Venice!

¡Vamos a Venezia!

Tammy & I took an EasyBus from Victoria Station to Stansted Airport. It was a loooooong & bumpy ride to the airport, but we made it with plenty of time to spare! : ) Security was a breeze. We were ready to fly at 5:20PM. Unfortunately, our flight was at 7:25PM! Two whole hours to kill! So we wandered through some stores – found cookies & water bottles - & took our decongestant with the hope that our ears wouldn’t have to pop for the rest of the night!

Our gate was announced, we made our way over, & there was no plane! It got closer & closer to 7:25PM & finally a plane showed up! Only it had to unload passengers & the plane crew had to clean while the luggage was unloaded. Of course this was a process that took forever. Everyone started getting in line & I noticed that we were the only ones speaking English. Everyone else was Italian. That didn’t exactly make me feel good about things. Then Tammy started getting knocked around in the line that wasn’t going anywhere. So our bad moods were just getting worse. It wasn’t exactly turning out to be the relaxing, stress-free, adventure-filled weekend we were hoping it would be. But we prevailed, boarded the plane & got excited for Italy! : )

We landed late, as expected, & immediately went to Customs, got our stamps & went in search of our bus. Well, apparently we were at the wrong airport for the bus we were instructed to take. Great: Obstacle #1. However, there was a shuttle headed right for Piazzale Roma, which is where we wanted to go. Perfect. Obstacle #1 resolved. We got to Piazzale Roma & tried to ask our bus driver, who only spoke Italian, if he knew where our hotel was – or at least in which direction we should walk. He didn’t know, but he did have a map & pointed it out for us. Sweet. I became the obnoxious American by greeting Italy with “¡Buona Serra, Italia!” Yes, I’m retarded. I admit it. But I was really excited to be in Italy!!!! : ) Obstacle #2: Finding our hotel. Street signs are few & far between in Italy – same as London - & we had only a hint of an idea of where we were going. We actually stumbled upon some American tourists who pointed us in the right direction. Or what we thought was the right direction. Tammy walked into a café that was getting ready to close & asked the woman there if she knew where our hotel is located. Thankfully, she knew exactly where it is! : ) She marked our route on the map & off we went. Turns out we were headed in the wrong direction. Damn Google directions in Europe! Totally useless!

Anyway, we walked through the streets of Venice after midnight. It was raining, a little chilly & we were tired. Finally, after about an hour or so of wandering we found it! Albergo Alex! Woohoo!! : ) We walked in & this elderly woman was waiting for us. She reminded me of my great-grandmother, which seemed to set my mind at ease. : ) She greeted us, gave us our room key & we went straight upstairs. Our room was small. Tiny. Cute. Quaint. It was a single room with a cot that had been rolled in. We went right to bed. We got up the next morning, headed down to breakfast & got ready for our first full day in Venice!

In our room, Tammy opened the window & the shutters to let in the Venetian sunlight. And to see what our view was like. Nothing spectacular: the street below us, the laundry hanging from the building across the way, some dogs & kids running in the street. It was beautiful! Venice!!!!! : ) The sun was peeking through & we couldn’t wait to get out & explore! : )

Around 9:30AM we headed out into the unknown of Venice! We followed signs for San Marco, crossed the Ponte di Rialto [a bridge with shops]! : ) We saw gondolas weaving through the narrow waterways. We stumbled on the Grand Canal just before crossing the Ponte di Rialto. It was beautiful! The sun was shining! The gondolas, water taxis, & water buses were buzzing up & down. It was beautiful! : ) It was so warm out, too! We got to Piazza San Marco & I fell in love. The Basilica di San Marco, the Companile, the Museo Correr – it was all so beautiful! I couldn’t help but think of the movie the Italian Job either, or Casino Royale. If only Mark Wahlberg &/or Daniel Craig had just come out of the woodwork! Hahaha! : )

