The Bell Tower in St Mark's Square

We went up into the Bell Tower in Saint Mark's Square, the tallest structure in Venice.

The bells can be heard all over Venice and are very loud up close!

Views of the city.

Grace and Audrey in the bell tower.

The custom's house, where all ships brining goods into Venice would initially stop. Molto bella!

more Venice

Giardini della Biennale in the sestieri of Castello.

Gondola ride with Alejandro.

Grace and Audrey in Saint Mark's Square.

Clock tower in Saint Mark's Square.

Ah, Venice!

Grace ready for Carnival!

Gondolas on the Grand Canal

Shawn and Grace

a quiet canal

Our hotel in San Marco, off Campo Santo Stefano. Our room is on the corner, third floor.

We had to get up early or at least for me! But we had a private tour of a castle that we had been to the day before, it is amazing! Built in 1573, awesome old paintings in almost every room, great sculptures, it was a blast! Too bad our tour guide didn’t know anything! We would ask him a question, and his response would be “Boa.” (Bo-hu) Which is I don’t know for people who don’t know what that means! But it was amazing! When we got back, we were starting to get hungry! So of course Jason fixed us some toasted bread with some cheese, and some leftover beans from the first night. Then when I headed downstairs after a shower, Ash came running up the stairs, a big grin on her face, but I guess she always does! “Ohh! Grace! Guess what! Amber came to see you!” Amber is a girl that Ash has been teaching English. I was super psyched to meet her, but then the butterflies came! I had to take a deep breath! When I got downstairs, and I got a look of her, she was not what I pictured her to look like! I had no idea that she was shy! But it was so fun to get to know her! She’s so much like me, except shy! That night we went to a market, it was amazing! We took so many pics! It was a blast! I even used a hole for a toilet! Before we were about leave, Ash took us down some alleyways, and took us to a gelato place that was pretty damn good! When we got home we were all grabbing our stomachs! It seemed like we all went to bed early!

Today we got up and went into town, Ash and Jason showed us (me, my dad, Kev, Spence, Ash and Jason) to a café in the town square to get some coffee, (which my dad spilled half of on a step) and a pastry for me that was the bomb! Then we walked around without Ash, and just wandered through town. When Ash came with us, we walked by the local church, When we heard somebody yell something in Italian to Ash, when we looked behind us, we saw this sweet looking older lady. She looked like an old grandma that you just want to hug! But any way, Ash introduced us, and when she heard that we were the Americans, she got this huge grin on her face, “ahhh! The Americans!” she said in a deep accent. “I bet she’s gonna tell the towns people ‘I saw the Americans!’”. When we got back to Ash and Jason’s, they made dinner for a couple staying, a couple and their 4 month old baby (the husband was one of the cow herders in one of Ash’s blogs), and had a huge feast! We all were soo stuffed afterward!

WE ARE HERE!! WE ARE HERE!! After a long, hard day of good byes, and getting on the plane, getting lost driving numerous times, we made it! When we finally got here, we heard, of course, Ashley’s scream, “Ahh! Yaaay!”. We felt so at home, so relaxed, soo…great to see Ash and Jason! And of course Kev, Chris, Spence and Auds! As soon as I saw the pool, I dropped my pants, and jumped right in! But it was later in the day so it started to get breezy and cold. Later Jason cooked one of the best meals ever! Of course I couldn’t find my camera, so we took pics on my mom’s camera, so we might not be able to get them on the blog. Later that day, after dinner we just sat around outside just enjoying family, the outdoors, and the cats! Ash and Jason have these adorable cats! They’re not kittens, but they sure act like it! That night we stayed up sooo late, of course my dad went to bed the earliest!