Venice, Italy

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Tyler and I just got back from an amazing trip to Italy, Greece and Croatia! We had so much fun and saw so many great things. We went to a lot different cities and I have a ton of pictures so I'm going to make a different post for each city.

Our adventure began on Thursday, May 26th. We woke up bright and early and headed to the SLC airport. My mom taught me that you can park at one of the hotels nearby for really cheap so we went to the hotel first then got shuttled to the airport which saved us about $100 and it was really convenient as well. We checked in and got on the plane to JFK in New York. I wish we could have had more of a layover there since I've never been there but that will have to be a separate trip alone since there is so much to do there. We got off the plane, ate at Chili's, then boarded the plane to Venice! We had to wait for three hours in the plane before it took off. Our pilot told us after we took off that it was because of lightening storms. I slept and watched movies on Tyler's iPad most of the way there, and before I knew it we were putting our tray tables upright and landing in Venice! (I love airplane food by the way...we had chicken and a salad and also those yummy cookies...call me crazy!) When we got off the plane, we collected our baggage and met up with Auto Owners (the insurance company that took us) and got on a water taxi that shuttled us to our hotel, the Molino Stuckey Hilton. I kept thinking to myself, "I can't believe I'm in Italy!"

When we got to the hotel, we checked in then took a water taxi across the channel to explore a bit. We looked at the shops and had our first taste of Italian gelato. Yummo! That night after our suitcases were delivered we changed clothes and had our Auto Owner's welcome dinner. After dinner we explored the island we were on and ventured down to Elton John's Italian home. The next morning we went on a tour of Venice, specifically St. Mark's Square and I almost died at how amazing it was! My favorite part were the ceilings in the Doge's Palace. We weren't allowed to take pictures and my description won't do it justice. The ceilings were paintings, sculptures and unbelievable architecture that literally took my breath away! I can't believe they were able to create such amazing things so long ago when their resources were not as advanced as ours. We also toured the Basilica (church) and glass factory. All of the girls got handmade glass necklace charms. After this we went on a gondola ride through the waterways of Venice. The families that live there have boats, not cars, to get around. There are 118 islands that are all connected by bridges. We were hungry after so we decided to get some pizza and it was good. We had to top it off with gelato, of course, so I had the same kind that I had tried the day earlier. It was vanilla with cherry swirled through. We then just got lost in the city and walked through the narrow walkways. That night we ate Italian food at a true Italian restaurant and had spaghetti. It was good but it was expensive! $15 for plate of spaghetti that wasn't that big of a portion. Normally I share food when I go out in America or take some food home because it's too much, but I didn't share that night. We were exhausted so we went back to our hotel afterward and crashed. The time difference is 8 hours there. The next morning we woke up late and took a water taxi to our cruise ship. We boarded and relaxed all day on the ship, then had a welcome reception for Auto Owner's followed by dinner. The food on the ship was not good, unfortunately. I would suggest taking an American cruise line if you cruise in Europe. At least I didn't gain any weight like I thought I would, though!