Venice to Kastelruth

bongiorno! we have been busy since our last post. we finished our cruise on saturday. the cruise was great. some of our favorite parts about the cruise were the amazing new and HUGE ship - the norwegian gem. the ship holds 2000 passengers and 1000 crew. to give you an idea of the size of the ship, it is only 3 laps around the 7th floor deck to make a mile. during our 2 days at sea, we especially enjoyed relaxing outside on the back of the ship, watching the ocean, reading and chatting, within a few feet of the soft serve ice cream and coffee stations. my favorite port was mykonos, greece which looked like a post card of beautiful white greek buildings and shore line.

after our cruise we went to venice, my FAVORITE city!!! i could not get over the "bride of the sea" as it is sometimes called. how did they build the city on the water? it is unbelievable! and the architecture!! i was awestruck by the beauty the entire time. on top of that, the food was incredibley delicious. fresh, homemade pizza for lunch and dinner with gelato in between!!! i felt like josh & i could have wandered the streets of venice, eating pizza and stopping at cafes for cappucinos for weeks! venice is definitely a place i hope to return to.

we left venice and had a long day of travel. First, a 30 minute train ride to Padua. We blitzed through Padua in about 4 hours. First seeing the Scrovegni Chapel which was incredible. The entire inside was frescoed by Giottto in the years 1303 to 1305. It was one of the most beautiful places either of us has ever been in. You can only go in for 15 minutes and they keep the entire place climate controlled (it's a pretty neat system). Then, we got lost in Padua for a while (oops Josh's navigation skills are still improving) then hustled back to the train station to catch a one hour train to Verona. Then we had 8 minutes to make it to our next train, which took us way up north to Bolzano. Finally, we took the one hour bus ride through the mountains (which made topanga cyn seem like nothing) to our destination.

now we are in the beautiful mountain town of kastelruth. kastelruth is set high up in the northern mountains of italy. we are very close to the borders of austria and switzerland and it feels like it. yesterday we went hiking in the mountains and saw beautiful mountains and meadows. during our hike we stopped for strudel and to take lots of pics including a few with some new friends (horses and cows.) kastelruth looks like a postcard and we are trying to "take it all in" as josh says!

OUR FAVORITE MOMENTS OF THE PAST FEW DAYS

Coffee, capuccinos, espresso, coke light (anything with caffeine...especially for Jen!!)

The gondola ride in venice

The amazing greek seaside town of Mykonos

Clean and FREE bathrooms!!

Josh carrying the backpack and all the heavy stuff

The great food and feeling of euphoria after the meal

The unbelievable views on our hikes in the Dolomites of northern Italy

Jen saying wow, wow WOW WOOOWWW WWWWOOOOWWWWWW

OUR LEAST FAVORITE MOMENTS OF THE PAST FEW DAYS

Josh carrying the backpack and all the heavy stuff!!!

Long, tiring travel days.

Dirty bathrooms that cost 2 euros!!

Getting lost again...again...again...even worse when Jen is hungry/tired/in need of caffeine

Ciao and we miss you all

Jen and Josh