I'm quitting life to be a mime!!!
Oh my business so much has happened since last we spoke!!! So I ended up spending 5 days in Venice...not the 3 I had originally planned on (PS the z & y are switched on this key board so keep that in mind as I type in case I screw them up! DEAL WITH IT!) Anyway, I did make it into Venice on Sunday afternoon and did some exploring. It was quite fun. I took a waterbus down the Grand Canal to San Marco and looked at the Basilica (it was closed by the time I got there) then went and wandered around the shops. I had some AMAZING hot chocolate...just basically melted chocolate! MMMmmmmm. Then I made my way back to the bus station to catch my shuttle, but I had missed it and it was on dinner break, so I decided to grab some snacks from the grocery store, then jumped on the city bus. We have to switch at the airport, but I missed that bus, but ran into some people from Verona coming to the campsite, so we shared a cab. Now the meter in the cab said the ride was going to be 4€, but apparently taxi drivers get paid a minimum (9.61€) plus extra for bags, so it turned into 14€. We were pissed that no one had told us, but just let it go because we had some partying to do! That night we all went to the camp pub and had lots to drink. It was really funny because there was a tour group there from a company called 'Topdeck' and they were having their own Toga party, there there was a group of 16 to 19 year old Rugby players from England there as well. The Rugby players were showing us their chugging abilities, while the Topdeck were showing us pretty much everything else!
Unfortunately, my tummy was not a happy camper and woke me up at 8am to let me know. After spending about an hour in the bathrooms, I made it back to bed and slept until around 12:30 or so. I spent the afternoon just chilling out around the camp, and then caught the afternoon shuttle back into Venice.
I met with Ginel and Jerrod, Victoria (fab girl I met in Naples), and Anne (who I met on the shuttle into town) for dinner, then we all did a little wandering and shopping. I was still not 100% so headed back to the camp around 930pm.
Tuesday, Ginel, Jerrod, Victoria, Anne and I went to explore the 3 other islands around Venice (yes, I know that Venice is ALL Islands, but these are 3 other main islands!). First we went to Murano where they make glass (known as either Murano or Venician Glass). We got to watch a demonstration, then we wandered and shopped for a few hours. The stuff they do with glass was SO incredible and there were a few pieces I totally would have bought if I'd had a few extra 1000€ sitting around! Ginel and Jerrod decided to head back to Venice, so Anne, Victoria and I then had a day of travel on our own. We headed over to Torcello, where we climbed up the bell tower and saw an amazing view of the lagoons, then we went over to Burano, home of Burano Lace, and wandered there for a bit. It was getting late though, and things were starting to close so we headed back to Venice around 7pm. All the time we were on Murano I was SO paranoid because it is all glass, and I am not one of the most graceful people around. I kept having flashes of me falling and knocking everything over and having to pay the store 1000s of €. But I made it through ok. Unfortunately my luck didn't hold up so well once I got back to Venice. The 3 of us were rushing to get to some pizza place or something and all of a sudden I went flying to the ground. It was utterly hilarious (very much a la Patch fall for those of you that are familiar with that story from the repitoir of 'Falls By Amanda'). My knee was a little swollen, but nothing too bad...Anne helped me up and told me to just 'walk it off'. So funny. But the pizza was GREAT and well worth the trip (ha ha ha!!!).
Most of you are probably not aware of this, but sometime over the last week or so I managed to lose a bag containing all my chargers for my cameras and Mp3 player, plus my laundry soap and line. Well after some phone calls, I located it back at the hostel I stayed in in Florence. I thought about asking them to ship it to me, but I was dying without my music, so instead, yesterdaz I hoped on a train and headed to Florence for exactly 1 hour and 12 minutes. It was a long day of train travel, and for anyone wondering, 6 hours on a train can definetly make you tired!!! I met Anne, Victoria, and Wan (who was staying in Anne's cabin) in an attempt to take a Gondola ride before we all left. We talked to a bunch of Gondaliers (is that what they are called?) but struck out everytime. We all decided that the max we would each pay is 15€ and because it was before 8pm (when the rates go up) we thought that 60€ was fair, especially after some bartering...well apparently our bartering skills SUCK because we couldn't get anyone lower than 17€....most wanted 20. And we just weren't willing to pay that for 15 minutes in a gondola. So we struck out. At least I took a ride in a Gondola when I was in Vegas...it was like being in one in Venice!!! Thanks Aunt Gail!!!!
