When in Rome...

PREFACE:

The train.

Whoever said the Eurail was flawless LIED! The only train from Slovenia to Venice was cancled. This meant that instead of getting into Venice at 2:00 as planned, we got to spend the day in our most favorite place in the world... train stations... in the Ljub and and the middle of Austria. There were a few moments that made our trip memorable. This story may or may not be based on facts. That is up to you the reader to decide.

A certain passenger whose identity will be kept secret went to use the facitilities during the train ride. Many of you may not know this, but when on a train, the Italians feel that it is not necessary to keep a tank full of waste. They feel it is perfectly fine to dump it onto the tracks as you go. This passenger needed to relieve him or herself during the train and went to use the facitlities. It was a long train! He or She tried to finish as quickly as possible, but like all things in nature, time was not of the essence. He or She went to flush when finished, only to realize that we were stuck in a train station. Something we all dreaded when having to use the facilities. While stopped in the train station, a sudden burst of laughter erupted. Feeling quite embarassed, they had to wait until the train continued moving and then exited in a bashfull manner back to the cabin. Needless to say this gave us a good laugh during the nightmere (not as bad as Prague).

Venice was seen in an hour at night for Devin, Staci, Heather and Stephanie who were going to Florence the next morning. It smelled. The people who stayed the next day got to see the beauty of Venice. We slept in, which was nice after the long, long train ride and headed to Venice to see all the sights in day light. We first conqured the big quest of the day (finding Trina a new purse after hers broke) (it may or may not be a Gucci knock-off, but is tagged as "go"). We headed to San Marcos square, went in the church (what else do you do here besides go to churches?). Jessica and Kelly took an elevator to the top of a tower, while Melissa and Trina walked the side streets. They went to the Rialto and found a Gondola rider who they talked down to a more friendly price. Following the gondola ride, they finally went out to celebrate Trina's birthday (day 3) and saw the sunset from the bridges and made their way home. Venice by day and night is a beautiful sight (yes, we are poets).

Random moment: Trina trying to jump out of the Gondola. She jumped from one Gondola to the next, freaking out it was going to tip over. By the time she got to the deck, she was in the splits (one foot of the Gondola, one on the deck) deciding that her only option was to crawl on all fours to save her life from falling into the sick Venice canal.

Best meal: The meal next to the Grand Canal, best food ever!

FLORENCE

Staci, Heather and Stephanie checked into their hostel (5 star with a color changing pool) and went to visit the man of their dreams... the statue of David.

The next day they embarked on their bike tour... a 13 mile ride through Tuscany. The tour started at a castle that makes wine and the number one olive oil in Tuscany. The castle is home to a Count and Countess who have no children of their own, so they are giving their estate to their nephew (who is very single and in his 20's... yes, we were on the lookout). They saw how wine and olive oil were made and began their ride. One of the tour guides sisters goes to U of O! They rode down the hills into the valley where they had a 5 course lunch and then rode back up to the castle. (See pictures, too pretty to describe).

Awkward moment: The van ride to the castle when our tour guide stopped to buy bread and came back with lolly pops for us. He made us eat them and when we got the the castle told us to hide them from the rest of the group. Or when he asked us what color eyes we had and took off his glasses and told us he only had one eye. Or when he made Staci (who was sitting in the front) hold his stuffed leperchaun's hand while he held the other one on the dashboard so the leperchaun could see.

Best meal of the day: toss up between the 5 course lunch, or Italy's version of Mac and Cheese.

Devin visited her friend Summer who is staying in a villa behind the Campanillie for 5 weeks. She had her own personal tour guide who took her to all the local hotspots, including a bar who had happy hour where you could use American dollar bills (dolla dolla bills y'all!). She saw all the sights of Florence: Ponte Vechio, a couple Piazza's, San Lorenzo open market, the Camponillie Duomo. Cynthia took them out for a night on the town, including a great meal, meeting lots of Itallian men (one who looked like Ross Geller with a tragus piercing) (don't worry Poiny, I learned how to say I'm taken in Itallian to ward them off). The night ended with meeting Gnarles Barkley on the streets (a singer, download "Crazy" or "Smiling Face"). He asked Devin to go on tour with him, but declined saying "I have to meet my friends in Rome tomorrow". All in all a great visit with an old friend.

Trina, Kelly, Melissa and Jessica took the early train from Venice and made it to Florence by 9:22 am! We went straight to the Duomo and made our way inside to check out a church (surprise!). They then went to see David (so hot!) and waited in line for an hour because Trina didn't know where to go to get a reservation (it was worth it, so hot!). After the long wait and Kelly's stealth snapshots we made our way to Ponta Vechio, where they walked around and took pictures. Kelly and Jessica (obsessed with towers) decided they wanted to climb to the top (570 something steps). Melissa and Trina (not obsessed with towers, opted not to go). It was then off to the train station to meet Devin.

ROME!

We arrived to our hostel, which resembled the worst frat house we have ever seen/ identical to London. Realizing this, we ran far, far away to the hotel across the street, where we are currently staying (god bless you Hotel Ivanahoe and your air condition, we salute you!). Sorry parents, you would not have wanted us to stay here. There were no locks on the door and it looked like there was a foam sangria party going on in the hall. Don't worry, they were all dressed nicely with their popped collars and boat shoes (maybe that is an exageration, but there were people from Iowa).

Today we saw all the sights of Roma: The coliseum (walking distance from out HOTEL!), ancient Rome, tomb of the unkown soilder (take that Arlington!), the best fountain ever made (Trevi Fountain), Jessica's dream home, the Pantheon (which btw, is does not have glass covering the "eye"), the Piazza Novena (under construction, SURPRISE) and ended at the Spanish Steps. Some of us experienced the Metro system (bring hand sanitzer!).

Random moment: Loosing Kelly, Jessica and Melissa and finding them on the way to Trevi Fountain. Running into the other group every day at every location. Fate?

Best meal of the day: Pizza or Gellato.

Worst meal of the day: The so called "pasta" at the restaurant that decided to close before they brought our food out. This means that we had uncooked pasta with sauce.

Number of bug bites between everyone: 352

Shout outs:
-Props to you if you made it through!