We walked toward the Grand Canal & just walked along the beautiful water. We poked our heads into some of the shops & admired the stalls. We found a tour that goes to the islands of Murano, Burano, & Torcello. But the boat didn’t leave for a few hours, so we still had time to see some more of the city. We ate lunch outside, watching the water & all the boats. Of course we ate pizza for lunch. Yummm. : ) It was so warm outside & the sun felt so good! : ) After we ate we headed back toward Piazza San Marco & kept walking past to see the other side. More shops, more tourists. So we decided to sit down next to the water & soak up the Venetian sun! : ) Then we got on the boat & headed to Murano! We got off the boat & walked right into a glass blowing factory. The Maestro made a vase & a horse. It was so much fun to watch him make such beautiful pieces! : ) After we watched him we were allowed to go into the shop & see some of the pieces they had made. There were chandeliers, wine glasses, vases, mirrors, everything! It was exquisite! Murano glass! Unfortunately I don’t think I could ever afford anything in that store. So I kept my hands to myself & oooo-ed & awwww-ed instead.

Next stop was Burano. Burano is known for lace-making. We were guided to a particular lace shop & it was all so beautiful. Everything in the store was hand-made: handkerchiefs, doilies, table-cloths, curtains, christening gowns. There was an elderly woman sitting there working on a piece & it was so amazing to watch her work. It seemed effortless. So many tiny details being put into such a small piece!

Last stop was Torcello. Torcello is a beautiful island with a few restaurants & a large church. We didn’t have much time there, so we just quickly wandered & admired the view of the water & the feel of the sun. It was all so relaxing. I loved it!

We got back to San Marco & walked back toward San Polo, which is where we were staying. We found a restaurant not too far from our hotel to have dinner. The spaghetti was delicious! Of course I ate spaghetti! I was in Italy! I had to! : ) Nothing like sitting outside under the cool night sky in Venice with your best friend, talking over a bottle of wine! : ) After dinner we walked toward the hotel & stopped for some gelato. Yummmm! : ) Then we walked a bit in the direction of Piazzale Roma which is where we were dropped off the night before. We just wanted to see it. We didn’t get too far before we started taking silly pictures of ourselves & then we headed back to bed. The best part of Friday? My sunburn! That’s right – not only was it the first sunburn of the year, but it was an Italian sunburn! : )

Saturday morning we got up, got showered, & got breakfast. We took our time that morning since our theme for the weekend was relaxation & not to rush! We left the hotel a little after 11AM & headed back in the direction of Piazzale Roma [we finally got to see it in the daylight!] & bought tickets for the waterbus. Tammy had found in our handy-dandy guide book an island called Lido. Lido is known for its beaches. I didn’t need any other information. I was ready to hit the sand & put my toes in the Adriatic Sea! After a long walk, we finally reached the beach. Tammy & I had to take in the moment & carefully document our first trip to the beach with some pictures. Then we had to stop & apply the sunscreen we spent €15 on so that we didn’t get anymore sunburn! Then we were ready to hit the sand & water! I ran for it! I was too excited! I ran right for the water! It looked so inviting, so blue & warm. Well it was blue, but it wasn’t warm! I was tricked! It was cold! It felt like the Atlantic Ocean in April! Not exactly what I was expecting. But, I was still really excited to be at the beach regardless! : ) So Tammy & I sat in the sand to read our books & soak some more of the sun. : )

After the beach we found a place to eat lunch. I reveled in the fact that I haven’t eaten outside so much! : ) After lunch we obviously got more gelato! It’s just so delicious & it was such a perfect day to enjoy an ice cream cone! : ) We sat with our gelato & watched the boats on the Grand Canal. Then we got back on the waterbus & headed back to Piazzale Roma. The Grand Canal is so beautiful & the sun reflecting off the water made for such a wonderful scenic ride. : )

We headed back to the hotel for a little R&R before we ventured back out for dinner. It was nice to just sit & relax & not worry about where we were going next. We just took our time. Total 180 after the semester we’ve had of running around all over London, Dublin, & Edinburgh! : ) So we had dinner on San Marco, enjoyed the night air & a bottle of wine. : ) After dinner we walked back to Piazza San Marco & there were three restaurants with small ensembles playing different kinds of music. They were all competing for the crowd’s attention & Tammy & I decided to listen. It was a lot of fun! : ) The clarinet players were incredible! Made me wish I still played.