For the past few days I have also been fighting off a cold, and 2 days ago it started to win, and by last night I was feeling horrible. Sinus headache, chills, runny nose...the works. So I decided to stop off in a pharmacy and try to get something. So picture this. I don't speak Italian (I can fake it when I need to, but French usually gets in the way) and the pharmacist doesn't speak english. So there I am miming my symptoms. Basically I had to point at my head and sinuses and make a hurtful face, then show that my nose was leaking as well. She seemed to understand and sold me something that I couldn't read because it was written in Italian. When I got back to the camp, I tried to used my phrase book to figure out how many to take and when, but couldn't so had to take it to the guy at the front desk to get it figured out. He told me to take 2 - 3 a day, but that they might make me drowsy...so I took one before bed and was out in a matter of minutes. Amazing stuff...and I think I may take up mime!!!
Today I took a hour train ride to Innsbruck Austria, and although it was really long, the scenery was SO amazing. All the little mountain villages and cute chalet-type houses! LOVE IT!! And when I got to Innsbruck my first thought was that it was so CLEAN and didn't smell like urine! Although I loved Italy, I am really glad to be somewhere different.
Tomorrow I am going to try and do some hiking and maybe visit the Swarovsky (?) Crystal mines, then on Saturday I am going to head to Vienna for 2 nights before heading to London. I am really pumped about being outside still...loved that about being at the campsite...not having to deal with city grossness. And Austria is turning out to be really outdoorsy too...everyone seems to ride bikes. I even saw a guy riding a bike and carrying skies. I'm not lying. They are that hardcore here!
Can't wait to start to reconnect with past friends!! I'm super excited to see Mandy again and have her show me around Vienna, and excited to see all the BusAbout people again!!!
Tomorrow I am going to post a few more pictures from Italy (I got them all burned on a disk so I only need to find a computer where I can access the tower so I can load them on) and I'll also email everyone that I told I would, pictures (Angie, Chris, Nick, Simon, and Mandy!). I just put more money in this computer and now i have 30 more minutes to waste!! Well I hope everyone is doing well!!! Love to you all!!!
Unfortunately, my tummy was not a happy camper and woke me up at 8am to let me know. After spending about an hour in the bathrooms, I made it back to bed and slept until around 12:30 or so. I spent the afternoon just chilling out around the camp, and then caught the afternoon shuttle back into Venice.
I met with Ginel and Jerrod, Victoria (fab girl I met in Naples), and Anne (who I met on the shuttle into town) for dinner, then we all did a little wandering and shopping. I was still not 100% so headed back to the camp around 930pm.
Tuesday, Ginel, Jerrod, Victoria, Anne and I went to explore the 3 other islands around Venice (yes, I know that Venice is ALL Islands, but these are 3 other main islands!). First we went to Murano where they make glass (known as either Murano or Venician Glass). We got to watch a demonstration, then we wandered and shopped for a few hours. The stuff they do with glass was SO incredible and there were a few pieces I totally would have bought if I'd had a few extra 1000€ sitting around! Ginel and Jerrod decided to head back to Venice, so Anne, Victoria and I then had a day of travel on our own. We headed over to Torcello, where we climbed up the bell tower and saw an amazing view of the lagoons, then we went over to Burano, home of Burano Lace, and wandered there for a bit. It was getting late though, and things were starting to close so we headed back to Venice around 7pm. All the time we were on Murano I was SO paranoid because it is all glass, and I am not one of the most graceful people around. I kept having flashes of me falling and knocking everything over and having to pay the store 1000s of €. But I made it through ok. Unfortunately my luck didn't hold up so well once I got back to Venice. The 3 of us were rushing to get to some pizza place or something and all of a sudden I went flying to the ground. It was utterly hilarious (very much a la Patch fall for those of you that are familiar with that story from the repitoir of 'Falls By Amanda'). My knee was a little swollen, but nothing too bad...Anne helped me up and told me to just 'walk it off'. So funny. But the pizza was GREAT and well worth the trip (ha ha ha!!!).
