PICTURES!!!

the top one is Florence, then Venice, then the Hard Rock Cafe London with Jimmy, then the Globe, and then Venice again! :)

Dinner in Venice

Venice was AMAZING. I can't believe I was actually there! It was just as beautiful as I had hoped. The first night we went into Venice from our campground via bus and it was really foggy. We got into the city and just decided to walk around and see how far we got. So we just started to head into the heart of the city. I got a bit ready to not be lost anymore and decided we need to go That direction to get to town. so in my mind we are headed straight for the heart of Venice. We start to see more restaurants and then we decide its dinner time. This one small restaurant had is manager/owner standing outside compelling people to eat. His magic worked on us and we sat down- he even talked us into the 4 course dinner special! So our waiter, a young Italian with super thick and slicked back black hair came over and chatted to us while we ordered. I ended up having spaghetti, chicken, fruit salad, and... a salad I think? We were then just sitting around visiting and watching people over the span of courses. Throughout this time a water taxi pulled up right next to us and the guy sort of made eyes at Jenna for awhile. All of the Italians seemed to really like Jenna- she kinda looks Italian to begin with and that might have something to do with it. Also, the manager guy was so entertaining. It was awesome to see him rope in customer after customer. People would actually just be waking by, not even looking, and he would start talking to them and before you know it they were inside with a napkin on their necks. I don't see how they could have no had dinner by the end of our meal (like 9) but he keep packin them in! Our dinner took a looong time to eat. I think it was 3 hours from sit down to check, but it was very good and had a pretty view of the canal. So at the end of our meal I'm like- We gotta run if we wanna make the 9:30 bus.- I was convinced we would need a water taxi because, like I said, in my mind we were in the heart of the city. We asked the waiter where the water taxi place was and he directed us right around the corner...hmmm and then we asked where the bus depot was and he said right around the corner... and Deanna and I were like no... the autobus... and he's like yea... and we kinda argued with him about it for a second and he got a bit frustrated ( not much just a bit) and then Jenna was agreeing with him. I was soooooo disoriented. So we began walking that direction and about... 100 meters up the street we turned and were exactly where we started the day. It was a bizarre feeling! Needless to say we made the bus :) They were having a toga party at the bar on the campsite and we stopped in for a second and then went back to our cabin and played rummy and hung out. It was a nice Venetian night.

Gasoline??

So here is the relating of one of the most interesting moments on our Italian adventure.

We were just leaving Milan (what a drivers nightmare! Italian cities and cars do not go well together especially when you don't know exactly where you are going - after about 3 hours search time we found our hotel...) anyway- we decided we should get some gas before heading out onto the Autostrade.
So we stop at a small gas station near the outside of town.
Deanna declares it her turn to buy the gas and so I get out of the car and head into the little shop to get some still water ( I had accidentally bought sparking that morning- bleck). So I got my water and the machine gave me back more money than I put in- so I tested it to ensure it was still and when I found it to be I bought another.
Heading back out to the car I settled back into the backseat and pulled out my book and began to read. I look back over my shoulder and see Dee and her sister consulting over a map. Jenna waves me out and I figure they must need some of my directional assistance. Nope.
Deanna asks "How much do you know about cars...?"
Oh dear. "umm not much why??"
"Well... I may have put Diesel in the car."
AH!!!!!!
"hmm okay well I know that is reallllly bad for it.."
"yea..."
" I dunno if we can start it.."
"yea..."
Then the nice Italian attendant comes over and tries to communicate.
He waves his hands around a bit and then pretends to start a car engine- crosses himself and brings his hands together in a prayer type style and then runs his hand across his throat and makes a "bleh" sound.
This translates as if you start the car you better be prayin because it is probably gonna die.
Greeeeat.
So in my mind I'm thinking we have to get that gas out somehow! This is a RENTAL car! Ah! I am thinking of like you know having to suck it out and what not because we HAVE to do something!
"Deanna- how did you even do this??" I was curious- diesel pumps are a different size usually...
"Well... it says gasoline. So I tried it and it didn't fit- so I tried the one next to it and it didn't fit either so Jenna and I thought it might just be a weird pump? They usually only have one diesel thing! and it said Gasoline!"
Oh dear... it wasn't an impossible mistake, I mean when we say gas we usually mean petrol but... man! what were we to do!?
THEN we turn and see the sun shining over the horizon illuminating the most magnificent car shop I've ever seen. Situations make all the difference in cases like this and I can say at that moment it was the best sight we could see.
Deanna and I head over and a nice Italian man in a pink sweater starts to talk to us- he takes us into the big boss who speaks fairly good English and we explain our situation and he totally understands. "Simple mistake. It no clearly marked"
He calls his mechanics- none of whom speak a lick of English.
They head over the car and pop it into neutral and begin pushing it up the sidewalk and then down into the shop.
We go down to try to communicate how long, and how much.
We are attempting to get our questions across for a long while then one guy says "parle vous francais?" and I'm like ah... uh little.
So I attempt to talk to him as best I know how and eventually we get across that he has no idea how long it will take. One hour, 2 hours, three minutes... it all depends. So we leave and go play cards at a small cafe up the road while Deanna drinks some steamed milk.
We head back in about 45 minutes, figure out the cost, get in the (safe and refreshed) car, and take off for Venice.

