Italy Day 3:
We woke up in Como and hopped a train to Venice. (by way of Milan) The view on the way was beautiful, particularly around Verona. We stopped in Venizia Mestre, just outside of Venice, to drop off our luggge at our hotel. When we went back to the station they had stopped selling tickets to Venice!!! (less than 10 mins. away) I think it was some problem with their computers, or just that it was soooo busy. We finally found an atm machine and grabbed a taxi. It was refreshing to be in a car and not surrounded by sweating people. In Venice we got another nice suprise, since it was the day of the Historical Regatta none of the Canal "taxis'" were running. So we did the whole thing on foot. What a day! We walked for a while and then had lunch/dinner at an outdoor restaurant on the canal so that we could see the boat races. It was fun to see all of the Gondoliers in period costume. I was amazed at their dexterity in the water. One question I have is why do they row standing up? We saw all of the parade, but decided to go before the races. (we would have had to wait 2.5 hours between the two.) It was fun seeing all of the back alleyways with the little piazzas and small canals everywhere. I saw lots of places that I could have spent forever in just looking. We were absolutely exhausted and majorly dehydrated as they don't have drinking fountains over there. We spent sooo much time trying to find water everyday. Don't know what their deal is. Went and saw the exterior of St. Mark's (it was closed) and the bridge of sighs, so sad. On our way back through Venice we stopped on the Rialto Bridge and bought some Murano Glass. (obviously the store's cheapest items, okay almost) I couldn't believe how much they charged for it all! But I do have to say some of it was just gorgeous. It was a beautiful day in Venice. On our way back to the hotel we stopped for a little to eat at.... you guessed it... McDonald's. I just so badly wanted a drink with ice in it and I finally got one!!! It was such a happy moment. (so sad but true) Back at the hotel we asked for a wakeup call (since none of the hotels have clocks, didn't know that until we were over there) and called our little boy. It made me so homesick to hear his little voice on the other end!! What a cutie.