Venice

So, Italy began unfortunately. Lufthansa pushed back my flight five hours. So I had plenty of time to wait in the Frankfurt airport for my connection. When I arrived in time to catch the first flight, I was told that would be impossible because I'd have to pay a change fee... to get on the flight I'd originally booked. Needless to say, I was cranky.

I arrived at my B&B in Rome only to discover that, despite it's proximity to the airport, a taxi there cost more than a taxi to the center of Rome because it's a different city. Needless to say, I bitched at the driver and took his information down, thinking if I threatened him, he might lessen the charge or compromise. No such luck. So there I was at approximately midnight, standing outside my B&B. Waiting for someone to open the door. But no such luck.

When someone finally arrived (they must have some sort of connection to the doorbell on their cell phone because they weren't answering my calls either), I was scolded for not notifying them of my arrival time - even though nobody asked, and it was posted online that the reception desk was 24/7.

Then, I was up most of the night because I was sick.

Things were not looking up.

ALAS. THE NEXT DAY I WENT TO VENICE. Venice is way cool. Mad expensive. But way cool. Completely pedestrian and boat friendly. Very romantic. Lots of curvy streets, but impossible to get lost. I loved it. I met up with my tour group and had dinner that night with the two who would become my besties - Jon and Trudy, the non-married couple who had been together for five years and were waiting until they could be together geographically. 

The next morning was the beginning of our tour. We went to Murano for a glass making demonstration. The things they made out of glass were amazing. And comparably expensive. So, I wandered to the outlet stores further down the road/pier and picked up a nice necklace/earring set of Murano glass. Legit.

Then we went into the town of Venice for a tour of the Doge's palace. The Doge actually was not a very respected position, evidently. Because they had really small apartments within the palace, had to provide their own furniture, AND would have to use their own money to help the city if the city's coffers were low. Or, at least, that's how I remember the tour guide telling the story.

This bridge is the Bridge of Sighs (thanks, Jess), and it connected the palace with the prison/torture area. Evidently it was called the Bridge of Sighs because you'd sigh in relief if you got to go over it twice?

The windows above the building below are where Casanova was imprisoned. For being... a casanova. Obviously.

Then, I wandered around St. Mark's Square. I went and saw more famous bridges, grabbed a bite to eat, and loitered, waiting for the time to go on a gondola ride. While window shopping, I happened across a stamp store. They had mostly international stamps. BUT. There was a block of US stamps. I happened to look, finding stamps to be very interesting. They had THREE Trans-Mississippi International Exposition stamps. The red 2 cent stamp was the most popular. Interestingly, it was the domestic rate. Meaning that while it was the most produced stamp, it would not have made it over to Venice by itself on a postcard. It would've been traded (I assume most of these were traded, but a girl can dream that they were sent to Venice by some American friend who attended the fair). The 2 cent was in nearly perfect condition with (as you can see) perforation that was slightly off. Usually this increases the value of the stamp (I believe).

The other one was the brown, 8 cent, slightly racist "Troops Guarding Train" based on a Remington portrait of ... well, troops guarding a wagon train. The final one is the blue, 5 cent "Fremont Conquers the Rockies" displaying a completely fabricated image of the greatness of America as viewed by explorers. God Bless.

After that giddy moment, I headed down to the dock near Harry's American Bar - a now expensive bar because cool people like Hemingway used to hang out there. I did not go in for a drink, because I figured if the tour guide with a steady job thought it was expensive, it was probably way out of my league.

Gondola! We had music and champagne!

After the gondola ride, I went to a couple museums including the Guggenheim. Which was the highlight. It didn't have any paintings that I knew of before, but the sheer number of amazing artists represented was out of this world. Also, I love modern art. Pollack, Picasso, Miro, Dali, Duchamp, etc. The walk back to the hotel took quite a while, but it resulted in some lovely evening views of Venice.

The next day we headed to Pisa and Florence!