We found a bar called the Bar Americano & I decided to introduce Tammy to limoncello. Yumm! : ) We chit-chatted a bit over our delicious limoncello & then headed back to San Polo. We had to stop & get some gelato on the way back. It’s just so good! : ) We walked & wandered a bit on our way back. We ended up taking a longer route back, but it was nice to see a little more of the city. We finally got back to the hotel & the sign wasn’t lit. Then we saw the locked gates over the door. Uh oh. Fortunately we saw a couple in the lobby & started knocking on the door. They pointed to the side of the building & we ran around. The woman, an American, asked us if we were staying there. We breathlessly replied that we did & thanked her for letting us in. Apparently the second key on our hotel key was for a side door if we came in late at night. The woman who owns the hotel never told us that. We thanked them profusely & then went to bed.

Sunday morning we got up early to get breakfast & packed up so we could check out. By 9:45 we were outta there & ready to see the last of Venice. We went straight to San Marco to start our gift shopping. Then we sat outside & had a cup of coffee/hot chocolate at the Café Florian. My religion teacher this semester, Delia, is Italian & told me that if we had some money leftover that we should go & have coffee there. It was expensive. My hot chocolate was pretty much a melted down chocolate bar with some chocolate syrup thrown in. It was so thick! I even had to add some sugar to it because it wasn’t very sweet. It was crazy! : )

There was some kind of music festival going on in Piazza San Marco that day. We watched eight people, dressed like they were from the Renaissance, throwing flags. It was actually really cool to watch. We’re not really sure what the festival was for, but it was fun to watch & listen to the music. : )

Then we braved the long line at Basilica di San Marco & paid €4 to visit the museum & terrace that overlooks the Piazza. Too bad it was such a grey, rainy day. Our whole weekend was sunny & warm; it would have been really cool to be up there in better weather. But it was still lots of fun. We found a place to eat lunch. That sucked. We went back to the Basilica to see the actual church. It was beautiful! Granted, I’ve seen a lot of churches this semester, but they’re all beautiful in their own way. This one was floor to ceiling gold. The mosaics on the floor were amazing! I could have stayed in there for hours. The best part was the smell of incense lurking in the corners. I love that smell. : )

We left the church, said goodbye to Piazza San Marco & headed toward the Ponte di Rialto. Tammy & I did some gift shopping there, too. Then we got our last gelato, grabbed our bags from the hotel & went in search of dinner. We took our time walking to Piazzale Roma, walked along the Grand Canal, & found a nice restaurant to have dinner. We took our time to order. We had lots of time to kill. We ate, ordered a bottle of wine. Tammy got tiramisu for dessert & I got limoncello. : ) We left the restaurant, bought some ITALIA hoodies. : ) We modeled our new hoodies on a bridge & took lots of silly pictures. As usual. : ) We walked to the bus depot & caught an earlier shuttle to the airport. We had lots of time to kill once we got checked in & through security. And, once again, we left late. Ugh. But we got back to London with just enough time to catch our EasyBus back to Baker Street. We got back to Regent’s, I Skyped the parents just to let them know I was alive & then I went to bed! Just before 2AM! Yikes! The next day was the start of the last week of classes!!!! : )

Oh. Em. Gee.

So....lots to catch up on! Diving right in, let's start with Edinburgh!

Oh, Scotland! It was beautiful! We took the train - a five hour ride from King's Cross Station to Edinburgh. Tammy & I read, shared my mp3 player, & tried to nap as much as possible on our long journey. The night before we left for Scotland was Tammy's 21st! But we were good & got ourselves home & in bed by 12:30AM! We greatly appreciated that at 6:30AM! :)
We pulled into Edinburgh & the sun was shining! A little on the chilly side, but gorgeous!

