Hey all! I have once again written more about my travels before I started school.... So, here goes nothing.
I will try and get some picutres up on Kodak, I'll keep you posted on that (get it? posted... yea, I'm dumb) Onward ho!

10 September
We were all very tired and decided that we should probably sleep in a bit so that we could actually enjoy our day. We then packed up and tried to find a hostel in Venice which was our next stop. We didn’t find anything right away and the hostel computer was eating our money so we decided we would find an internet café at some point during the day. I was very excited for our fist adventure of the day, the Swarovski Crystal World (for those of you who sadly do not know what Swarovski is, please google it and be amazed!). It took us about a half hour to get there on the bus and during the ride we were given an introduction to the Crystal World. We arrived at this really cool place nestled in the mountains and after going in past this strange head fountain thingie we were inside. Basically, there we a bunch of rooms with different people’s art using Swarovski Crystals, there were pieces by Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali. Also, there were a bunch of contemporary pieces and the largest cut crystal in the world. I was in high heaven as I was walking through it all and then we came to the display floor, and the spending began. You will all be happy to know that I refrained myself and only bought one thing for myself and then stuff for other people. We took the bus back and I was pretty much set for the rest of the day, not too much could ruin my mood (or so I thought, dun dun dah…).
We went and got some lunch at a grocery store (the first that we had seen since we started traveling) and found an internet café that was FREE! We tried to find a hostel in Venice with no such luck. Unfortunately, everything that we looked at either cost a fortune or was full, so we came up with the idea to take an overnight train to Venice and sleep on that. Then we proceeded to spend the next hour at the café checking email. To say the least I was a little perturbed at this but I kept my mouth shut and briefly checked my email. There was this really cool sounding zoo on top of this hill (evidently it’s the highest elevation zoo in Europe) that we wanted to go to so once we were done with the internet café we headed off in that direction. Um, we were four minutes too late. You can imagine my disappointment and this time I didn’t hide it very well. I tried to figure out how we could get back into the town to see some other stuff and I was just staring at the bus map as tears started rolling down my cheeks. Don’t ask me why I cried about it, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I think that things just added up and out it came. We finally made it on a bus and I was trying to hide my tears and evidently did a great job of it until we got off the bus and one of the girls asked what was wrong. The waterworks began and I shared my frustration and things were much better after that, especially since the girls suggested right after that that we could take a ride on an horse drawn carriage through the city (horses, the magic cure!). It was a wonderful ride and we were able to see the famous “golden roof” that the king built to display his wealth (believe it wasn’t much to brag about, but hey, it’s better than what I could do.). Hearing the clicking of the horse’s hooves on the cobblestone is a sound that I hope I never forget. Once our ride was over I went and pet the horse, or tried to at least, he was a nibbler so I didn’t hang around too long.
Now that we knew where the Golden Roof was we went back to it and did a little bit of shopping. At this point it started sprinkling and we feared that it was going to get worse but it didn’t so everything was all good. While we were walking we ran into a concert that was put on by the transportation company to celebrate 10 years of public transportation. There was this amazing STOMP like group that we performing and ended up getting some really cool videos of it (I will try and figure out how to get it online so you can see it, Mark any ideas?). They played about 4 pieces and one of them included break dancers on the ground in front of the stage. After that there was this really cool acrobat group who did all this cool stuff on this huge wooden wheel (it was about 12-13 feet high) that they rolled back and forth. When we learned that the next act was going to “Elvis Presley himself, straight from Las Vegas” we decided that we should probably go to the train station and get some reservations, so we got reservations for the 1:30 am train to Venice. We were all ready for some food so we got some chicken stuff to go and sat down on the sidewalk and ate it. It was so funny how many people looked at us as if we were homeless. I guess in a way they would be right, hmmm funny! After our fill of food we went back to where the concert was and met a group of guys from Austria who talked to us about the government and public transportation and a bunch of other random stuff. I started feeling kind of sick so I decided to go lie down in the grass right when an Italian singer came up to sing. He was actually really good and I enjoyed listening to him. Sierra and Annie went off to go dance and Jamye and I decided to play some cards. After the concert was over we tried to find a coffee shop, we quickly learned that our idea of a coffee shop is a bit different than theirs. What we were asking for was a marijuana shop, what we really wanted was a Café. Ahhh, the joys of being in another country and making a complete fool of yourself. We finally found a café and played cards outside until about 12:30 am. The next thing we did I am sort of ashamed to admit but it happened so I guess I’ll just have to live with it. We started singing Kelly Clarkson’s “Since you’ve been gone” song throughout the streets of Innsbruck way louder than any sober person should have been singing. At that point I was reminded of Sara B’s term of being “sleep drunk” (you’ll have to ask her for the definition, since it’s only hers to give – Sara would you mind posting it?). Once we arrived at the train station we went to the bathroom and got ready for our trip. The seats that we had on the train were not all together so we split into pairs and Annie and I got in out 6 person sleeper and had the most uncomfortable ride. The thing was that they weren’t actually beds and Annie and I sadly didn’t know that the seats could actually slide down to make a bed across the isle. Basically, I don’t really want to remember that ride so that’s all I’m going to share and we’ll move on to Venice!

