the Italian Job

Here we go!
After 4 fun filled days in Rome, being laughed at for being silly American's twice,  and witnessing the most colorful pants I have ever seen in my life (shhh... Cameron is getting some bright purple ones for christmas... don't tell) - we hauled our luggage to the Termini station Friday morning. From there we rode a train back to the airport so we could pick up a rental car for our drive to Venice. In the past, Cameron has always stepped off the plane and dealt with this car rental reservations then. Apparently having military orders saying you need a car holds a lot more weight than just showing up as silly americans on vacation :) So... after a brief pause in the party plans, we were able to get a rental car, set up the navigation system we brought (yes, we brought our own... we definitely were not risking THAT fiasco) and were on our way!

We had a route plotted to drive through Tuscany to Venice, and I have to say that was pretty brilliant of us ;) It was a BEAUTIFUL drive! Plus, Cameron just really enjoys driving, and he doesn't get to do much of it where he is, so it was just a relaxing day. We did fail to plan for food on the way, but that must have been the most successful "failure" we have had thus far! We stopped at the Esso station (just some rest stop/gas stations that popped up every 15-20 miles or so) and figured we would just get snacks or whatever. Boy... were we wrong! 

There were definitely a lack of english speaking italians at the rest stop in the middle of nowhere, so we got to the counter and pointed at the sandwiches behind the counter we recognized as some sort of turky or ham sandwich. They threw those bad boys on the grill and when we got them they were warm, toasted, little peices of heaven! We couldn't stop laughing at how amazingly delicious Italy's GAS STATION food is! Seriously, we have tested this theory in Germany as well, and it is still a solid 10 in our books! Gas station panini's ROCK.... way more than any subway/sub sandwich/gourmet sandwich place in the states!

Here's Cameron with his happy tummy.... and yes, that was the rental car we squeezed into ;) 

Oh... Can you say AMAZING.... a giant Kinder Chocolate bar! Perfect Road Trippin food!

 Tuscany <3

The GPS system worked like a charm..... until about 10 miles before we were supposed to get off the autobahn. Then, it conveniently SPAZZED out on us and said we were driving in the middle of the flipping ocean. So... we had an adventure peiceing together what we could understand of the road signs and towns to try to orient ourselves on the map that we hadn't even used until then. By some miracle, and about 27 round-abouts, we made it to our cute hotel in a town I still can't pronounce. It was recommended to us by someone Cameron works with. The hotel had its own restraunt with amazing food (the BEST food we had in Italy, and THE ABSOLUTE BEST pork chop we have had E-V-E-R!) and it was about a 40 min drive into Venice! Perfect!

Here she is! Beautiful weather that day, perfectly clear and sunny, a bit windy, but not very cold at all!

I was so excited about being here, I just couldn't get over the fact that Venice REALLY does look like this! It's not just hollywood that makes it look so great.

We didn't bother to look at or use a map of Venice, because it seems like complete chaos anyway. I decided to take the advice of the Rick Steve's book and just get lost in venice. "Remember, your on an island and you can't get off!"

Venice has shops and stores and stands every corner you turn! We found a million little shops, which all had the same themed things, but that didn't stop me from going in to almost every one of them :)

 S Marco Square

We searched high and low in Rome for hot chocolate and was totally disappointed, but venice didn't let me down! We found hot chocolate at a random cafe, and it was awesome.... more like a melted chocolate candy bar soup than an actualy beverage, but sooooo good and warm!

After I got warmed up, we went for a gondola ride! Our guide was pretty great, gave us some history of venice, sang a little, chatted it up with the other gondoliers, and told us that Venice is actually sinking about a foot every 96 years. Well, he gave it to us in cm/year ratio, but it's more impressive the bigger you make it sound, so I'm sticking with it sinking a foot every lifetime :) 

You can't really tell from this picture, but these two buildings have literally crashed into eachother. At first we were confused why the building on the right would have bothered putting windows in when they were smack up against the other building, until we realized they coudln't have been that stupid, and this has been a more recent happening. Way cool..

I'm pretty sure the gondola ride was our most favorite part of Venice, and just for bradon.... Cameron wanted me to let you know, "the gondola ride was boss".

Our hotel manager had mentioned this road around italy so you could get a great view of venice. We took his advice, and after we were worn out from walking in Venice, we took a drive around to the other side just in time to watch the sun set. Cameron has impeccable timing with things like this, and with finding parking spots... somehow, they always save him front row parking wherever we go. It's almost embarrassing! :)

Italy was a great adventure! We were definitely in tourist mode from the time we touched down. I took a million pictures of everything, believe it or not, and have enjoyed every second of being on our vacation/anniversary/adventure together. Cameron's favorite things about Italy: the Colosseum, Pizza, and ME! Kelsie's favorite things about Italy: The Night Walk, the always available stuffed pastas, and Venice (gondola ride included)!

Next up.... Germany!