Venezia

Buon Giorno,

Well we just wrapped up our tour of Italy. Rome, Florence, Cinque
Terre, and we are presently about to leave Venice after a nice 3 night
stay.

And after spending so much time here in Venice I can honestly say I
enjoyed myself, but definitely see how there really is no need to stay
past 2 days here. I'm sure years and years ago this place was much
more diverse and lively but now tourism has taken over. And now each
cafe, shop, and restaurant are jus catering toward the cheap wants of
tourists. Never knew slushies and over-priced bad pizza were Venetian
delicacies but it seems that way now.

That being said, it was an absolutely beautiful experience. The views
were always as unique as a city floating on water. The super tight
streets packed in with unmappable chaos were always an adventure to
traverse. When looking online there was one tip I saw that I can not
emphasize enough about Venice. Once you find the major spots like the
Rialto markets and San Marco Square, just pocket that map and wander.
When you see tourists, go the opposite way and that's when we found
the most interesting little stores, neighborhoods, and craftsmen. We
actually went about Venice this exact way until the last day when we
finally went through the beautifully mosaiced interior of the onion-
topped San Marco Basillica.

So we did lots and lots of wandering. I think Teddy's favorite part
was feeding the pidgeons in the main square as the swarm in from all
sides, pretty hilarious, especially when seeds were cast upon an
unsuspecting girlfriend or mother, and the birds swarm as she shrills.
Haha.

My favorite part was finding all the different craftsmen shops like
the many mask shops, but not the traditional touristy ones; the ones
where they've really turned each mask into art. I also had a blast one
night in the (limited) Venetian night life. There's only really one
square containing all the youthful bars, Campo San Margherita. We were
on our way when we found "the only Venetian disco". It wasn't open
yet, to our dismay, as well of the two australian girls who found it
roughly at the same time. So we all went to Campo Margherita till it
was open. We had a great time comparing the american and australian
cultures. The bar was a great choice, we made friends with the
bartender, Marco, as he gave us a few of his fav shots, all for free.
It was good to finally be in the company of females, which I'm sure
free drinks happen to all the time. Us males are usually not as lucky.
So after the bar we went to the disco, paid to get in; and there was
NO ONE in there except for a couple blatantly makin out on the dance
floor. And an old heavy-set italian woman, who was most likely the
landlord, serving drinks. We got our "free" first drink and left
quickly. It was late so we walked the girls back to their hotel which
took probably 1.5 hours longer than it should have. And then we
wandered home as well. We could have used maps but we decided to jus
see if we could wander home without em. It was a blast going through
very dark, very creepy, and deserted alleys and streets. We had a lot
of fun joking around the whole way home. We finally found the major
bridge across from our hotel just as the sun was starting to break
over the horizon. It was a beautiul photo.

Aarons favorite was probably our celebrity encounter. Every where you
walk there are men in striped shirts and straw hats offering rides on
black and gold decorated gondolas (for a hefty hefty fee). And in one
of these gondolas, while we passed over a bridge, held the prince of
darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon. Aaron reckognized
them jus as they went around the corner away from us. He darts off the
bridge, back thru some alley and we find ourselves on the edge of the
canal as the gondola passes again and this time we got plenty of
photos and waved to them as they did back. Quite a fun lil surprise.

Weather was pretty good, hot as hell, except for some surprise storms
which jus gave us an excuse to break for the night and watch some
movies.

They say Venice is known for having bad food. But we did decently.
Most times we'd just try to find cheap good pizza for our budget.
Although one night we got Chinese, which surprise surprise, wasn't too
great. And another night, where we found a cheap but absolutely
delicious seafood place. Tons of fish, squid, octopus, shrimp, and
crawfish, all for good price. Great find away from the touristy part
of the city.

So now to Barcelona and I think I'm ready. Sorry to say but I think
I've had my fill of Italy for now, and so have the others. Lookin
forward to trading my Italian speach skills for Spanish and hopefully
I'll be able to speak pretty well. Lookin forward to the test. Hope
all is well with all of you. I've had a lack of Internet past week or
so but hopefully that'll get better soon and I can skype with everyone.

Ciao,
Stefano Diebriano