After a looooong train ride we got to Edinburgh around 1:30PM. We found our hostel, Backpackers Edinburgh, which was just a quick walk up from the train station. It felt like San Francisco [not that I’ve been there yet] with the hills we climbed! Talk about steep! Anyway, we checked into the hostel & trudged upstairs to the 2^nd [which is really the 3^rd] floor. Once we saw who was staying in our 14-bed room we knew we were gonna be awake in the wee hours of the morning. We picked our beds, walked down to the room where Anitra & Lanette were staying, & ventured out into Edinburgh! The four of us walked around. It was sunny & very Spring-like! But then the fog rolled in pretty thick – it was nbuts! Tammy & I went to the Real Mary King’s Close. It appears to be underground but it’s actually originally street-level with City Chambers [kinda like City Hall] built on top. Very cool tour! : ) I was half-expecting to be scared or spooked a little – but no [thankfully]. : )

After that we went to dinner at Jimmy Chung’s Chinese Buffet – same place we ate at in Dublin with Michael! : ) Yummm! : )

From there we met up with Anitra & Lanette & headed back to the hostel. We hung out there for a bit – talked with some other Regent’s kids – then headed out in search of a pub! We wandered down High St. [Royal Mile] & went into The World’s End. The funny part was that it was so foggy that night that you couldn’t see 30 feet in front of you – the perfect atmosphere for a place called The World’s End! : ) So we went in for a few drinks – had some laughs, told a story about Alexander & Penelope the pigeons – came back to the hostel & went to bed!

On Saturday we woke up around 8AM. I’d been awake at some point in the middle of the night when everyone came crashing in. I took a cold shower – we ate at Southern Cross Café for breakfast [yummy bacon roll!] & went to the Kirk of Saint Giles & Edinburgh Castle. We spent about four hours in the Castle & heard/watched the one o’clock gun go off. Then we had lunch at a pub not too far from the Castle. Tammy ran across the street to buy our tickets for our Scotch Whiskey Experience tour. We ate, went to the Woolen Mill where they make tartan & sell big wool sweaters. That was pretty cool. Then we went to the Scotch Whiskey Experience [what we were told was like “Drunk Disney”] - & it was eh. It was nowhere near as much fun as Guinness [that was fun!]. We went back to the hostel afterward, dropped off our free whiskey glasses & headed in the direction of Holyroodhouse Palace. Only Tammy & I detoured to try climbing Arthur’s Seat. Windy! Crazy! Lots of fun! We came across a Newfoundland, too! He was like a bear!!! : ) We found Anitra & Lanette after our hike & ate dinner at the Royal Mile Pub. We hung out for a bit – Tammy & Anitra got cider that contained Sulphur. Interesting.

We headed back to the hostel for a bit & hung out with some Regent’s kids for a little while. : ) Then we went in search of dessert & ended up in Quizno’s eating small pints of Ben & Jerry’s. : ) We got back to the hostel & crashed.

Sunday morning, Tammy & I got up early again, ate breakfast & went to Holyroodhouse Palace. Very cool! : ) Then we did some shopping! : ) Of course, the day we left Edinburgh was the best weather day of the weekend. Figures.

Overall it was a great weekend in Scotland! I’m so happy I got to go! I didn’t think I’d make it there & I did! : ) Another country to add to the “I have visited…” list! : )

Dad Lands in London!

