May 23, 2007
VENICE, Italy - Tuesday we started off the day by getting on a 10:52 a.m. train from Pordenone to Venice! The train ride took an hour and we were sweating in the coach section of the train because we got kicked out of first class after trying to sneak on! Once we got to Venice our tour guide, Tim, told us to watch out for people trying to steal your things, people giving really bad bargains, and that we would pretty much be lost the whole time in Venice and to follow the signs back to the main attractions. All of these things happened, except for the pick pocketers.
A bunch of us girls saw brand name purses and got them down from 100 Euros to 20-25! We were so excited until our tour guide told us we could have easily got them down to 10 Euros. Then we followed the signs, went through numerous amounts of alleys, and crossed over beautiful bridges with water and gondolas floating underneath. Finally, we made it to a huge bridge right in the center where a lot of the shops were. We saw some amazing merino glass, candle making, and pizzerias all around.
Then our group met at the end of the city in a breathtaking square filled with beautiful big buildings with pigeons surrounding us! All you had to do was stick out your arm and they would fly right to it. It was amazing to watch three birds come land on your arms just as if they were your friends! Soon after the pigeons we went and got some Italian gelato which was absolutely incredible, but also really expensive. A cup of ice cream cost 12 Euros at the restaurant we stopped at... but it was worth every bit. When the day was winding down we all met at an outside restaurant and of course ate our favorite food here, PIZZA! After dinner we got on the train back to the hotel. It was such a fun day in Venice with gorgeous buildings built on water. This trip has been amazing and everyday gets better and better!
Thanks for all your support with the trip to Europe and with Redbird volleyball; it was an experience of a lifetime.
-Kasey Mollerus
