Florence

Today's mission: avoid the hangry mess we found ourselves in yesterday. Also, I apologize, Cody's fancy man photos come out blurry on the blog!

Our air bnb host suggested a local market for breakfast, so we grabbed our coffee and sugar rush pastry from there.  We wandered around the streets of Florence hoping to make it to Ponte Vecchio before our tour.  We found this church:

 

 

 

Inside were treasures, such as this by Donatello (the artist, not the Nunja Turtle)

 

 

At 11:45 we had a tour of Galleria de Accademia which contains the David.

Our tour guide was great. She spoke Spanish and English on our tour and I could understand both!  After several years of dormant Spanish, it was nice to know I can still understand!

 

Selfie stick with David

 

This guy couldn't get enough of David's endowment 

 

To Florence!

Again, cappuccino and pastry. 

 

We also got some tasty treats to hopefully stave off hangry times ahead.

 

And we a previously appearing character...the mayonnaise sandwich!!!

 

We spent time wandering around Venice.  I contemplated a gelato, but settled for an espresso instead. We got back to our flat and hurried to pack ( more about this to come).

I

On our way to the train station we grabbed some small sandwiches.  Cody bought four, even though my rule is to buy one of something until you know it is good!  Hmph!

We were plodding along to the train station when we spotted a guide dog!  Cody sped ahead with bags and I crutches as fast as I could to get a photo.  This is the best we could get!

 

The train ride was relatively uneventful. The sandwiches were good, so cody is safe for another day.  

The walk from the train station to our flat was slightly traumatizing.  Cody had to dodge cars, bikes, scooters and pedestrians while pulling our bag over very cobbley road.  

Here is Cody's bag:

 

Here is Laura's bag:

 

A representation of their lives.   You saw it here folks. 

We made it!  And we have an adorable flat for the next few days!

 

 

 

 .

 After settling in to our flat, we walked around Florence. We bought tickets to climb the dome of the cathedral on Friday. 550 steps one way.  

 

 

Then we started looking for food. It was 5pm.  We knew that most Italian places close around 3pm and reopen around 7 for dinner.  We were hungry. There were many things said out of hanger!  We walked.  And walked. And walked.  And walked. Finally a very pushy woman called us over to see her menu. We were so hungry we finally stopped there.  Were not sure if it was a great food decision, but it surely saved our marriage,  thank you crazy lady!

 

Venice Day Two

Today I planned on taking a trip to the island of Murano where they moved the glass blowing industry after they realized it might be a fire hazard. 

We started off the morning with cappuccino and sugary pastries.  Yum!

We hopped on the Vaporetto (from here on "the boat bus") which is really cool way that Venetian can get around since there are no cars or buses.  We knew we had to take the 4.2 bus boat. But first we had to get on the bus boat. There was some drama regarding bossiness, but we bought a full day ticket on the bus boat and set off!

 

Don't worry Venice!  Climate change aint real!

 

Venice via "bus boat!"

 

We walked around the island and enjoyed the hand made glass art.

 

There were several large pieces 

 

 

We also visited a local church and lit a candle for everyone who needs it.

 

This is where the wheels began to come off.  We were starting to get hungry.  I suggested we stop at the store and get snacks.  Cody wanted to go to the other side of the island.  So we ran to the bus boat station and Cody told me we had to get on because it was an hour until the next bus.  So I rushed to look at the map. We passed the first station.  Check. Second station. Check. Ok. The next station is ours.  Except we didn't stop. The bus boat kept going.  Back to Venice.  Hmmmmmm....

This is Cody's face when he realized we were lost 

 

We got off the bus boat and were lost for a bit. There were several places to stop and eat.  But we could not agreee.  So we kept walking.  And walking. And walking.  And walking. I finally coerced cody to go a small restaurant.  We should have known that the Power106 music playing in the background could be a bad sign.  But we were hungry!!!!  

And it looked cute enough 

 

Cody ordered Spaghetti carbonara.  He did not get what he expected.  

 I 

He wanted what I got

 

He was SO grumpy!  He went to the bathroom and came back grumpier because it was "just a pot nasty in the ground!" I went to the bathroom and although the toilet was low I was excited to return to our table and gloat about it not being that big of a deal. All of a sudden my feet slipped out from under me (there was water in the ground!) and I almost fell in the toilet!  I laughed so hard st myself and couldn't wait to tell cody!  I got out of the bathroom and told him.  He did not laugh.  He was super grumpy.  I crowned him the "Least Fun Man Ever!"

He got his act together and reminded me why I despise his camera bag that looks like the d*ck in a box and skit, camera bag version.

 

Back on the Vaporetto...headed to the cathedral and a few other Venetian spots.

 

 

 

 

For those of you that are concerned, Cody IS alive:

 

We wandered around Looking for the "orange drink" we'd seen everyone. We thought we finally found it!  We ordered a "Lovely Orange" and a "Sexy Orange."  But it turned out that despite the probability of this happening, we were at a bar called "Orange."  Thankfully we were sitting next to Americans with the drink we were looking for and we asked them for advice. We finally got a "Spritz" and were remarkably disappointed.  

 

We headed home.  We needed to do laundry. The washing machine is in Italian.  We had a bet which setting was correct. 

 

Then we asked The Google.  Cody won

 

 

We decided to walk to the restaurant that was recommended by our air bnb host.  It was full.  So we walked.  And walked.  We arrived at another place recommended by our host.  It was a bit fancy for us.  The appetizer was bread and broccoli slush with catfish dust on top (or that's what we heard).  At least we gave them a good laugh when we spread that stuff on our bread!  

We had good pizza!

 

 

 

Cody finished his pizza

 .

He says mine could be an art piece called "Pizza Massacre"

 

On the way home we  walked crossed over the Rialto Bridge, grabbed some gelato (gelato count: 5) and wandered through the tourist area.  We hopped on the boat bus.  Side note: my feet LOVE the boat bus.  Anyone with neuropathy - try Venetian Vaporetto. Cheaper than narcotics!!!!

We cruised around the canals at night, hopping off for some artsy photos at San Marco Square. 

 

 

 

And today, for those waiting, today's edition of Dogs in Clothes!

 

And we found the source of dog clothes, while we were "lost,"

 

I accidentally pressed my home button for too long and this popped up:

 

We miss you SiriGirl!  See you soon!!!!!