11 September (Moment of silence and prayer)
Bright and early at 7:30am our trained pulled into the Venice train station. We stored our luggage and found a payphone at reserved our hostel for Florence so that we wouldn’t have to think about it during our time. Totally random thing happened though, in the train station we ran into two Biola girls who had been traveling around as well. We all exchanged brief itineraries and then said bye till London. It was so cool to walk out of the train station and see water! We were all very hungry so we got some pastries and sat by the water and watched as Venice started waking up and things started happening. After much study and contemplation I determined that what everyone told was true, there is no way to figure out where you are in Venice; instead you just walk and hope you end up where you wanted to be. With breakfast behind us we decided to go in what I thought was the general direction of Basillica de St. Marcos (amazingly enough we ended up going the right way! Happy day!) Along the way we actually ran into two guys also from Biola who were just leaving Venice (totally crazy!). The feel of the city was nothing like any of the other cities we had been to. It was very dirty, but that didn’t really matter because it was Venice; I also felt slightly fearful about having something stole but at the same time totally safe because everything seemed so inviting. We made it to the Basillica and stood in line to go inside. It was absolutely amazing to be in the square that I had seen so many times in Italian Job. I felt like there should have been a gold heist going on while we were there (Heck for all I knew there might have been!). The outside of the Basillica was enough for your jaw to drop; there was so much detail in the architecture and there were massive mosaics all across the front. Inside, since it was a Sunday, we were not allowed to go into the actual church but I was okay with that because we were able to go and up above where the service was being held and I got to hear the pipe organ and the choir (one of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard). Unfortunately, I then got really sick to my stomach and had to get out into fresh air really quickly so I didn’t get to see very much in the galleries above the church. Once all the other girls came down we went and got food and I was able to recover a bit.
After lunch we tried to find a gallery that Sierra wanted to go to, but, as I mentioned before, there was a very slim chance we would find it and sadly we were unable to. We walked around a bit more and got our first real Italian gelatio. I was not very impressed by it, but I think that was just because I was not feeling well that day because the other girls loved it. We then did what we all had been waiting for, we go to go on a gondola in the Grand Canal!! Yippie! It was a bit pricey but totally worth it. We had a great gondolier who explained to us the inner workings of the gondola business. Basically, it is passed on from father to son including the boat. He started learning from his grandpa at age 10 and then from his father at 14. Girls are not allowed to be gondoliers for a living but they can drive them around. We went up and down many different passage ways and everything just felt so surreal. We all had a missing our “significant other” moment and then we moved on and decided that our company would have to suffice J. There were several cases where I thought that we were going to collide with other gondolas through all the narrow passages but these guys obviously know what they are doing! Our trip sadly came to an end and we got off in the Grand Canal and walked in the general direction of the train station shopping along the way. Since I was super paranoid that we would be going the wrong direction I asked many times which way the station was and amazingly enough sometimes people actually understood what I was asking (Italy by far had the least amount of English speakers, but that’s also more than understandable too).
