Italy, Part 2

Finally, part 2 of Italy! We like to keep people in suspense (hence my saying it again); just kidding. We actually are often tired and want to rest instead of blog or, like this week, have technical difficulties! But without further ado, the rest of our Italian adventure. 

On May 20th Nicholas and I left Florence and took a train to Venice. It was sunny when we departed and pouring rain when we arrived in Venice; not the most pleasant first impression. We took a water taxi (the public transportation system) to our AirBnB and were amazed to realize that our "taxi" was going to take a full hour to get to our stop! The nasty weather slowed everything down considerably. Our AirBnB host picked us up at the taxi stop and walked us to our accommodations. Luigi, our host, was very kind, if not a little quirky.  He was very particular about how you closed the doors and making sure we knew what direction to turn the keys. He even had Nicholas practice for him a few times! Like I said, though, he was very kind, and we had a nice stay. After the rain stopped and the sun came out we decided to walk around a little bit and visited the Bridge of Sighs, which is the oldest bridge in Venice. We realized we were staying about 10 minutes from Marco Square as well, so enjoyed listening to the live music and looking at the cathedral. We were feeling romantic (it was Venice, you know) and decided to have a glass of wine at one of the old restaurants in the square. We sat down, looked at a menu, and realized the LEAST expensive item was 18€! One glass of wine was around 45€! I think I said, "Run, before the waiter comes back!"  Sorry, but backpackers spend that much in a day, not on one drink! For dinner we stopped at the grocery store and bought some soup and salad for dinner, which was nice. 

Our second day was a full one! We wandered around Venice, trying to see as much as possible since we didn't have a lot of time there. We visited the Jewish ghetto, walked to an original paper mache mask shop to buy a souvenir (Venetian masks are famous), located the spot where the opening scene of the movie The Italian Job was shot, saw another famous bridge, and purchased Orchestra tickets for that evening. Lunch was an adventure as well. We had spent a decent amount of money of some authentic masks, so one had 8 euros left and were on the other side of the city, so had to get creative with our meal. We went into another grocery store and bought lunch meat, bread, chips, yogurt and even a bar of chocolate. We spent EXACTLY 8€ and had a great makeshift picnic! That evening we went to the orchestra, which has turned out to be one of our favorite events to date. Nicholas and I both love the performing arts, and the music was beautiful. 

The 22nd we bid farewell to Venice and started out for Malcesine  a small lakeside town on Lake Garda. A small backstory; when Nicholas and I were dating, I told him that if we got married, the one place he would have to take me before we died was Lake Garda, Italy. I had seen a picture in high school and have dreamed of visiting since then. While planning this trip I completely forgot about our anniversary (bad wife moment, I know), but Nicholas didn't, and asked where we would be on May 23rd. Amazingly enough, Malcesine was the place. God perfectly provided a romantic anniversary trip for us without me even knowing! Getting to Malcesine via public transport is a little taxing (it took us 8 hours by train and ferry), but completely worth it. It is, by far, the most beautiful place I have ever been, exceeding all expectations I had. Since it was our "almost anniversary," we decided to splurge for dinner and found a lovely lakeside restaurant right on the water. The food was delicious and, surprisingly, extremely affordable! Nicholas had a mussel chowder and I had fish. We had wonderful time talking and spending time together! 

The next day we slept in a little, had a nice breakfast (provided by our BnB, which was great) and then decided to visit the castle in town. We had some beautiful views of the lake and learned about the area itself. We then did some shopping; we bought a small oil painting and a Italian leather coin purse for Nicholas. We had made reservations for dinner at a restaurant called al Vas in Brezone, another small town 10 minutes from Malcesine  It was one of our best meals to date. We had scallops for our appetizer, Nicholas had an ostrich fillet wrapped in bacon with asparagus and I had balsamic glazed steak with wild mushrooms. For dessert we chose flambeed crêpes suzette. It was an amazing meal and we enjoyed each other and our food for three hours! (We're getting good at eating like Europeans!) All in all, it was an amazing day. 

The next day we started our journey to Spain, but I feel that Italy will be my favorite European country. It was beautiful; full of kind people, gorgeous scenery, wonderful food and interesting history. It's one of those places you never forget and always want to return to. Until next time Italy, until next time. 

Love,

N & K