Peace, Love, and Hot Dog Cakes

Hey folks! griffin and i stopped in an internet cafe real quick to check some train stuff so i just wanted to say hi. last night in italy - had a delicious dinner! i had some stuffed anchovies for an appetizer and then a yummy pasta and griff had a pesto lasagne. We hiked today from riomaggiore to vernazza and then went to monterosso to the beach. i bought cheap goggles and played in the water with griffin and then griff took a nap on the beach. We had a long day travelling yesterday and it was hot as hell and then we were greeted with a room with no AC that was 100 degrees. you appreciate a lot of hotel conveniences of america after travelling in europe. god i love air conditioning. tomorrow we head to Switzerland and it will be much nicer (no need for AC). anyways, hope you all are doing well. wish i could upload some pictures but i might not be able to until tomorrow. the views here are awesome, and despite the lack of AC we have an amazing unbelievable view out of window. ciao everyone (and italy)!

Well, last night here. Off to Cinque Terre this afternoon (probably before most of yall wake up back in the staties). Finally put my postcards in the box today. Took a gondola ride and had a wonderful dinner - can see pictures here. Lots of food, wine, drinks, and fun. I also checked...I've taken 312 pictures in Venice. I think that number will only increase as we travel places. Alright I'm tired and off to bed...I'll write a little more in the AM.



Also, was reading on CNN a while ago and read this story. This justifies another reason why i dont buy my gas from anything owned/operated by Exxon - they sure as hell don't need my money. I like the part where they say they make enough money in a SECOND to drive from New York to LA 3 times.

EDIT: It's the morning, we're packing. Griffin has a somewhat small amount of stuff considering she's been here for almost 2 1/2 months. Last night Derrin and Duncan jumped into the canal (eww) so i'm fully expecting their skin to start rotting off within the next few weeks. Anyways, hopefully we'll be able to find some internet on our journey and update everyone with pictures and stories, but who knows. We're going to check everyone out and then grab a cappucino and hit the road jack. Ciao!

Buongiorno! Well, we have had quite an exciting week which is good since we leave Venice tomorrow. Tuesday night we made dinner (delicious pasta a la griffin) and then went to watch tango in one of the campo's (squares). After that we went to the cafe Florian, which is in St. Marks Square, and watched a quintet/sextet (i dunno) play while we drank wine and beer and ate peanuts and olives. We were going to go to Harry's bar but it was closed when we finished watching the tango dancing, but we decided to go outside in the square and listen to the music. It was very relaxing and quite fun!

Yesterday (Wednesday) we got up and decided to go see some churches and get our shopping done. I got mom her purse and I got all sorts of Christmas presents for people. Griffin got some really cool pants at United Colors of Bennetton (the american eagle of europe), but not like anyone really cares about our shopping purchases. We went in this beautiful church - San Maria dei Miracoli - which had less artwork and paintings than many of the others but was absolutely beautiful because it was completely marble and just really different from a lot of the other churches. We also went in another one - San Stefano - which had a cool sacristy full of paintings and other little artifacts. We walked around a LOT that morning, so after that we came back to the house and rested for the heat of the afternoon. Once it cooled down some we went out to Bar Ginos and had coke and cappuccino and then went to try and find a gondolier to take us on a ride. Well, we did and he wanted 150 euro (like 175 bucks) for a 50 minute ride so we said helllllll no and did the poor man's tour of venice - we got on the vaporetto at the beginning of the grand canal and rode it all the way down to the train station at the other end. It was awesome because we got the front two seats on the bus and so I took a ton of pictures - which you can find here. After that we went out to a delicious dinner at San Trovaso (we both split an antipasta of french fries and then had lasagne for dinner and then tiramisu for dessert). we also got free limoncello from the waiters because they know us now and love to mess with us and talk to/flirt with griffin. We're probably going there again tonight for our last dinner in venice.