Been a long time...

Sorry I haven't written a blog entry in soooooo long!! I still don't have a computer so it makes doing computer things a bit difficult! However, I am currently using Debbie's computer at her house in London while Deanna rests after our Spring Break excursions!
I just got back from Italy yesterday! What an amazing trip that was!!
First, Deanna and I flew from Manchester to Frankfurt. Then we had to wait in Frankfurt inside the freezing train station at like 4 am untill our train left for munich at... almost 6. That was interesting. We did get some fresh croissants though and played abit of rummy. We play rummy a lot, we have a running tally and I think she might be slightly ahead right now... our scores are up in the thousands though!
Anway- we finally made it to Munich and what a relief that was! We got off the train and there was Felecia!! She is a friend of mine from high school and she lives in Munich. So we met her there and she took us back to her place (after some excited, yet exhausted hellos) and we took a nap in her sweet flat that she shares with her mom. It was still very early in the day when we awoke and so Fea showed us all around Munich! What a lovely city!!! I loved it so much! We ate at a HUGE beer garden (she said it wasn't even that big!) and wandered around the city. I couldn't help but begin to sing tunes from The Sound of Music and Fea said she had never seen it so we watched it that night.
The next day we woke up and went to this reallly cool palace south of Munich. It was modeled after Versailles and it was so lovely! Deanna and I got to tour it and wow! It was so over the top! Very cool. ( http://www.herren-chiemsee.de/englisch/n_palace/index.htm <--- link to it's website!!) It was situated out on an island we had to take a ferry too. There were a few other islands as well and we visited another after we were done at the palace. Bavaria as a whole was sooo georgous! We at lunch at a small restaurant and I had schnitzel (but not with noodles ;) ) and it was very good. Where we sat we could see the lake and the alps in the background. I was still very much in Sound of Music mode and was going off about Edelweiss and how much I loved it. It is suuuppeer rare though and fea said she saw one once. We almost went to Salzburg (where the movie is set) but we decided to go back to Fea's and watch the office and visit :) Her mom made us the most amazing cake and we had a very peaceful relaxing evening.
THEN off to Italy!! Deanna and I trained there and we actually went to the wrong cabin at first! we though we were gonna get to ride in the bed chambers on the trains but we were wrong :( lol no big deal though. We ended up sitting with a very... interesting man. He was also going to Milan. We had a few hour layoverin the middle of the night in Verona- had it been during the day I would have drug Dee to the Juliet's window site but it was around 4-5 am so that wasn't going to happen :)
We finally made it to Milan and took a bus to the airport where we met up with Jenna, Deanna's sister. We picked up our rental car and were off into the craziest traffic I have ever experienced. I will write more later- this is quite a bit for now. Germany was beautiful and I'm so glad I got to go! Italy was an adventure as well and I will have to make some entries describing that trip!