Holy Cannoli

My time in Italy is nearing an end... Sad but it was incredible while it lasted. Ash and I left Jenny and her friend Chris after a few museum rounds in Florence. Firenze was charming, romantic, classy, full of food (esp. gelato - Florence is the birthplace of this bit of mana) and excellent shopping (obvi had to buy an Italian leather wallet). A mini miracle occurred while we were here; there I was just minding my own business the checking out the intertubes when Melinda Collins began chatting with me. Low and behold she was in Firenze as well!! What a treat! She and Emily met up with us for the next day and a half! (For those who don't know, Mel and I will be traveling together in about a month so this was a total chance encounter. After two nights of staying in a dorm-style hostel in a room with 16 girls that smelled like hot foot all night - really actually worse than a tent eagle scouts... we were done with Florence and ready for Venice. We took a cheap train that left Florence at 4 AM with no plans on where to stay. After trucking around in the heat of the mainland just outside Venice we found a super sweet, rad, totally modern HOTEL (yes, actual nice hotel, not hostel)- it has only been open 2 weeks so we were able to get a rocking deal and have a clean and totally private place to rest our tired heads. Now if it smells like hot foot then I know who is to blame! Venice was quaint and really quite lovely. St. Mark's was even better than I had imagined and equally as covered with flying rats. For the life of me I cannot understand why a person would hold out their arms and allow those foul beings (pun intended) to perch on their perfectly clean skin!?!?!? Nasty! Whilst exploring Venice we decided to take a tip from our lovely tour guide, Rick Steve. Anyone know him? He said to not bother trying to follow a map around Venice but to just amble about the various alleys, dark corridors, bridges and other alluring components that make up the hay maze of Venice because you can't really get lost, it's an island after all. In total, I think we spent about 15 hours meandering the streets of Venice, convincing ourselves and each other that we had "totally been here," and "I for sure know where we are now." We eventually made it home and are sad to leave but need a break from the blisters on our feet from all the walking so we are headed to Monaco tomorrow morn with fresh produce, a bit of Baileys in our coffee and perhaps a baguette to pass the time.