Venezia

Off to Venice, the city made up of 163 islands. (I think... don't kill me if I'm wrong)

We had the worst bus ride ever because our bus is a piece of crap. The a/c wasn't working so we were hot, the guys were sweaty and smelly, and no one was in a great mood. Our bus was making some loud buzzing noise so none of us could sleep because our TM had the music cranked to block the noise. It was awful, but anyways...

We arrived at our camp on Fusina which is one of the biggest islands by Venice (about a 20-30 min boat ride). We had a bbq and then had a party at the bar with drinks called Attitude Adjusters. Any Contiki traveller will know what they are. Basically they're a whole lot of alcohol with little of any thing else, and they taste awful. They definitely changed some attitudes; hence the name.

I roomed with Trudi, who is sooo awesome. She's a professional L'oreal hairdresser from NZ and is so much fun. We chatted for a while because neither of us are big on the drinking... Oh yeah, funny story. Last night, Tim put Josh's mattress outside of the room. So tonight, Gareth put Tim's and Adrian's mattresses and bedframes not just outside but on top of the cabins! It was pretty priceless to see Adrian's face because he had no idea where his were (Tim had been forewarned).

The next day we rode to Venezia, which has over 400 bridges. We went to the famous square with all of the pidgeons... which by the way were really gross. We then went to lace-making and glass-blowing demonstrations. The lace one was pretty dull but the glass one was really cool. Italy is famous for both their Milano glass and handmade lace.

After that, I went to Rialto Square with Trudi, Lauren, Jackie, Kim and Jane. This is where they have all of the more touristy markets. They weren't that great, but I got a couple Milano glass necklaces and whatever else.

We were hungry for lunch so Lauren, Jackie, Jane and I got pizza with the thickest crust ever. It was literally 3+ inches thick. It was good but way too much; it got to the point where we just ate the topping. Then we just walked around and shopped and checked out the sites.

We met Ang at 4:00 for our Gondola ride -- the highlight of Venice!!! I was with Jared, Johan and Robin. Not the most lively of groups, seeing as Jared fell asleep, but oh well. The ride was so exciting and surreal; you don't actually feel like you're in a place unless you're there for a while so it was a bit harder to get in the mood, but oh well. the views were gorgeous, and it was interesting to go through the canals in the gondolas instead of just looking at them on the bridges.

That night we just hung out at the bar at the campsite again because we didn't have anything else to do. I was tired so I went and chatted with Penny (my Greek girly), Paul, Cathryn, Rebecca, Russell, and Kim. They're all so much fun, and really are nice. We had some amazing banana daquiris. Mmm... my new favourite drink. They were made with real bananas which made them sooo good.

Anyways, I'm off to Vienna (also known as Wien) tomorrow, so I'll talk to you all soon.

Ciao -- Larissa