Major Catch-up and Venezia!

Where do I even start?! I feel like it has been sooo long since the last time that I "blogged" haha.

Wednesday night we had the guys over for an American dinner since they had us over for dinner in San Benedetto last weekend. We thought that it would be fun to make them a traditional American meal....so we made them hamgurgers with the usual sides. They told us that they liked them....I hope that they weren't just saying that to make us feel good haha.

We had sooo many issues trying to cook them. Our apartment electricity is very very tempermental so we can only have one or two big appliances on at a time. If there are too many things on, we blow a circut and have to go outside to play around with the circut breaker and fix it....no fun, especially since that was the part of my physics class in high school where I always used to electricute myself. Where is Charlie when I need him???


This means that we can't use the stove and the oven at the same time..so annoying. Instead, we used the stove in the apartment downstairs from us, and used our oven upstairs. Everyone had fun at our apartment, and then we headed to Murphy's, our FAVORITE hangout haha. There are so many pictures that are taken in Murphy's. If you put them all together you could get a complete view of the bar!

Let's see....I joined the gym here in Ascoli last week. This gym is absolutely amazing. It is a normal gym on the top floor...workout equipment and weights....but downstairs it is like an aquatic paradise! And SOOO CLEAN! Amazing 25 meter pool and a turkish bath....so crazy! So that is my new favorite hangout! I am just waiting for my package from the US to arrive with my cap, goggles and swimsuit and I will be all set.

Now, on to Venezia! Venice was AMAZING! So much fun! We left Ascoli Piceno at 7am on Friday morning. When we woke up, is was SNOWING in Ascoli! SNOW! AH! The roads were covered and we were all slipping and sliding around with our luggage as we walked to the bus stop.

We took the bus to Venice, and the ride there was about 6 hours. Can I just say that I NEVER sleep on transportation of ANY kind just because it is impossible for me. Even on the drive to Florida, I barely slept. Somehow, on this bus ride to Venice, I passed out for the WHOLE TRIP! CRAZY! It was really nice though because I woke up and we were there! I got my first glimpse of the ocean/sea for the first time since being home and it was SOOO nice to see open water. Such a comfort! I can't even explain it!

When we arrived in Venice we had to drop our things off at our hotel (Hotel Messner) and then run out again because we had a scheduled tour of the Chiesa di San Marco. This is the MASSIVE church in Saint Marc's Square. There are tons of pictures of it in my photo album! Unfortunately, I could only take pictures of the outside because cameras were not allowed inside the church. I can't even describe the amazing paintings and mosaics and sculptures...EVERYTHING!! was so gorgeous! I can not understand how a people can be so creative! These massive buildings were built so long ago!

Out tour guide was telling us that the buildings in Venice are very characteristic of the city beause they are all for show. Apparently, Venice focuses more on what is on the outside i.e. masks for carnivale!! Venice was built on wood beams that are stuck in the mud, so the buildings can't be too heavy or they will sink. In order to keep the buildings afloat, but still pretty, the Venetian architects build the actual buidlings with wood, but covered the outside with marble. SO cool and smart! This way they are light, but still gorgeous! Che figo!!

So after our tour of the church we toured the Palazo Ducale, or the Doge Palace! AMAZING! I know I keep saying that everything was amazing, but it really way! I have never experienced anything like this in my entire life! The paintings and sculptures on the ceilings alone were enought to keep me standing there looking upwards for DAYS!

That night we had dinner at the hotel. DInner was...shall we say...less than desirable. Pasta with tuna and some sort of fish with spinach. It sounds like it would be ok....but it wasn't. Haha That night we went out looking for something fun to do. I called up Andrea's niece Martina and asked her about the night life in Venice. She basically said that there are two places to go....both of which were a hike from out hotel. We decided to hit up the Ponto Realto haha. Ponto Realto is one the the famous bridges in Venice.

We crossed the Ponto Realto and came upon this massive party! So crazy! It was a big outdooe dance party. We hung out there for a little bit and then, out of no where, this dance off just exploded in the middle of the croud. There were all these people dressed up in carnivale outfits having a dance-off! HOW AMERICAN IS THAT?! I have to say, one of the only things that I did not like about Venice was how touristy and american it seemed. The clerks in the shops didn't even try to speak italian with us, they would just automatically speak to us in English. I have to say, that I really appreciate that about Ascoli.

Anyway, yeah, dance-off....After that, we decided to head back to the hotel because it was late and we were tired from our long day. More to come!! Read the next blog!