Venice, where the water rules, like Waterworld ;) ha jk

One overnight train later, we get to Venice!....at 5:30 am, on a Sunday. That just isn't any fun at all right there. We made it to our hotel and they were nice enough to let us sit in the lobby for a little while, well maybe I just slept on the couch for a few more hours. 

As the sun rises, we ate the BEST croissants ever. They were freshly baked warm && filled with ooozing chocolate :) alongside with one of the best cappuccinos I've ever had. That was the right way to start off the day.

Venice has soo many more waterways that I expected. i know it was the thing here but I didn't realize how dependent they were. It's so old fashioned, it gives the city a cute little quaint feel.

As the city wakes, the gondolas, the flags, the church, they are come out.

The Duke Palace
&
The San Marco Church

Rialto Bridge, where there are tons of tourist shops & fun food markets. One of the few bridges that cross the Grand Canal.

Since we hadn't really gotten any sleep & we had unlimited land bus & water bus rides for 24 hrs, we brought a little Spanish culture to Italy & took a good siesta but came back into the heart of the city for the sunset and a romantic tour on the water...ok well maybe it was just on a water bus but we're cheap college girls, gondolas are spendy. So we just imagined being on one with a really cute Italian man and an amazing gondola singer.  

Our romantic water bus included the moon rise, just breathtaking. 

On the water bus, we thought we were getting lucky sitting in the back outside, we didn't know that included loud engine noise, but we made it fun.

&& then we conquered some italian food, rawr

The next day we went to Murano Island, where it is known for their glass blowing. Apparently (thanks to the guide in Katie's kindle) back in the day, all the glass blowers were forced to live on this island because they didn't want Venice to ever burn down. Which kind of is mean, but funny.

Left: real flowers
Right: glass flower tree
cool huh

Also glass, a lot of the stuff they made there I was like MAN, if only Paint your World could be this awesome. My mom and gee would have just been in oooo's and awww's all day at all this art. 

Inside of San Marco's Church, wasn't allowed to take photos, but I managed to stole a few because it was so different. It was almost ALL mosaic, tiny TINY pieces, it was really incredible.

This is mosaic on the FLOOR! I actually was looking at it upside down and had to snap it for my momma.

Some of the above & below are from the Campo dei Frari, which I think it's just another big church. A little comical. 

I completely forgot, but I will ask Katie, who's tomb this is, I couldn't even guess right now.

Venice, I think we could have skipped it. It is beautiful so so beautiful, but it's more of a vacation spot, and we weren't really there for that, so there wasn't too much for us to do. But I'm glad we went :) Moving on to my favorite....FLORENCE!