We got on the train and were on our way to Florence in no time and we spent most of the time trying to make each other realize that we really were just in Venice, on a real gondola; remarkable! It was pretty late when we got to Florence and I was not feeling very well still (if I hadn’t mentioned it by now I was sick with a typical cold, which is never fun when you’re trying to backpack around Europe, but hey I’m still alive so that has to mean something.). Anyways, we try and buy bus tickets to get to our hostel but since it was so late there weren’t any places for us to get tickets. So, we rode the bus illegally… I know, it wasn’t my first choice but what else were we going to do? Our bus arrived at our stop and we began our HIKE to our hostel. Honestly, we hiked through a campground that our hostel owned (I was fearing that Sierra had actually booked us in a tent, not a room but that wasn’t the case.). At the top of this hill we came to the actually building and it was a really cool looking old building that basically was on a plantation (or whatever they would call it in Florence, there were vineyards so maybe that would be it?). I was totally shot at this point, I was so tired and sore and sick, I just wanted to sleep and that’s what I did. We were able to get a 4 person bedroom and I was so thankful we did, I really didn’t feel like dealing with other people at that point.

12 September
Waking up was a struggle, (Sierra will attest to this when she sat up in bed and yelled a curse word that doesn’t need to be repeated here… ah what a wonderful thing to wake up to) but I was feeling a bit better and after a quick shower my outlook on life was much higher. As we were eating breakfast out on the patio it was raining and we were all worried that it was going to be quite a dreary day. But luckily it all cleared up very quickly and by the time we got on the bus to go into town the sun was starting to shine through the clouds. We got to the Duomo and found that there were two lines, one that went into the church and then one that went into the dome. Since we didn’t do our homework and figure out what we wanted to see, or even what we could see it was semi-difficult to figure out which line to get it. We opted for the dome and I would have to say that that was one of the best decisions we made the entire trip. After about a billion steps we got to the dome which was painted in three layers (sort of). The top was the material human world, then below that was heaven with Jesus seated on the throne and then below that was hell. It was so amazingly detailed and it made you wonder how anyone could even attempt to paint on the dome let alone paint something that turned out to be so powerful. After stopping and trying to take in the whole thing we finally moved onto the roof where we were greeted with an outstanding panorama of Florence. In order to get back down we had to go through the dome again, this time at a higher level (oh darn!). After much stalling and ticking a few people off we finally left the dome and the church. We had to book our hostel in Rome so we spent a really long time on the phone with no results. We then ate lunch (my first Italian pizza!) and then did a little shopping. Basically the rest of the day was spent walking and shopping, getting gelatio, and going into an amazing wine shop.
Right before the sun started to set we made our way up to Michelangelo’s Piazza to see an astounding sunset over Florence. Almost every famous postcard you see of Florence was taken at this spot and there’s no question why that is. I can’t really tell you how long we were there, it didn’t matter, none of us wanted to leave. I think that it was there that I realized I was actually in Italy, experiencing everything first hand, not through a television screen. By the time the sun finally set we were all very hungry and made our way back down the hill to find dinner. My best picture, hands down, from the entire trip was taken on this walk across one of the bridges. Looking at that picture brings back so many memories and yet the picture still cannot capture the beauty that we saw that evening. We found a nice Italian restaurant and I had my first glass of Italian wine (it was yummy, and it was only their white house wine!). After dinner we walked some more (so what else is new?) and got the girls some chocolate and I got some spectacular gelatio. After a while we all decided that we should go to our hostel because we had a big day ahead of us. Interestingly enough, between that morning and that night they had redirected traffic and moved our bus stop. So after much confusion and searching we were finally on our way back to our hostel. Then we went to sleep. The end. Thoughts: what an amazing experience and yet it all feels fake, almost like this can’t really be happening to me… but I think that I have come to grips with it now, it is true, I was there and it all really did happen!