We are doing laundry now for our trip, and we'll pack tonight. We are going to try and leave tomorrow around 1:30 (if possible) and head to cinque terre and hopefully get there by 7:30-8. I'm very excited but kind of sad to say bye to Venice, it's been quite awesome and this city is so unique and interesting. It's very touristy in parts, but the key is to just get lost and find the not so touristy areas because those are the coolest. The big touristy places are neat, but a lot of the not so touristy museusms (Ca'Rezzonico) are the really cool finds. Venice has so many palaces (palazzo's) that if you like architecture, art, and things of the sort, it's heaven. We're going to go get at least one more cappucino at Bar Gino's and then head to a church or two today but we've pretty much done everything we wanted so we're going to take today easy since we'll be travelling a lot until we get to Paris next Thursday. Anyways, time for a quick pick me up - Ciao!

This morning Griffin and I went to one of the opera houses in Venice - La Fenice. It was destroyed by a fire in 1996 and rebuilt in 8 1/2 years and it reopened about a year ago. It was one of the coolest theatres i had seen in a long time (they are having a miles davis tribute concert of some sort on the 31st which makes me sad that i'll be out of town). Anyways, it was incredible - beautiful ceilings and a fun tour guide. After that Griffin and I went walking (I bought my first souvenier - a venice shirt woot. i promise i'll haggle with a street vendor for a fake prada if you really want it, mom). We ended up towards the "tail" of venice (it's shaped like a fish) and wandered around the gardens, had some delicious gnocchi and tortellini for lunch, and then melted in the heat of the sun walking back. It's a hot one today so i'm glad we got a lot done this AM. We still have a few things on the list to do (gondola ride, a few churches, maybe the original jewish ghetto and cemetary, and cruise the grand canal). Anyways, back to chill out. ciao!
Link for new pictures!

So today was cool for a number of reasons, first being that i saw san marco's basilica and the doge's palace, but second - i saw an art exhibit by wolverine. I'll have pictures of the first two up tomorrow, but now i know why i hate most modern art. we went to the peggy guggenheim house (which is literally right next door to the wake house) today and saw modern art. The Dali there was very cool and i liked a few others, but they had a featured exhibit by Lucio Fontana. Literally, this guy was wolverine with canvas. All it was was tears and punctures in canvas (which was SOMETIMES painted but usually just canvas). I hate most modern art and i'm glad i learned that today. But you know what I love, cappucino's and pasta and pizza. and air conditioning. Ciao

Last night was fun - we had a great dinner at Taverna San Trovaso and then went to Campo Santa Margherita, which is a square with a bunch of bars and a little nightlife. It was quite fun...we had a tower of beer (picture to come) and griffin had a tasty bellini. We hung out for a while and a few of the law school guys tried to pick up random americans in Venice (some artist from New York, law students from tulane & Loyola New Orleans that were in for the weekend).

Anyways, Sunday I slept in which was very nice. It's been so hot that we've been getting up early and trying to do stuff in the morning and then taking the afternoons off to chill out (griffin has a little air conditioner in her room and my hotel is fully air conditioned - needless to say we've watched our fair share of 24). We did some things around the house and griffin talked to her mom for a while and then we decided to go check out some churches. We only got to one (Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari) before they all closed. However, we did make sure to get Gelato on the way there (Gelato is amazing - i have had it in the US but for some reason it's much better over here, but only if you go to the good gelateria places and not the cheap gelato stands). After the churh we got granita's (slurpies) and Jon (one of the law students) got a mint one - it was nasty. Anyways, we decided to Restaurant San Trovaso (same as the tavern just without pizza and in a different building) for dinner. It was so good - we keep going to this place because a) i want to try out lots of different meals and they are very good and b)not only is it good but it's cheap and the waiters are fun. Anyways, I had the Spaghetti Carbonara which was great - one of my favorites. One of the Law Girls has a friend in and she came out to dinner with us and come to find out her cousin is little Pete (danny tamborelli) from Pete and Pete - which has inspired us to take a trip to New York to party with him. Apparently he hangs out with some of the kids from All That (the non funny ones).

