Charming Venice

We got into Venice Tuesday afternoon. We caught the airport bus to the actual island of Venice and then tried to find the bus to get us to our campground.
We got off on the wrong foot with Venice. It was dark by this point, raining, we were tired, and we hadn't eaten anything except 2 French pastries each the whole day.
The man who sold us our bus tickets didn't speak English and must have had a long day, because he was not in a very good mood. We wandered around trying to find our bus because there were about 40 buses to choose from. No one spoke English and everyone directed us to this one bus, so we tried to ask the bus driver, who was crabby if this was the right bus. He motioned for us to get on, so we squeezed in. I have never in all my life been in a place so crowded. I was glad I had locks on my backpack. There was no room to move and we were squeezed in between lots of Italians. We rode like that for about an hour around various stops until finally two seats opened up and Marisa and I through our bags on them, and climbed over a railing to get in them. It was dark, and the windows were all fogged up. Marisa finally asked the bus driver where we should get off and he told us we were on the wrong bus!
So, 2 hours after getting on that bus, we got back to where we started, still wet, tired, and hungry. We decided to forgo the campground a little longer in favor of eating a real Italian meal. We found this little Italian restaurant by a canal and they brought us bread (which was incredible) and olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and white wine vinegar, and we dove in. We probably looked like savages: we spilled oil all over the table (they didn't give us bread plates) and there were crumbs and then the spaghetti came (1st course), then the steak, then the salad.
Our place of residence in Venice was a campground. We had a cabin and another trailer-like thing. I was in the cabin. It was very picturesque - and cold. We had no heater. I slept with all my clothes on, including my beret, which I kept pulled over my eyes and nose. I thought about the pioneers and their warm bricks and potatoes. I wished I had a brick or potato. I slept for about 10 hours because it was so cold, there was nothing else to do! It´s fun to "complain" about, but I actually loved it. It was such a good experience. I can tell my kids about it and maybe throw in a hill with a blinding snowstorm.

The next morning, we were pleasantly surprised by the sun. We wandered around Venice, and pretty much did absolutely nothing except eat and walk around. When we found a cute bakery, we would go in. It was a delicious experience. I had a meriengue (sp?) which in Italian I believe is spumoni. I could be totally wrong though.
Después de exploring, we went on a gondola ride! (Or if you´re Ralph, we went on a little boat ride.) Our gondolier´s name was Marco and he´d been gondoliering (is that a verb?) for 23 years. He spoke English, but told us he had "very bad voice" when we asked him if he sang. That´s okay. It was still worth it. It was very relaxing and we took a montón de pictures. Then we went out to eat again. I like Spanish tiramisu. It´s like chocolatey creamy goodness. I do not like Italian tiramisu. It actually has coffee involved. They made me try the espresso part 3 times. The second time, Erika took a picture, and the third time, she made a movie.
That night, we got a space heater for our cabin. The next morning was pretty much the same: wandering around, ect. Jackie and I went and found Piazza San Marco. (St. Mark´s square) It was cool, but on the other side of the island and we walked for about 3 hours. My feet held up just fine. (miraculously) Piazza San Marco was very crowded and we took some pictures, but not knowing any of the history, we felt we could not adequately appreciate it.
We got on the bus to the airport just before sunset (about 4.30). The sunset over northern Italy is something to behold. The mountains were purple, the sky was pink, the trees were yellow, red, and green. Incredible.
On to Rome!