13 September
In case you are not a huge art buff (I’m not either it’s alright) there are two major things that you need to see when you are in Florence. First, the Uffizi, the art gallery that has 3 huge da Vinci originals along with a million other famous paintings including Botticelli’s painting about the birth of Venus. Second, the David statue by Michelangelo, in the Academia. All that to say, we had to get up really early to go stand in line for the Uffizi (we waited about 1 ½ hours) and we were somehow able to get through the whole thing (actually that’s a lie, I made it through most of it) in 1 ¼ hours. We had to rush though that so that we could make it to our reservations at the Academia so that we wouldn’t have to wait for that for a billion hours. The statue was totally breathtaking and HUGE. I never realized that it was so big and the way that they have it displayed made it seem so much larger. Sierra and I just sat down and stared at it for ½ an hour. We then had to rush out of there, grab some lunch and get on our train to got to Pisa.
Our train to Pisa was alright, nothing too exciting, it was actually really hot! Anyways, we got to Pisa, figured out how to get to the leaning tower, and made our way there. We only had an hour to get to the tower, take pictures, and get back onto a train to get to Rome. There were tons of people at the tower and it was really funny to watch all these people holding their hands out in different places in the middle of an empty lawn to give the illusion that they were holding up the tower. We all thought that this was great idea so of course, we did the same thing. This whole time we were all carrying our backpacks with us, and we could feel the weight taking its toll on us. We tried our best to have a great time there (what little time we actually had there) but it was a bit difficult. It was cool though to see a tower that was leaning so far over, it’s leaned a lot more than I thought that it did.
Finally we made our way to the bus station that would take us back to the train station. We got very nervous when the bus didn’t come until 10 minutes after it was supposed to. I started to pray because I knew there was no way we would get back before our train was supposed to leave. By God’s grace, when we got the train station we found out that the train was running late and we made it in perfect timing. We were once again in a sleeper train with the same kinds of horrible seating. This time though there were several things working to our advantage. We were all in the same car and we knew how to get the chairs to recline. We basically made a bed across the inside of the train and there was this couple in our car that was NOT very happy about us being there. We all were talking and having a good time chatting, including our talk about sweater vest and how hideous they were and then realizing that the man in our car was wearing one and he understood English perfectly (AWKWARD!). Finally we all settled down and took a very short nap. Interestingly enough the woman in our car didn’t want us to sleep because she made a point of being as loud as possible with her newspaper that she was reading. Yeah, that couple really hated us. Bummer.
We arrived at Rome around 11pm and made our way to a bus stop (are you noticing a trend yet?). Our stupid bus didn’t come for AN HOUR. All of us were so tired from the long day and we all just wanted to get into bed. Once the bus got there we sort of forgot about all the waiting and made our way towards our hostel. When we got off the bus we were displeased to find out that we had no idea where our hostel was and there was not a soul in sight to ask. After walking around aimlessly (with or packs once again) we ran into 2 people who were pumping gas. We asked then in our horrible Italian and their limited English where we needed to go. They had no idea where the street was and before long we had about 5 people around us trying to figure out where it was that we needed to go. After much debate in Italian finally someone told us where to go and amazingly enough we made it there. It was actually really cool to see how many people in the middle of the night were willing to stop what they were doing so that they could help four college girls with packs on their backs try and find their hostel. Once inside the hostel things looked a bit better. We were in our first mixed gender dorm and there was a college aged man in the 10 bed room we were in. It was quite funny really, he was already fast asleep and we figured he would be quite surprised when he woke up to find 4 more people in the room than there were when he fell asleep. After washing up in a dodgy bathroom we all crashed and never wanted to get us. We made the decision that night that no matter what we were going to check out of that hostel in the morning. To this day I am still unsure of why the girls hated that place so much. I supposed it may have had something to do with all the other things that had happened earlier. Actually, I know that part of it had to do with false advertisement… we were told that certain things were included and they weren’t when we got there, that was frustrating. We all finally fell asleep and tried our best to forget the past 2 hour’s experiences.

This concludes Part 2… the next segment will be all about our 4 days in Rome (sadly it was also the last four days of our trip). Once again, who knows when that will actually get written but I’ll get around to it soon enough. I hope that you all are doing well and thanks for reading about my life, it means a lot to me. Cheers!