Anyways, we're about to head out to do San Marco (the basilica) and the Doges Palace (the quintessential Venice things to do). Don't forget to check out the pictures (i put up new ones today). Ciao!

FYI, that's the wake forest house right on the Grand Canal. Pretty sweet, eh? Anyways, basically the main thing that has stood out about the past two days is that it's been HOT AND SWEATY!!! Man you just melt out there when you go out. But, its still cool, and thank God I have a long time here so I can do a few things a day and still get a lot in. I haven't done all the St Marks Square stuff, but we did take another day and got lost (Friday) and had quite a fun time doing so until we were starving. Later we went up to San Giorgio Maggiore which is a benedictine abbey/church on its own island. We went up in the belltower and got awesome views of Venice and all the surrounding islands. We also had a nice dinner with a few of the house guests (The law professors, some Germans who were really cool, and a wake & venice law student). That was a lot of fun

Today I got up early and had breakfast at the hotel next to mine (Hotel Belle Arti). It was nice to have all you could eat cold cuts for breakfast and some tasty fruits. It's a really nice hotel, I'll have to get some pictures tomorrow. We then went to Murano, the island that's famous for making lots of glass. It was fun - we went with 2 of the Wake Law students Duncan & Darrin who we had a blast hanging out with all day. Then we went to another church on the way back on the Vapporeto. In Venice, since they don't have automobiles their public transportation are these Vapporeto's, or water buses. Nothing special, but it's kind of fun to ride them. It was a little hike out to the island and back (probably 45 mins one way) but we did have a fun time and there is good people watching on those boats. Took a nice siesta this afternoon and now we're getting ready to go out with Duncan & Darrin for dinner and maybe go out to a bar afterwards. At some point we need to make a plan so we can get everything in that we want to do. I'm pretending that it's going to cool off this week but I know it wont. Anyways, Ciao!

Alright...i'm worn out. It's 10:30 here, and finally starting to cool down. It has been so freakin hot...94 today. Or...40 degrees celsius or some crap like that. Oh man, but it's been fun. On Wednesday we got lost - it's the best way to explore venice. It's an island so hey, you can't really get off. If you can find your way to the Accademia bridge, one of three that cross the Grand Canal (which everyone can tell you how to get to) then you're golden. Anyways, the coolest part of getting lost is that you find random churches that you weren't really expecting. And there are two great things about churches: 1) art (architecture, paintings, sculptures, ornate furniture and decorations) and 2) I can finally put all those years of Latin to good use. I'll never be good at speaking to italians, french, or spaniards but i can sure as hell translate an inscription on some old dudes tomb. Anyways, we found some really cool churches - San Giovanni e Paolo (old Gothic and full of old doges - the princes of old venice) and Santa Maria Formosa (which we actually stumbled in illegally through the backdoor without having to pay but we eventually did pay for our all-churches pass). We had an awesome lunch at Taverna San Trovaso (Griffin had the lasagne which was much different from the one I make, and I had some proscuittio and tortellini). We had some cappucino and gelato as well. We came back so Griffin could do some work and I ended up taking a long nap while Griffin gave tours of the wake house. Griffin made delicious pasta for dinner and we finished the wine we bought (which was amazing, Casa Defara or something like that). We hung out with the wake law students and played power hour (mostly watched them play)for most of the night but then I crashed.

