
into one area. I don't do to great with crowds. Then we looked at our Rick
Steve's book to see if there was anything else we wanted to see. Mike said he
wanted to see what their casino was like so we headed that direction. It took
us a good while to find it and when we did it wasn't that interesting. Just a
bunch of slot machines. We found some steps in the shade and sat down. We
wanted to find someplace good to eat but the only place in the RS book that
sounded close, good and in our price range we couldn't locate on the map. Mike
took advantage of all the pigeons on the ground and started feeding them pieces
of his granola bar. He loves feeding wild animals. We noticed one pigeon in
particular was very mean and picking on the other birds. I decided I didn't
want a bully pigeon eating all our granola pieces so I chased it away. It was
pretty funny though because it took a solid minute for it to leave and not just
fly a few feet away from me. After it left I felt very accomplished. We decided
to leave and just find something to eat along the way. I decided I would let
Mike pick where we ate. After about 35 min of walking and wondering he decided
on something. The pictures on the menu looked like the food would be good and
Wimbledon was on the TV. The food turned out to be gross. We got a chicken
sandwich which I'm pretty sure was not made with real chicken. We also ordered
a bruschetta and it wasn't even close to being what we thought it would be. We
paid quickly and left. We walked back to the hotel and did some window shopping/people
watching along the way. One thing I like about Venice was it had a lot of water
fountains that you could drink from. We just kept refilling our bottle with
water and didn't have to buy any. Yay! We watched lots of people pay €80 to
€100 for a gondola ride. Made me glad we did it with our tour group. I was
still hungry since I let mike eat most of the gross food. Next to our hotel was
a pizza shop and a gelato place. Mike stopped and got a gelato and I ordered a
pizza. Thankfully, it was delicious! Mikes gelato was called cherry cheesecake
and was exceptionally good. As we sat and ate the pizza we noticed the place
where he got it had about 10 awards posted on the window. It turned out this
place was the real deal. The owner makes it fresh every morning and even local
Italians rave about it. I decided I needed to try some. I got cherry and
grapefruit. The grapefruit was actually really good even thought it was a
little bitter. I was impressed with my gelato. We relaxed in the hotel lobby
for a while enjoying the free Internet while we could. We were able to Skype
with Mikes mom which was fun. Then we hauled or luggage back to the boat. We
took the public boat system to the train station. The ride took about 45 min
because of all the stops it made. We double checked with information that we
didn't need anything else to board our train and were able to get on quickly.
We rode in first class which wasn't very crowded. Our seats were just single
seats that faced each other so we didn't have anyone next to us. Much
better than the Eurostar. The ride was 4 hours long. We listened to our book to
help pass the time. We were hungry so we went to the bar and got some overpriced,
mediocre sandwiches and water. When we got to Rome I figured we were close
enough to get a cab and only pay maybe €15. Our hotel directions said it was
only a 20 minute walk on foot, but I didn't want to walk with all our luggage.
So we found a cab driver and asked him how much when he told us €30. We decided
to take the metro system instead. We hadn't used it last time we were here but
I was confident I could figure it out. We bought our tickets and only paid €3
total, much better than €30. While we were getting our tickets this women kept
trying to talk to me. I have become so weary and untrusting of people like that
and wouldn't give her the time of day. I overheard her talking to someone else
asking to help them get tickets. My guess is then they watch where you keep
your money and try to get it from you. Anyways, we easily found our train
and took it to the right stop. We used a map to find our hotel. It is seriously
straight out of the movie/game clue. Creepy doesn't begin to describe it. It
has a huge old wardrobe with a giant mirror on it. High ceilings with an
ancient chandelier and 1930's curtains with matching bedspread. We were waiting
for the ghosts to appear. Don't worry I got plenty of pictures. We face timed a
little with both of our families then fell asleep listening to our book!!
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