Most of you are probably not aware of this, but sometime over the last week or so I managed to lose a bag containing all my chargers for my cameras and Mp3 player, plus my laundry soap and line. Well after some phone calls, I located it back at the hostel I stayed in in Florence. I thought about asking them to ship it to me, but I was dying without my music, so instead, yesterdaz I hoped on a train and headed to Florence for exactly 1 hour and 12 minutes. It was a long day of train travel, and for anyone wondering, 6 hours on a train can definetly make you tired!!! I met Anne, Victoria, and Wan (who was staying in Anne's cabin) in an attempt to take a Gondola ride before we all left. We talked to a bunch of Gondaliers (is that what they are called?) but struck out everytime. We all decided that the max we would each pay is 15€ and because it was before 8pm (when the rates go up) we thought that 60€ was fair, especially after some bartering...well apparently our bartering skills SUCK because we couldn't get anyone lower than 17€....most wanted 20. And we just weren't willing to pay that for 15 minutes in a gondola. So we struck out. At least I took a ride in a Gondola when I was in Vegas...it was like being in one in Venice!!! Thanks Aunt Gail!!!!
For the past few days I have also been fighting off a cold, and 2 days ago it started to win, and by last night I was feeling horrible. Sinus headache, chills, runny nose...the works. So I decided to stop off in a pharmacy and try to get something. So picture this. I don't speak Italian (I can fake it when I need to, but French usually gets in the way) and the pharmacist doesn't speak english. So there I am miming my symptoms. Basically I had to point at my head and sinuses and make a hurtful face, then show that my nose was leaking as well. She seemed to understand and sold me something that I couldn't read because it was written in Italian. When I got back to the camp, I tried to used my phrase book to figure out how many to take and when, but couldn't so had to take it to the guy at the front desk to get it figured out. He told me to take 2 - 3 a day, but that they might make me drowsy...so I took one before bed and was out in a matter of minutes. Amazing stuff...and I think I may take up mime!!!
Today I took a hour train ride to Innsbruck Austria, and although it was really long, the scenery was SO amazing. All the little mountain villages and cute chalet-type houses! LOVE IT!! And when I got to Innsbruck my first thought was that it was so CLEAN and didn't smell like urine! Although I loved Italy, I am really glad to be somewhere different.
Tomorrow I am going to try and do some hiking and maybe visit the Swarovsky (?) Crystal mines, then on Saturday I am going to head to Vienna for 2 nights before heading to London. I am really pumped about being outside still...loved that about being at the campsite...not having to deal with city grossness. And Austria is turning out to be really outdoorsy too...everyone seems to ride bikes. I even saw a guy riding a bike and carrying skies. I'm not lying. They are that hardcore here!
Can't wait to start to reconnect with past friends!! I'm super excited to see Mandy again and have her show me around Vienna, and excited to see all the BusAbout people again!!!
Tomorrow I am going to post a few more pictures from Italy (I got them all burned on a disk so I only need to find a computer where I can access the tower so I can load them on) and I'll also email everyone that I told I would, pictures (Angie, Chris, Nick, Simon, and Mandy!). I just put more money in this computer and now i have 30 more minutes to waste!! Well I hope everyone is doing well!!! Love to you all!!!
posted by Traveling Amanda @ 11:36 AM
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