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Showing posts from October, 2016

Italy: The Journey Home

Italy Time 9:00 am - wake up, pack, eat breakfast 9:40 am - check out of hotel 10:17 am - catch waterbus to airport 11:17 am - arrive at the terminal and go through security (in Venice airport) 12:50 pm - board the plane heading for JFK 1:30 pm - leave Venice Eastern Standard Time (6 hours behind Venice) 4:30 pm - arrive at JFK 5:45 pm - go through security, get food, found out flight is delayed until midnight 6:20 pm - found out flight is 'on time' 6:22 pm - walk to gate 351 6:30 pm - walk to gate 349 6:50 pm - walk to gate 353 7:25 pm - still waiting for a plane? (purchase a salad, proceed to mix it by shaking, and spill it everywhere)  7:40 pm - flight delayed 'only' until 10pm now 8:45 pm - chat with other people waiting 10:00 pm - flight delayed until 10:05pm 10:05 pm - of course no word or movement, and desk attendants have been gone at least 30 minutes at this point and the phone is ringing nonstop (a good 20 of those 30 minutes) until (FINALL

Italy: Venice

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Venice was a big change compared to the beginning of our trip.  The difference- Venice is an island with no automobiles, only tourists, boats, and gondolas.  That and instead of an AirBnb this time we had a hotel.  Luckily our hotel was very close to the Rialto Bridge, which served as a landmark for our location.  Knowing where you are or even where you are going without (even with!) a map is pretty difficult considering there are so many "roads." I say roads lightly because they are so small they are more like alleyways. Gondolas! St. Mark's Square Alleyways, canals, and bridges, then add many many tourists, and you get one very small, crowded and busy island. Tim and I weren't too crazy about it, but we had to explore! We got lost, shopped around some, then got hungry and stopped for dinner in a not very crowded ristorante.  Afterwards, we decided we should try to find our way back to the hotel before it became too dark.  When we found our hotel we decid

Italy: Fiesole and the Duomo

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Eager to continue our journey of a more rural Italy, we used the next day to travel to Fiesole, a small city right outside of Florence (NE).  We found out about this particular city through a friend at a winery here in Columbus, who grew up there.  And only a short bus ride away, it was hard to say no- especially since there was a great view and another gelato shop to try out. So funny side story- the buses in Italy are based on a sort of honesty system.  While also enforced by a few ATAF "guards" I guess you could call them.  Tickets were only 1.2 euros a piece for as many rides in a 4 hour period (so pretty darn cheap considering!) If you wanted to buy a ticket on the bus, they sold them for 2 euros. Well, before we left the states, we were warned to make sure we always validate our tickets - bus and train- meaning to get them stamped or punched before or when we get on.  The first time we rode in Florence, everyone seemed to be getting on and off without validating their

Italy: Tuscany Wine Tour

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This day was one of my favorite parts of our trip.  1-We weren't in charge of transportation, 2- We got to drink Italian wine and visit the vineyards (kinda) or at least the wineries where they made and stored the wine, and 3- 'Free' (we did pay for tickets after all) bus tour through Tuscany!  Plus, the weather was perfect (not too terribly hot that day).   My day started by waking up in our Bnb, having a nice peaceful colazione that consisted of caffe nero, la frutta, and of course a croissant, as I listened to a neighbor play piano! We hung out for awhile before getting ready and heading out for an early and quick lunch so we would be ready for the bus and a full day of drinking.  Our tourguide, Kiko, was born in Japan, raised in the US, and moved to Italy at some point and seemed more Italian than anything else, was sarcastic and pleasant as she told us about herself and the history around the vineyards as well as a bit of Italian history.   We had 4 stops on th