olya | 
10 28th, 2007| 
the third day in italy started off with a classical italian breakfast in our lovely hotel. the breakfast was had on the side of a canal, on a cute table, with fantastic cappuccino and a lot of small pastries. (by a lot, i mean for italy - there were 2 or 3 of them. usually there is 1, maybe). the breakfast was a fantastic start - the sun was shining, the skies were blue, and moods were high. our plans for the day were simple and good: walk around venice for a couple of hours, have a small lunch in a hole-of-a-wall place (literally), and then head out and down to florence, where we would meet tim’s friend from cali, alex, and his sister lina, who were in italy travelling prior to their study semesters in london. it sounds like such a packed day, and it really didn’t feel like it. the beauty of vacations!
walking around venice was gorgeous. we absolutely didn’t follow any specific guides, other than having vague goals of finding the large bridge, seeing the large square, and having something to eat. otherwise, we stumbled around blindly into gorgeous alleyways, tiny dead end streets, and at times even no people. venice is indeed a gorgeous city, which doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to dying or sinking, despite the worries of some. a wonderful mix of tourist scams and incredible charm makes it a really strange beast - there are almost no “natives” living there any more, and yet somehow it feels incredibly authentic. perhaps it is a well oiled tourist money churning machine, but does not hurt at all.
the best experience of the day was food (as it was usually, with italy). while the sights were wonderful, the food was unique. via our wonderful tour book we found a tiny place that had tiny incredible sandwiches, really cheap prosecco (sparkling cold white wine) in large glasses, cozy benches outside. the space itself was literally a counter. there was no space for more than 3 people to stand near the counter. it was AWESOME! we still fondly regard it as the best lunchtime find in italy (well, i do, at least).
the large square surprised me with a load of birds. i lost pretty much all photographs from this day, except from what you see here - i think from starting lunchtime. which means a lot of wonderful vistas off the shore, the boat back to the hotel were lost… (i had some problems with the card. i can’t figure out if i recovered the photographs and can’t find them, or if i actually lost them. sucks, but oh well! as long as it is not everything.) since i can’t show pictures, and i kinda suck at describing, it was an awesome walk full of holding birds without paying for the bird food, wonderful sunlight, great views of the water, a lot of romantic mush, and generally a great time. plus a boat ride through the entire canal, during daylight (bus-boat, we did not waste money on a gondolier). charming!
on the large square, we ran into a russian man (with an asian wife), who could clearly handle birds. he just picked them up off the ground, and when he saw me taking a photo of his, he gave me one. except i suck at holding the birds, so it got away pretty fast. other highlights include pointing the camera at my own hand as birds continuously land and take off it.
on which note, this square, st marks i think, that was full of birds, was also full of tourists, of course. which mean that it was also full of pick pocketers. great fun at watching them slink around the crowd and slink away as soon as they make eye contact with you. i wish we had a little more time so we could watch them operate!
our trip to florence was an easy drive. we passed through a most incredible sunset view of the city; i’m half kicking myself for not taking a pictures, half realizing that it was out of the question - we were running late, and finding hotels after dark is not fun. the memory is stunning, though. the old florence, the large dome, all coated in golden light. you wouldn’t have believed the photograph anyway, perhaps!
the evening in florence was excellent - we had dinner with alex and lina, made plans for the next day, got drunk at a snobby place, and happily went home in a cab. i was getting sick, but thankfully my sickness was at its peak at this evening; i started getting better from this point on. from what i do remember i almost didn’t go out to dinner, but i was starving… good thing i went - the food was delicious, the conversation fun. tim tried the famous florence steak, which is basically an enormous slab of meat. not much to it!
maybe my descriptions aren’t that great, but i really really really love remembering this. thank goodness for a blog! gosh, i miss italy.
