Verona

Hello again everyone!

We are currently in Verona, but first I will try to tell you all a little about our Venice stay.

As Dan said earlier, we we're both very apprehensive about Venice, but we were both pleasantly surprised by what an enjoyable place it was. Finding our way around the vaporettas (water buses) was a little difficult, but eventually we found our way to our little hotel. We dropped off our stuff and headed out to explore a little. We were in Venice for a day and a half and during that time, we explored San Marco's Square, with the Basilica, Doge's Palace, Bell Tower, and of course, the millions of pigeons. (Apparently, the city feeds the pigeons every morning at 9am. We enjoyed watching a few pigeon scuffles while we were there!) The Basilica was beautiful. The roof was covered in gold mosaics and the floors were covered in the most amazing colored tile moasics. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures in there.

We also wandered around the city a lot; in fact, I think that we spent a majority of our time just wandering around the city, which was perfect! Those of you who know me well would not believe that I enjoyed getting lost, but I did. :) We found cute little shops, gelaterias, and restauarants. We also stopped in a few small churches, which were all quite impressive. It is amazing that all of these cities hold such beautiful buildings and pieces of art that aren't even their celebrated sites.

Venice was also the place of helpful old men. We thought we had figured out the water bus system, so we were sitting on a bench on what we thought was the water bus when a nice old man came up to let us know that we were not in the right place. After he pointed us in the right direction, we gratefully boarded our water bus. Then, as we were walking to our hotel, we stopped to look at our map. Instantly, another little old man came up to us and asked where we were going and showed us the way. Thank you nice old men!!

After leaving Venice, we headed to Lago Garda, on the suggestion of one of Dan's coworkers. What a wonderful suggestions and a wonderful place! Dan and I both loved the lake and really wished we had time to spend a full day and night there. The lake is essentially a basin in the middle of lush green mountains, providing us with one breathtaking drive. We also stopped by this castle along the lake (I can't remember the name right now) which was really fun. We climbed to the top of the towers to get a view of the lake from up high. After, we had lunch at a restaurant and sat out on a dock over the water. Thanks for the suggestion!

Now, we are in Verona. Our hotel is actually on the outskirts of the city, but we headed in to the historical part of the city this afternoon. We went and looked at the house of Juliet (from Shakespeare) and a bunch of open piazzas. Tomorrow, we are leaving early to drive toward Turin (our last stop). We are thinking af stopping in Milan along the way, but aren't sure if it will be worth the trouble of driving into Milan...suggestions?

Well, I am off to enjoy a yummy picnic in our hotel room with Dan. I think I am going to miss all the cheap, delicious wine!

Hope everyone is doing well and thanks to Caleb, Chelsea, and Emily for taking care of our Sammy so that we could enjoy this trip of a lifetime!

Goodnight,
Kari

P.S. We have to use a hotel computer and I can't upload pictures. Hopefully, we can tomorrow in Turin.