Today we went out this morning and I had a cafe latte and Griffin had a coke at Bar Da Gino, the little cafe/bar right up the calle that we go to about twice a day. Then we went to Ca'Rezzonico, a museum of 18th Century Venetian Art. There was lots of crazy furniture (very ornate), ceiling paintings (Frescoes to be exact...everyone loves the Frescoe), and sculptures. Today was designated Art Day (by me), so after we came back and Griffin checked on a few things at the house, we went out and went to San Salute (the church that's right behind the Wake house and in all the pictures of Venice but isn't San Marco) and then went to the Accademia, another art museum. Mostly we saw some titian, tinoretto, and some other venetian dudes. Pretty fun - some really cool stuff. My favorite was this 9-painting cycle of Ursala and Ereo (or something like that) anyways he was british and she was from some place in Italy and then they got married but she wanted him to be confirmed by the Catholic church and she was some big-wig so they went to Rome to get him confirmed but Rome got sacked by Huns and they got killed. Sad...like a Nicholas Sparks book.
After that we had drinks and Gino's (I had a spritz which is a venetian drink with i dont know what in it and Griffin had Prosseco which is venetian champagne) and some good ol tater chips. Then we went to the grocery story (Billa) and tried to get stuff to make Chicken Marsala but apparently marsala isn't as Italian as I thought it was and I couldn't find it and the store people didn't know what I was talking about (apparently it's Sicilian, which is different). Anyways, we threw together some food and it was pretty good, not the best, but good. We drank some wine (not as good as before...but hey that's what you get for 1.20 euro wine.
Now it's time for bed so we can try to hit up San Marco, the Beach, or somewhere else tomorrow. Ciao!

Here's a link to where I'll put all my pictures:
EUROPE PICTURES

Oh wow so that was the freakin longest flight ever. I left Raleigh at 2 yesterday and got to Venice this morning at 10 am local time (aka 4 am; 14 hours of travel). i'm surprisingly awake for having gotten 1 or 2 hours of crappy air plane sleep. I can't wait to sleep, but its early!

Edit - 3:22 pm (Venice Time)
Okay, so its a fight to stay awake. Griffin and I went around the city and checked out some of the major sites but no serious sightseeing or touristy things yet. I had a delicious piece of pizza for lunch and a cappucino to keep me going strong. Picking out lots of things that I want to do while we're here so i'm sure it'll be a good time while we're here. I'm still trying to decide if I want to do a daytrip and if so, where to go (Rome, Milan, Florence, Italian Alpine hiking, orsome random place off the beaten path. Anyways, I think we're going to try and hit up a Vivaldi concerto sometime this week and maybe go to a similar thing in Verona(is concerto the right word? what's the difference between concerto and concert? O?).

BTW - The Guys have started a "bring Zach Dresser home" campaign. Buy your rainbow ribbon to support the return of Zach Dresser from hostile enemy territory to the bible belt of East Tennessee. $2 - mail to scott.

Time for a dip in the Grand Canal. haha not.

11:10 pm the night before I leave - I'm updating my ipod with all the new music I got from Dad and with random podcasts to make the 8.5 hour plane flight more bearable. I'm doing laundry, re-packing, and making sure i haven't forgotten anything. That's not entirely exciting but oh well.

I had a great weekend with Dad in Richmond and with Mom and Mike, Albert & Shana, & The Pollocks in Clinton. Excited about Europe but not excited about tomorrow. here's the itinerary:
Leave Clinton at 10:30 AM
lunch
Airport
Flight from Raleigh to NYC 2:15-3:50 PM
3 hour layover in NYC
Flight from NYC to Venice: 7pm - Tuesday, 3:30 AM Eastern Time (aka 9:30 AM Venetian time).
God help me on that flight. I heard horror stories of one of Mom's long flights where there were dogs, cats, and crying babies. 8.5 hours of that and i would be testing if cats can land on all 4 legs when they are dropped from a cruising altitude of 16,000 feet.

But hey, at least i'm not doing schoolwork. And the trip ends with a Griffin.

By the way, this is the most amazing goal ever and ESPN should be banned boycotted and destroyed for not nominating it as Play of the Year.

So, I'm getting ready to head out to Europe and thought that i would try and get on here every once in a while and update folks as to what I'm doing...and then maybe keep doing it when I get done. I don't know. it will probably turn into hockey rantings.