From Austria we headed to Venice, for which I can say one thing without a doubt: it's really weird. I mean that in the most positive of fashions.
For example, it's very difficult to get directions in Venice, because after several hundred years of floating on sea garbage, people still aren't really sure where everything is. If you want to hit tourist areas like Piazza San Marco and the Rialto, there are some signs to lead the way. For every other destination, a Venetian will give you directions that sound something like this:
Venetian: [orients themselves in their mental "map"] "You go that way. You see it." [waves in general direction]
The end. This is largely because there are a thousands of tiny streets, many of which would be too small to even be considered an alley in New York City. So you just weave in the general direction of what you want to see and there's maybe a 50% chance that you will find it. All that weirdness, and I didn't even mention the canals. That said, St. Mark's and the Doge's Palace were beautiful, and we got to enjoy the single most personalize ghost tour ever - because we were the only ones on it.
Mindy and I stayed on Lido, one of the islands outside of Venice, and also visited Murano, an island filled entirely with glass makers and angry waiters who hate when Americans share a pizza pie. This meant we rode on a LOT of boats EVERYDAY. We did not, however, ride on a gondola, because the prices border on extortion. Gondola or not, we found ways to entertain ourselves.
From Venice we took the train to Rome, where we sat with an extremely tense woman who spent the whole time fiercely creating a powerpoint about the post office. This should have been a warning to us: Rome was full of angry, tense people, who perhaps were made that way by their very confusing postal service.
But what is important is that we saw the Pope. Apparently, he's a man about town (in the Vatican at least), and gives a blessing every Wednesday in St. Peter's Square. As a lapsed Catholic and a former Catholic schoolgirl, we felt it was our duty to idly sit on some cobblestones and watch the devoted cheer for Pope Diddy like preteens at a Jonas Brothers concert. And sit we did. The Pope speaks at least seven languages and delivered the blessing in all of them. Despite six other options, the call and response at the end was in Latin - so we were all given cue cards. Really!
Other Roman highlights include seeing the Pantheon, which was very round, and the house of Augustus, first emperor of Rome, which was very old. Amazingly, Casa di Augustus still boasts the original paint job.
We also saw the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, the Fountain de Trevi, and even had time left over to take in a flick. One particular day it was so bloody hot that even bold tourists like ourselves couldn't stand the heat. We went into a movie theater to sit in the air conditioning and saw the only movie available in English: The Incredible Hulk.
Finally, a word about the Rome Termini (train station): it's horrifying. Finding a train out of Rome was made nearly impossible by the unhelpful Termini staff who were plainly frustrated with all these idiots trying to ride their trains. I saw several break downs, two yelling matches, and dozens of people literally begging to be helped. And this was just to try and get in line.
Suffice to say Italy was great in unexpected ways. Just leave the trains to the Italians.
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