Day 1 & 2 are in the books!

Good evening! Or buona sera in Italian. It’s 10 pm on Saturday night in Lido. We have just finished streaming the Iowa State game and have wiped away our tears as they succumbed to Kansas State. Rather than sulk, we must move on and brighten our moods and share the past 36 hours with you. And so we begin…. We arrived to Lido yesterday afternoon by Water Taxi. Luckily, borrowing advice from Trip Advisor on the location of our hotel, we only had a five minute walk, compared to 20. Keep in mind, walking through streets, at times, cobblestone streets, with 40 pounds of luggage, is not something you would want to volunteer for. Our hotel is interesting. We would call it a very large home back in the States which was converted to their version of a hotel. This would consist of ten to twelve rooms and one very tight elevator in which only one person and one suitcase may fit in. Our room: reminds me very much of my Grandparent’s home. An older feel, with wall paper surrounding my view.

The bathroom: a tight quartered sitting arrangement for Ted,

but with a bonus: a bidet!

But, at least it has a nice view:

Yesterday evening we spent strolling the streets in Lido. We scoped out the restaurants in town and settled on this place. We ordered bruschetta, which turned out to be the biggest piece of bruschetta we had ever seen.

And a pizza with artichokes, mushrooms, ham, and pepperoni. The waiter surprised us when he brought out the pizza and it was divided into four different individual kinds. Who would have guessed? Not us! But, no worries. We managed to eat all but one piece. The best part: the artichoke section.

Upon completing our meal, we knew it was time to start a daily tradition of gelato eating. Our first selection: mint chip for Britt and caramel for Ted:

Back to the room we went to rest up for a fun filled Saturday in Venice! 12 hours of sleep later and off we went to Venice! Day 2 Our first full day in Italy began with a 50 minute Vaperatto ride to Venice. As we de-boarded, we planned to get lost in the many side streets of Venice. We strolled through the many side streets and found ourselves looking through windows in the many trinket shops surrounding us. We found the perfect piece of chocolate (the pic really doesn't do these Lindt chocolates justice on their real size) for Ted, but decided against purchasing it, as it would ruin his appetite for the remainder of the day.

It wasn’t long before we found our way to the most famous portion of Venice, St. Mark’s Square. Not long into roaming around this area, it was time to grab a quick bite to eat. A salami sandwich would suffice for the two of us, and we parked our tushes on the corner of the restaurant. Being there are many tourists in this area, and tourists who must eat, you must ask yourself, what kind of animals would food attract? I can tell you. PIGEONS. LOTS AND LOTS OF PIGEONS. AND LOTS AND LOTS OF PIGEONS = LOTS AND LOTS OF POOP. One would hope that they would be lucky enough to steer clear of poop. But, some are not so lucky. The culprit.

The victim.

Post pooping pigeon, Britt determined it was time to hit the restroom. Where must one find a restroom in Venice? Not many places. Therefore, one must resort to pay 1.5 Euro to use the restroom. Britt was thrilled. So thrilled she had to use it twice.

And when you pay to use the restroom, one would think they would provide an entire toilet. Think again.

After the excitement wore off, the heavens opened and down came the rain. We passed time by stopping for gelato. Yes, we made gelato and rain go together.

Continuing on, Ted was busy taking random photos, and just happened to take this random photo. No posing, just spur of the moment turn by Britt and whala.

And to close, we will showcase a Venice traffic jam. Off to the Cinque Terre tomorrow morning. Caio.