On March 26th, Dad landed in London!!! I got the phone call telling me he was waiting for his bag & then he'd get on the Heathrow Connect! How exciting! I met him at Baker Street, gave him a big hug & lead him to his hotel. The man at the front desk thought I was also staying at the hotel & proceeded to explain most of the details to me. Dad & I got a kick out of it when we got in the tiny elevator to the 2nd floor - he was the one who needed to know which way the hotel key faced when swiped to open the door, not me. :)
We surveyed his rather tiny room & then headed out on our first adventure: lunch! Tammy met us at our favorite sandwich place - actually we've only taken our visitors there, but still, it's a pretty good place to eat. :) Dad was happy for food & the chance to sit for a bit. After we all finished, & Dad enjoyed sitting for a little longer, we set off to the Tube! We took the Jubilee Line South to Green Park. Buckingham Palace was our first stop on Dad's trip. The really cool part of this visit to Buckingham was the flag flying above the palace: it was the Queen's Standard! That meant that the Queen was there! How exciting! Dad had packed Michael's camera for the trip, but left it at the hotel. So I made sure I got some pictures for him & Tammy was playing "mom" & took pictures of Dad & me in front of the palace. :)
We wandered around to Westminster Cathedral, walked inside - I've been in there four times now & it's absolutely beautiful! Tammy & I also light candles for our grandmothers - a little something special for the two of us.
After the Cathedral, we walked back toward Buckingham & the Queen had left! In the span of about 20 minutes she left!! Crazy! So we kept walking toward Big Ben & Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately the sun that had been shining decided to hide & let the clouds pour buckets of rain! To prove how tricky the weather was, by the time we got to Big Ben it had stopped raining - it was only a five or ten minute walk from Buckingham. Thankfully the rain stopped - at least for a little while. We showed Dad the River Thames & the London Eye then got back on the Tube. We got back to Baker Street & Dad had a hankering for a cup o' tea. So we walked down Baker Street to Starbucks & got some tea & a brownie. Then Dad needed a nap. So we reconvened at Baker Street a little later to get some grub at Belgo Centraal!!!! Yes! Dad's first dinner in London was Belgo!! How exciting!!! & delicious!! :) Dad loved it - unfortunately they did not have Heineken, but the bangers & mash made up for that. :) It was definitely strange ordering beer & drinking legally with Dad!! :) After dinner we walked back through Piccadilly & got milkshakes at Ed's Easy Diner. Ed's is Dad's kinda place - oldies & milkshakes. :)
We got back to Baker Street at 10PM. Go Dad! :)
Friday morning, the 27th, we had a bit of a late start. Dad fell back to sleep - twice. When we finally met up with Dad, we walked down to Barclay's to get some funds outta the hole-in-the-wall. Only problem was the message on the screen: "Cash services are unavailable." Ugh! Four ATMs & NO money!! Oh well...so we went to the Post Office so Dad could get a stamp for his postcard to Father Charles & Tammy was sending her Dad's birthday cards.
We dug into a fabulous [I use the term "fabulous" lightly] lunch in the school refectory. Then Dad & I went out to see Trafalgar Square, St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church & the National Gallery [for about ten minutes]. After that we met Tammy at The Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street. It was pretty cool - a new stop on the Schaaffe-Kelly London Tour! :) We all got our pictures taken with Dr. Watson - it was Sherlock's day off, unfortunately.
We left the museum & Dad wanted some hot chocolate...off to Costa! :) That was the motivation Dad needed to take a nap. :) So we met up after his nap for dinner at Pizza Express - after all, it was a Friday in Lent & we couldn't eat meat...so pizza! :) It was so delicious - as usual. Dad really liked it. Or maybe he liked that it was his first day off from cooking pizza. It was his turn to sit & enjoy eating without cooking at all. :) I knew how much Dad wanted to find some Heineken, so after pizza, Tammy & I took him to Belgo Kingsway. Not only do they have Heineken, but they have it on tap! :) Dad was in Beer-Heaven! :)
We got back to Baker Street at 10:30PM, a good time for us all to get some sleep! :)
