~Venice, Italy~

May 13

On the eighth day of our trip Jeff gave to me...

Eight minutes to find the perfect shoes..

Hotel Gabriel was beautiful and of course, very old. We didn't get to Venice til 3am and it took 50 minutes of wandering through the streets with a very sweet student named Fredricka before we finally had a chance to go to bed. Needless to say we slept through breakfast. At least the hotel had an amazing roof top view. It was such a contrast from the night before-foggy, empty, quiet streets to the hustle and bustle of the ones below. We hurried to enjoy the tourist spots before we had to go. San Marcos square was busy and teeming with life. There were bands playing authentic and beautiful Italian music. Jeff, probably the sweetest and best husband in the world, danced with me at the square. We had our own little crowd watching and cheering, especially when he dipped me at the end. Isn't he adorable??

We went shopping and found some great stuff. I found some super cute leather shoes for only 10euro... but they didn't have my size in the three colors I liked. I figured I'd find some more shoes later-but I never did. SAD!!!!

You have no idea how many pictures I have of roses-seriously. I couldn't stop, they were everywhere!!!! And they smelled so dang good.

It was so fun to watch the boats go through the canals. We were tempted to go on a gondola ride, but at 50euros per person for twenty minutes, we decided we'd enjoy the water bus and gelato instead. They had 4km of lovely white sand that you could enjoy. So, enjoy it we did! I was the only one who went swimming, but hey that was alright with me. There were three, big, darling black labs being trained for search and rescue, so I played with them for a while.

Italy was just like you would've imagined. People riding bikes with little dogs in the baskets, fruit and flower stands on the corners, flowers hanging onto every window and arch, and very well-dressed Europeans. I was glad that I had some sun dresses to wear so I didn't look too touristy. We stopped and enjoyed the best strawberries in the world at this little fruit stand.