We arrived in Italy and there was an immediate change. Within a couple the miles the streets were less kept up, the houses were totally different, and even the weather started to change. It was cool and drizzly in the Austrian Alps. After a couple hours it was dry, warm, and flat in Italy. We stayed in the hotel on the military base in Vicenza. I finally got to play some basketball at the gym :).

We spent Yesterday in Venezia (Venice.) We had so much fun. It was about an hour drive and we parked in a huge parking garage outside of a bridge. We had to walk across the bridge and then there were no cars. It was really cool to be able to freely walk everywhere without worrying about cars. We saw gondolas, personal boats, and water taxis. The water was actually pretty clean and the old city was enchanting.

One of the things that I was really excited to see was Saint Mark's Cathedral. I wanted to see the double organ lofts. We stood in a really long line to get in. When we finally got to the front they told us we couldn't get in because we were wearing shorts (it’s hot in Venice.) Dad had on his shorts that he can zip pieces onto and turn into pants. He got in. After he came out we had a crazy idea. We safety pinned his pants pieces onto my shorts. I was now wearing super cool duel-tone capris with added safety pins for effect. I got in and got to see the organs ha-ha.

One of my favorite things was, as expected, all the gelato. I have tried lemon, cantaloupe, rum raisin (i did not know what it was when i ordered it,) and pistachio, and I'm not out of Italy yet. We decided to try different things all day instead of having a big meal. We ate a lot of gelato, some interesting pastries, and some fruit. A big thing in Venice is glass. There were shops selling it everywhere. It was really pretty. We walked all around looking at the shops. The GPS said that we walked 10 miles.



We went home and stopped at an Italian restaurant and got some authentic pizza, it was really good. It was the best pizza I have ever had. The crust wasn't quite as doughy as most pizzas in the US are. It was thinner and crispy, but no craker like.

Dad and I went and played basketball. I got to play one on one with this guy that was practicing there. It was a great workout. With all the eating we are doing it's a good thing we're exercising.

We just ate breakfast at the hotel and now we are off to Cinque Terra. Cinque Terra is 5 Italian villages that are linked together by walking paths, not roads. Cinque means five and Terra means town in Italian. The Lloyds’ recommended this place and said it was really pretty. It will probably be a little less crowded than Venezia.
Sarah