vivafourseasons: 7.18.14 Italy Day 1: Venice and Verona

Floating on Cloud 9 as I'm writing this. <3 Today was possibly one of the best travel days ever!

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I ate McDonald's chicken nuggets on this trip. With a CokeZero on the side. It's the closest thing I could get to keto-friendly meals on the go. Chicken nuggets is life. <3

We had flown in to Venice late last night, but it was pretty late and there was a GORGEOUS lightning storm outside, so we just slept in our ultra luxurious hotel. :) In the morning, Sam split up from us to head to Ostia Antica in southern Italy, while Tony and I took the bus to cross the bridge to get to "the island," which is where the touristy part of Venice is.

I fell in love as soon as we stepped off that bus. You could already see the Grand Canal, the colorful buildings, and just a lively city bursting with cheery vendors and excited tourists. Tony and I spent a good hour just walking around and taking in all of the beauty surrounding us. Even the small details were worth obsessing over - the narrow alleyways between homes, the open plazas with music and shops, and the quirky street vendors trying to sell their miscellaneous items ("Sunglasses for your girlfriend, sir?").

Public drinking fountains are totally a thing. Way to go Italy!

I told Tony not to let me buy any souvenirs until after 12pm or else I'd spend all my money on our first day in Italy, so we decided to look for a restaurant with Wifi so we could Google things to do in Italy. Walking by a restaurant next to the Canal, we were greeted by an elderly Italian man who said, "Ah Americans! Here is some free wine for you!" Two flutes were immediately given to us by a waiter. And man, it was the most delicious wine I've ever tasted! Nectar from the gods. We decided to sit down there, with the elderly gentleman (I'm going to assume he's the restaurant owner) persistently and amicably talking to us. Tony made fun of me because the man kept whispering things in my ear and feeding me dessert, but to be honest his Italian accent was so heavy I couldn't understand most of it. All in good fun though haha! His seductive methods must have worked because we ended up ordering a full bottle of that strawberry wine and two extraordinary desserts. He even gave us a free pizza before we left! So kind. :')

We had about 45 minutes before our train to Verona, and throughout the whole day we had both looked longingly at the gondola rides on the Grand Canal, but were turned off by the 80 Euro fee (approx. $103 here). I instinctively just made the decision to go for it -- how many other opportunities are you going to get to ride a freaking gondola in freaking Venice?! And boy was it the best decision ever. Our gondolier was a charming Venetian named Sebastiano, and he had the whole blue striped shirt with red ascot thing going on. After his failed attempt to get Tony and me to kiss each other LOL ("How about a kiss? No? Okie I tried," he said in his adorable Italian accent), he gave us a lovely tour of the city. Being on the water was so relaxing! I can't even describe the experience. I was so inextricably happy and didn't want it to end. Of course, it did and Tony and I rushed to the train station to head to Verona, which wasn't too far away!

Sebastiano is bae. <3

Brb crying.

It was an important trip for us because, as any Romeo and Juliet lover would know, Verona is the beloved city where the play is set. After some help from some a friendly English couple and a perky Veronese tourist guide, we finally found the "Casa de Juliet." We paid the small fee to enter the house/museum and took a bunch of pictures from her balcony! Tony and I had both watched the Amanda Seyfriend movie Letters to Juliet, but were disappointed to find that the wall of letters was replaced by a set of desktop computers where you could type and email some letters to Juliet. -__- Real romantic. But no matter. Apparently, it was good luck to rub the right boob of Juliet's statue outside, so after some intense pushing and shoving against some crazy tourists, we did the deed. ;)

Shakespeare is also bae. <3 for the brilliant English major!

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

This view. This city.

Hey girl, heard your boob was good luck. ;)

Our train to Rome didn't leave until around 11pm, so we spent the rest of the evening following our map of Verona, which was conveniently drawn in the shape of a heart. What a romantic city! ^_^ Verona was just as lovely. Fabulous designer stores such as Louis Vuitton, and more affordable ones that I've grown fond of, such as Berschka. We saw an outdoor market, passed by a legit Roman colosseum-like amphitheater (Verona Arena), got some super cheap gelato, visited a freaking castle (Castelvecchio), and stopped by a sacred church (Santa Maria Antica). Ended the evening with a panini and Coke Zero in the Piazza Erbe.