alexis ann adventures: I'm on a... Gondola

So, our hotel has Internet, but at a ridiculously high price. Hopefully Switzerland has free Internet.

Today I started out as kind of grumpy. I think it's because we're always in a group and we don't really have an opportunity for alone time. Sometimes I need alone time.

Anyways, our family slept in, which was super nice. We decided to just wander around and enjoy the city. We stopped at this cool church named Salute and people-watched. We took the public boat down to St. Marcos square and walked around. I cheered up a bit when I toured the palace/prisons. Only Andrew, Todd, and I wanted to spend the money to tour the palace. It was incredible!!! Definitely one of the most ornate palaces I've ever been too. I could not even imagine what it would have been like to live in that palace back in it's prime.

In order to tour the bridges you have to cross through the bridge of Sighs. Google the story if you don't know the story behind the Sighs. For my fellow Deltians, I made sure I sighed on the bridge. Ha ha

After the tour we went into Marcos Basilica. Again, I think seeing all these basilicas will allow me to not have to see another basilica for the rest of my life. The churches are very pretty though. And most of them are different.

We then went people watching and gelato hunting and eventually got lost. But it was very relaxing, and we had a small group of five people. Finally we found our hotel and played some cards. I also went shopping for a Venetian mask and some pizza.

Once sunset came around we went on a gondola ride! It was amazing! Our gondolier's name was Alexander. He would randomly sing to us. It was hilarious. We would also harass Kyra about what singers she knew (Kyra is a really good singer). By the end Alexander started singing Elvis songs. When Kyra said she knew Elvis he got all excited and exclaimed, "Elvis the pelvis!" Ha ha ha.

We then walked back to the hotel and took pictures of the night life. I was craving some strawberry gelato (my favorite) but all the shops were closed. It was super creepy walking down the windy streets of Venice and I totally jumped when someone opened a creeky door. It was embarrassing that I freaked out.

In all, Venice is a pretty sweet city.