Aug. 19-

Today would have been Grandma Juls 91st birthday and I miss her so much. I always sent her a postcard when we went on trips.

This morning we woke up to cloudy skies and thunder. We quickly got around and headed to the Sorrento train station where we caught the 630 train to Naples. We went on an emotional roller coaster while we decided between renting a car: more stressful, more experiences, cheaper, maybe getting scammed like we did in Croatia when Morgan and I rented a car last time, or taking the train: less experiences, more expensive, zero stress. After a lot of going in circles we voted to take the train and get to Venice sooner so away we went. We got tickets and had lunch in the terminal at this awesome Italian place called McDonalds. We sat in the lounge under a/c and waited on our train like the Americans we are and then headed to Venice. I love the trains here. This one went around 120 mph and we just watched Italy go by the windows. Assorted homesteads with laundry on the line and sheep and cows in pens, people in their gardens, little Fiat cars cruising on the narrow pieces of road. Do the neighbors here know each other better than we do in North America? Is the peer pressure less here because of their simpler way of life? I ponder this as we drink coke Zero and eat lemon cookies.

After 6 hours on the train, we finally crossed the Venetian Lagoon and arrived at the station in Venice. We found our AirBnb and dropped off our backpacks before going out for supper to have..you guessed it. Pasta. I googled Chinese food just to see if there were options for the Italians and there actually are a couple  Mexican places and a Chinese place in Venice. Sleep felt delicious tonight, despite our apartment smelling of what I assume the sewage system of Venice also smells like.

Aug. 20-

I woke up this morning to the lovely smell of eggs and ham that Morgan was making after an early morning market run. It was the most protein we’ve had on this trip I think, since pasta and croissants and the pizza here rarely have meat involved. I saw a pigeon during supper and admired it’s drumsticks and how good they’d probably taste if that tells you my level of wanting protein so yes. Yay for eggs and ham. We spent all day cruising around Venice. It was mostly sunny and not as hot so a perfect day to wander around the shops and thru the little alleys they use as streets.

This morning we walked to a bookstore I’d read about that floods when the tide is in so the floors are stone and all books are on old wooden shelves and some are stacked in an old gondola. Its damp and musty and was more interesting than cool. But you never know. We had gelato for lunch, the best I’ver had, and walked to see the Bridge of Sighs and then around Piazza San Marco. The tide was coming in and lots of people had taken their shoes off and were wading thru 6-10 inches of water, depending where you were in the square. Apparently it’s the lowest place on the island so when the tide comes in parts of the square flood. We hadn’t seen it the other times we’ve been here so it was something new to experience! Later this afternoon we rode the water taxi for an hour seeing the town from the water. The sun setting here is so beautiful. It turns the houses and the waterways all gold and it’s so peaceful. After a delicious supper, Dillon+Renae took a gondola ride. Morgan and I did last time we were here so we watched people and rested on the cool marble steps. Another full happy day.