Saturday the 28th dawned itchy. Yes, itchy. I woke up with another horrible allergic reaction. Actually, I knew before I woke up. I knew around 4AM when I rolled over rubbing at my eye & nose. I was awake for a while & could feel the hives on my arm get itchier. It was tons of fun! :( At least I seem to have discovered the culprit...small victory.
Anyway, we finally got money! Woohoo!!! ATMs were up & running! :) I took Dad to the Tower of London & Tower Bridge. We even did the Tower Bridge exhibit! :) It was just as much fun as the first time! :) Unfortunately the weather still couldn't decide whether it wanted to be sunny or rainy, so we got both. Yuck. The cool thing, as Dad & I walked along the River Thames in Southwark, was the rainbow over the River Thames!!! It was beautiful! :) It would appear that Dad brought lots of luck to London! :) After the rainbow, we met up with Tammy & got dinner in Leicester Square at a steakhouse. It was kinda crowded, but good food. We had another early night because we wanted to get to St. Paul's for morning mass.
Sunday, the 29th, we woke up, changed our clocks [now we're five hours ahead of home, again, & I am not happy about it] & headed out to church. We got to St. Paul's early & walked around a bit before mass. We got inside around 10AM & mass was scheduled to start at 10:15. 10:15 came & went. At 10:30 Dad went over to ask someone about mass & they said "Oh, come back at 6:30. This one is cancelled because the 6:30 service will be a lot bigger." ...Whatever that means...
So we left, crossed the Millenium Bridge [better known as the "Wobbly Bridge"] & Dad pointed out Tower Bridge. I looked & saw it was OPEN! I started jumping up & down on the bridge, freaking out! It's good luck to see Tower Bridge open! I was so excited!!! :) After we all took pictures with the open bridge, we crossed to see the Globe & then got back on the Tube toward a supposed "American" diner for brunch. It was the WORST place! The staff were all hoity-toity Italians! The food wasn't exactly like home - it was alright. Dad made a crack that we were in Mayfair, but he wanted to be in the Mayfair Diner at home! :) After that we came back to Regent's to print Dad's paperwork to fly to Huddersfield on Monday. Plus we had to map out his Tube routes. He took that stuff back to his hotel & wandered the area for a bit while I tried to get some homework done. Then we met up for dinner at the Globe. It was pretty good food. Unfortunately for Dad, no Heineken. But he made do with a similar beer. We came back to school for my regularly scheduled Skype date with home & chit-chatted with Mom & Michael. Before they got on the computer, however, I was showing Dad all of his nieces & nephews that are on Facebook. He got a real kick otta that. So much so that he got on the computer & sent a message to my cousin Dave! Hilarious! :) Dad's one & only encounter with Facebook! :)
After our Skype date, Dad left to get some sleep before his early morning to Huddersfield.
Monday I was in classes all day, as was Tammy, while Dad was in Huddersfield. He did call me not too long after he got there to let me know he had eaten lunch & was getting ready to go to the church where his father was baptized. I wish I could have gone with him. Anyway, Tammy & I met him when he got back that night & got a late dinner at Pizza Express. He showed us the pictures he took of the area & the photocopies of the church records. He found the records of my grandfather's birth, my great-aunt's birth, & the birth records of a great-aunt & uncle who each died within 10 days of birth. I had no idea! Dad even found the marriage record of my great-grandparents! It was so cool to see! :) Then Dad told me to close my eyes & hold out my hands! Ooooo, presents!! Haha - it was a roll of digestives!!! YUMM!!! :) After dinner, Dad walked Tammy & me back to the park entrance where we said our goodbyes. I was sad to say goodbye to Dad. I only got a few days with him! But they were really fun days with Dad! I haven't had quality Dad-daughter time for a long time.
Tuesday morning Dad called me to tell me he was at the airport & made it there in one piece. Then he flew on home - back to the States - without me. The night before I had dreamed that I packed up, met him at the Tube on Tuesday morning & got on the plane at Heathrow with him. Needless to say I was pretty emotional on Tuesday. Tammy & I had to hang up our London Tour Guide uniforms!
We are now retired & enjoying our retirement by going to Edinburgh, Venice & seeing as much of London as we can before we leave in 26 days!