DAY 10: Vienna

We spent the entire day in Vienna. And we did not have to wake up early! There was an optional morning excursion that Grandma and I were not interested in, so we slept late. :) late meaning we were at breakfast by 8:30 lol we had a tour at 9:15.
We had another different tour guide show us around the city.We had a little trouble understanding her so I might not know what all the pictures are...lol Vienna is lot more modern than I expected. There are a lot of roman remains scattered around city, but it was way more modern than I thought it'd be. I would not mind living here at all. I just need to pick up a second language. Who wouldn't want 5 weeks of paid vacation and 2 years of maternity leave!? Every one employed in Vienna is entitled!! Men are even allowed maternity leave. Figure that one out.
The hotel that were staying in is probably the nicest one yet. Its right on the Danup River. The Danup is the 2nd longest river in Europe and runs about 14 km long. We have a great view from the room and the back side of the hotel has a bunch of tables so you can sit outside and watch the river. A bunch of us sat out by the river with bottles of wine after dinner last night. Its nice because were all starting to get comfortable around each other. We've been together for 10 days now so dancing like idiots and singing at dinner just seems appropriate last night lol. Dinners are alot more fun now, and touring during the day is more informal and comical. We went to Peter Park with its famous ferris wheel, the United Nations City on the Danup, he state opera house, the Jewish quarter and St Stephens Cathedral.
After sightseeing Grandma and I went on a hunt for shoes..lol the shopping around here is nice. A lot of really expensive shops and name brands so we window shop most of the time..lol we stopped at a cafe to grab some lunch and just hung out for a whole. The cafe houses in Austria are very relaxing and people stay there for hours at a time without buying anything. Since its not a very rushed atmosphere we were there for a while :)

Day 13 Ferrara-Rome

We stopped in a small old medieval town called Ferrara while on our way to Rome. It is famous for some of the famous dynasties who live within the town.

Ferrara was actually hit by one of the earthquakes a few weeks ago. My tour guide was given the option to go somewhere else but wanted to show is the medieval castle and church. She warned us on what to do if and earthquake were to happen. Just the thought that we could experiece one, sent a chill down my back. Thank God nothing happened. We also went to visit the Cathedral of Ferrara, which is also known as St George Cathedral. I wasn't allowed in because I had shorts on :( but that's totally not my fault: our tour guide said we could wear shorts today...

Then we went to the Castle of Ferrara. We weren't allowed to go in there either:( because the Castle was getting restored from the damages of the earthquake.
The town itself was very pretty and quaint. Something like what I thought Vienna would look like. We were only there for a short period of time and they had a bunch of shoe stores...we went into a few but nothing in my size :(

The Big Bad Castle

 

Statue outside the Castle walls

There's a moat around the Castle!..just

Once we got all settled into Rome, we headed out to a resturant called Mino Restraint. It was a cute resturant, and the food was pretty good. Grandma got a rose from the waiter, and a kiss!!..I only got a rose.  

Dinner in Rome!

On our way to dinner

Laura gettin a kiss. He kept going back for more ;)

Everyone eating

She was the first one to get a rose <3

All smiles

A Rose for Simona!

He was so nice!

After dinner, we drove around on a mini tour and saw the Square of Four Fountains, the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus, The Mouth of Truth, Piazza Navona, The Pantheon, and The Colloseum lit up at night.  

The " White Cake" also known by many as the Piazza Venezia

One side of the Roman Forum

another pic of the Forum

old houses in the Forum

One of my favorite places in the entire world



Grandma in Vatican City

The Pantheon

The Castle of San Angelo

So beautiful at night!!

Fountain in Piazza Navona

Day 12 Venice

Day 12 Venice
Today was our first beautiful day! Hopefuly there are more like this to come :) we spent the entire day in Venice! Did some shopping and of course site seeing. This morningwse took a boat to San Marco through the of Canals of Judeca. There are 8 islands of Judeca in Venice.

On the bus headin over to the docks

Here are some pictures from our ride from the mainland into the city.

We took a boat tour of the canals before walking around the city. We went on a gondola ride later in the day. Venice really is beautiful. Its mind boggling that the whole city is built on water. People say that the city is sinking every year. That's why a lot of natives are moving to the mainland and travel to the city to work. Real estate is very expensive on the islands and maintenance is tough. I could understand the issue. No one wants to live in a sinking house..
But it really is a beautiful city. The basilica in St Marks square is absolutely amazing!

Grandma in front of San Marks Basilica

Our gondala ride companions, Jane and Jon

Those Pigeons better not come near me!

DAY 11: Austria - Venice!

Water Taxis

We cannot believe it has rained every day on this trip :( It's alwasy so nice out when we're traveling. Then the minute we get someplace, it starts to down pour. Tonight's excusion tops everything so far. We had to take a boat from the mainland on to the island for dinner, and the weather was not very friendly. None of us were happy campers getting on that boat tonight...
We're staying at a hotel on the mainland. It's less complicated to get all the luggage to the hotel that way. So we needed to take a water taxi to get to our restaurant on the islands. That was an experience! The river was rough and the waves were a little scary. I'm proud of grandma and everyone for getting on :)

The dock where we picked up the water taxi

Another one of the dock

Pretty Resturant by the dock.

The water calmed down by the time we got on the water taxi :)

Me on the water taxi

Grandma on the water taxi

Rain, Rain go away...

Come again another day...



Leory joined us for dinner

Our first dinner in Italy!