Amazing!!!

Ciao! So Ive decided Im not coming home... well maybe to visit when this is over, but then Im coming back :) Oh and I already have the income figured out. Im gonna be a street performer. They are pretty sweet. Im in love with Italy. I had an awesome weekend. (im gonna try to keep this brief-hit the highlights since its 4 days and 3 trips, but im not good at brief) but heres goes:
Saturday we went to Venice, everyone in my group. It was great, I think Venice is my favorite city. Unfortunatly we were running around and didnt really get to enjoy the city, and we werent there very long. We got there around 10:30am, and walked at a very fast pace across town for about 40 minutes (i think we were running late) and went to a one of the last real lace stores in Venice. It was really cool. Amazing stuff, but most of it was too expensive for me. Didnt feel like i could shell out 60 Euro for a tablecloth. I did end up buying a few small things. Then we went to lunch-not bad food, Ive had better here though. The wine was pretty good, but i felt a little dehydrated so I had some wine, and drank a lot of water. Then we went to San Marco, which was neat becuase I had learned a little bit about it in art history. I was given a orange papery shawl...no actually i paid 1 euro to get to wear the orange papery shawl. Some churched here make you cover up (no exposed shoulders or knees) and i had on a tank top. I got to keep it though, so Im probably going to bring that to Rome jsut in case some of the clothes i wear are too scandalous :) Then we went to Murano, which is a good 30 minute water bus ride from Venice. They are famous for their glass. We watched a guy make a lamp and a horse. It looks so easy! They had some AMAZING glass chandeliers that i wanted...but they were over 1000 euro. Then a few of us went on a gondola ride! It was great! I love Venice! I think our gondola driver looked like sylvester stallone, younger years (but not Rambo). I was amused! then headed home...
Sunday-Lake Garda! We went to a few small towns on the lake and looked around. then we went to Monte Baldo in a cable car that rotates! it was fun, but the cable car was more packed than i wouldve liked it to be, but i had a good view. Some of us had lunch, i got pizza. but it was the worst pizza ever! it tastes like reheated microwave pizza. but oh well. One bad meal in italy wont kill me. Then we went hiking for about an hour...well after lunch we started to hike and then it started to rain :( so we ran up the hill back inside and waited 15 minutes for it to stop raining then headed back out. It was an amazing view and it was fun to hike. I even did a little singing of Climb every mountaing... again. One of the girls did the spinning from the beginning of sound of music (add that to the list of movies i need to watch when i get home) Then we headed down after a bit. and went to a town called Malcesine which i think is my favorite smaller town ive been to here. Its a little hilly, but cute. i bought some cherries from a vendor in this town, and i even said it in italian. the lady looked at me and smiled! it was a good feeling! then headed to the actual town of Garda! nice place... we had an 'unforgettable' fish dinner...it was unforgettable alright...but not the good kind. Im not a big seafood person to begin with...as in i eat shrimp...thats it. thats all ive ever gotten at Red Lobster and all i ever plan to get for the rest of my life there... But Im all for trying new things esp when its a cultural thing or a good experience. So we had 19 different seafoods, well some were the same just cooked differently. We started off with Octopus and squid (i felt like i was on fear factor) the octopus had tentacles and it was really hard for me to eat at first. but i liked it! i think it was one of the best things we had... but thats not saying a whole lot. I dont remember what it all was, but it started out fine, i figured i could choke most things down... then they brought out shrimp, and it had a face! i did NOT want to eat something with a face. But i did, fear factor style. I shut my eyes, opened my mouth, shoved it in and just chew and swallow. I had one more thing with a face, but i didnt eat the face. its something you crack open and eat the insides. reliving this is not a good feelin. Someone said seafood 2 days ago and my stomach churned! The wine did help it all go down. the wine was AMAZNG! it was a little fizzy...yummy. After desert, which was chocolate, THANK GOODNESS!!! they brought out espresso which i was excited about and they had little glasses that i thought were milk to put in the espresso... not espresso. but since i thought it was i put it n my espresso... Sarah did the same and took a sip...she looked at me and was like 'Sherrie...this isnt milk, its limoncello' Limoncello is a strong limon flavored alcohol. maybe thats not the right wording... limon flavored strong alcohol. and i put almost all of it in my espresso...it was not a good espresso :( so sarah and i finished off the limoncello that was in our glasses and left the espresso alone...

Monday/Tuesday: FLORENCE!!! I went with my friend Tracey. I had made a long list of stuff i had wanted to do... i didnt get everything in, but i got the basics in. Started off with the Duomo, which the outside is amazing. a little disappointed with the inside, but it was still nice (and free) then went up in the cupola (the dome) which was absolutely amazing! you get to see the inside of the dome, up close and personal with the frescos inside, then go outside... the dome is actually 2 domes, and you get to walk between them to get to the top of the dome. it was so cool. A LOT of stairs, but totally worth it. I got a little nervous when the guy ahead of me said how cool it was to walk on top of the frescos, cuz thats pretty much what we were doing. its a big of an odd thought that you are walking on frescos, well kinda. anyway, the view was amazing. Then i headed down, which i couldve jsut sat up there all day, but still had lots to see. Then i went to the Baptistery, which i loved. its not a lot to look at but the ceiling was amazing. Then went to a science museum, which i couldve done without, but i was really curious so i went in. it was good and interesting, but it wasnt a must do in florence. Then i did some looking at the markets. went to a few piazzas while in florence. then tracey and i went to dinner. we went to a resturant and ssaid Due. for 2. and she said something in italian and we just looked at her and she said inside or outside. we said outside...and Im pretty sure she stuck us in the American tent of their resturant. they had a few tents with tables, which i guess makes sense, florence is a touristy place with lots of english speaking people, might as well have a specific place for us english speakers for waiters that speak english... then we eventually headed back to our hostel, which was nice for a hostel. ive never stayed in one before. its just a bunch of beds in rooms. we had 3 bunk beds in our room and shared it with 3 other girls. didnt really talk to them we went to bed before they came back. Tuesday morning we got in line for the Uffizi, which was amazing! a lot fo art to look at, but i saw a lot of famous paintings. They had the adoration of the magi by da vinci, which i really liked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoration_of_the_Magi_%28Leonardo%29 Its an unfinished work which i think is why i like it. they also had a video on it that i watched, which was cool. i almost bought a print of it, but it wasnt as good in print as the painting, so i ended up buying a print of a painting of venice that i really liked. Cuz honestly how many times can you look at a painting in the uffizi and be like 'yeah ive been there.' they had a da vinci exhibit there that i went through. then i had lunch, headed to the santa croce. which was cool. i really liked that. saw the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo Buonarroti and a statue that supposedly was an inspiration for the Statue of Liberty. Then I waiting in line to see the David. it was over an hour wait. The David was something that i was excited to see only because it was famous. Im not a huge fan of statues. I like painting and architecture better. But when I first saw the David it was amazing!!! they had some other michelangelo statues on the way to the David, but it was toally worth it. I dont know how to describe it other than amazing. Its a lot bigger than i thought it was going to bed. then we headed back.

Thats all for now. Leave for Rome on Saturday for 4 days, even though we still dont have a place to stay yet. Yikes! Im gonna work on finding a place to stay now... Ciao!