day 5
leaving italy
This was our final day in Italy. I was missing the girls, but also knew that I would miss so much about Italy. We looked around from our balcony as if to say goodbye...the day awoke beautiful, scrubbed clean by the previous night's storm.
 |
| saying goodbye to the Grand Canal and to Venice from our balcony |
 |
| goodbye Rialto bridge |
After our last Italian breakfast (espresso and bread) we decided to take a vaporetto to the train station. Think about this: boats are venetian cars, speed boats are Venetian taxis, gondolas are Venetian sight seeing carriages, so vaporettos are Venetian buses.
 |
| a Venetian bus...vaporetto |
It was our first time on the waters of the Grand Canal. We relaxed and took in the sights.
|
| enjoying the view from the vaporetto |
As we arrived at the train station we remembered to validate our train tickets so as not to end up in an Italian jail. The train to Mestre (the industrial part of Venezia) was curiously empty. Maybe all of the passengers are imprisoned.
 |
| a wierdly empty train taking us back to Mestre and beyond |
 |
| after looking at this picture I have decided that something needs to be done about my hair, or my face... |
We then stopped off for a bit of grocery shopping at a huge Italian grocery store. It was awesome! I bought parmesan and provalone, cannoli, goodies for the girls, eggplants, artichokes and lots of things that would help us remember the gastronomial adventure that was Italy. For the girls we bought these huge chocolate Easter eggs that have surprises in them.
Here Z is pictured in a rest stop parking lot trying to sell off our Easter eggs. I think he thought they were taking up too much room in the trunk...hee hee.
 |
| eggs for sale! scrumptious chocolatey eggs for sale!! |
 |
| no one is buying my eggs! |
 |
| Zdeněk is wondering how many things the Americans can cram into the back of the van |
After a brief pit stop at a rest area complete with espresso and yummy fresh sandwiches from the restaurant there (and repatriating my chocolate eggs), we crossed the border into Austria and began our ascent through the alps. It was snowing...seriously...
 |
| snow? you're kidding, right? |
It was a long drive home...8 hours...but I amused myself with "plants vs. zombies" and Z thought we were like very well behaved children, quietly playing video games in the backseat.
It was a relief to finally pull into our house in Hluboká with the girls. We were excited to see them and show them the gooides we had gotten for them. And to hear of their adventures as well as share ours.
Special thanks...
Thank you to our dear friend Zdeněk who bugged us for 4 years straight about going with him to Italy. Thank you for being an awesome friend, Italian language coach, tour guide and gentleman. Thanks for letting us tag along on your trip and for putting up with our crazy American ways. Thank you, Sir Martin, our sweet, kind friend who hauled us all around without complaining once and who provided laughs on our trip and treated me like a queen, or countess.. You are awesome, my friend. Thank you to Opa, John, Carolyn and Steven for gifting us with this trip. We couldn't have gone without your help and you all gave us the opportunity to have a trip which we will remember forever. Our deepest gratitude. Thank you to Eleanor and the Lwakila family for taking in our girls so we could go away and be just Dan and Krista for a while. Thanks for your friendship that goes above and beyond the call of duty.
No comments:
Post a Comment