Right off the bat we were enjoying ourselves. Within 20 minutes of leaving south from Geneva we were in the French Alps, and we hit them at just the perfect time. There was a low hanging fog through the area, and the sun was positioned just so that it looked like there was deep blue light pouring over the mountains. These pictures don't really do it justice:
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Plus Steve got to hang out the window at 50mph to take these, which he enjoyed (much like a dog, that is).
Jennifer, who 48 hours earlier was taking an exam in Syracuse, just kept saying over and over "I can't believe I'm here."
Once we got high enough, the fog lifted and we had some pristine Alpine views. The whole lot of us were all sorts of jazzed.
After a quick whip through the Mont Blanc tunnel, we made it to Italy. The country side slowly became the northern Italian countryside, and we all soaked it up.
Flash forward 4 hours, we'd passed Milan and were on the outskirts of Venice -- and this is where things got interesting. Before leaving, Jaren had printed off detailed directions from a website called Mappy (Mapquest and YahooMaps are both spotty in Europe, and this was our only choice). Now, I could go into a verbose description of the directions, their faults and how they could be deceiving, but instead I'll just say they sucked. Sucked something fierce. Just terrible.
Add to Mappy our lack of a local map, and that our hotel was technically right outside Venice, and it was a recipe for disaster. So yes, we got lost. We wern't left instead of right, right instead of left. We crossed rivers and crossed them right back. This all culminated two hours later in a dramatic scene where Aaron -- at Steve's foolish recommendation -- went down a one way street. Slamming on the brakes and using a tone that was the opposite of the Italian sotto voce, Steve was instructed to "get the f%#k out of the car and find me a f!&*ing map."
And find a f!&*ing map he did. 45 minutes, several confused Italian strangers, six digital pictures of a map and 20 more minutes in the car, and we were there. Dropped off our stuff, freshened up and headed in town for dinner.
This picture is Jennifer's first trip on Italian public transport the next morning, but to appreciate it you have to understand what happened next. After (FINALLY) finding our hotel, we waited for the bus to take us into Venice. We waited, and waited...no bus. With five minutes until the expected bus, an slick Italian kid wearing too tight of jeans asked us (in Italian) when the bus was arriving. Steve attempted to answer the kid and that was a funny story in and of...ehhh...itself. The bus arrived and we had the exact change. 1 Euro, per person. GREAT. I give the driver the money and he says, "no, I need 2 more euros." We rooted through our pockets, but we were plum-out of change. He wouldn't take a 10 Euro. Hummm. We all stood there on the bus looking like fools and finally the bus driver, more or less, kicked us off the bus. That was the only bus for the next hour (remember, it was a holiday in Italy).Long story short, we drove into Venice that night with the determination to make Jennifer take the bus the next morning. This picture was taken as she received a "hip hip horray" for over-coming her fear of the mean Italian bus drivers.
In Venice the next day, we did the easiest thing to do there -- walk around. Lots of small winding streets, with periodic stops for coffee and cured meats.
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Oh, and it was about now that Jennifer discovered Nutella. A monster was born. And speaking of monsters, math tourism reared its head again. In this video, Jaren, Jennifer and Steve enjoy the ancient Venitian Square...
...while Aaron takes a deep interest in the installation of a new sewer pipe. "But it's a terra cotta pipe!" Um, sure thing dude.
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In a stroke of brilliance, we decided to forgo the gondola ride and hopped on a local water "bus" to get the seaborne experience. Sun shining down on the city, it was magnificent.
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The rest of the day in Venice can be summed up in more walking, more jokes and more fun. Dinner was delicious, and we were all satisfied.
Overall, Venice was cool and worth seeing, despite the fact that it felt more like Disney than a city with the off site hotel and single mainland entry point.
Still, a grand time all around. And with a good night's sleep, we were off to Florence.
For more pictures, click HERE
1 comment:
Great pictures!
Venice was actually my favorite city when I visited Italy...of course it also rained the entire trip and the day we got to Venice was the only one that the sun was shining.
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