Jenn & Colin Go To Europe: Stunning Venice vs. Stinky Naples

Well, it took us 15 hours to get from Prague to Venice, via Salzburg (not Vienna as originally planned). We had to switch trains at midnight--won't do that again. It was cold and wet, we were hungry, and nothing was open. When we booked the reservation, we were told that the next train would already be there waiting by the time we arrived on the first train so we could just hop right on. Nope. When we got there, the train station was deserted, our train number wasn't on the list of departures, and we had no idea what the heck was going on. Thank goodness we found an old Italian man there who was heading on the same train we were. We were beginning to think we got on the wrong train and that we would have to sleep in the cold until the morning!

It was well worth it when we got to Venice though. Wow, what a beautiful city...and no cars, just boats. It was great not having to worry about crossing streets. Although, Venice is really a world of its own. It's surrounded by beautiful, vibrant, green ocean water; made up of 117 islands; connected by 429 bridges; pretty much entirely built on wood piles sunken under water.

According to the manager at our hotel, the tourist thing to do in Venice is to get lost on its streets. So we did, and it wasn't difficult either. The maps don't show all the street names and most streets don't go through--you either end up at a dead end, or at some steps that lead into the canal. The only way we knew to get around was to retrace our steps and go by memory of landmarks. Definitely a different experience. Another great thing about Venice? It has fresh fruit and vegetables!! The first thing we did was buy a bunch to bring back to the hotel with us. YUM. We also had the most delicious gelato (multiple times) for only 1 Euro a cup.

We were only in Venice for 2 nights, then headed for Naples first thing Saturday morning. Wow, what a shock when we finally got here. From outside the train station, our first impression was that we were in Mexico! The sidewalks were dirty, packed with people, lined with makeshift shops selling fake LV purses, and the streets were complete chaos. Cars and vespas coming at you from everywhere and they don't slow down just because you're walking across the street...in fact I think they speed up. Haha. And to top it all off, there's currently a garbage strike going on in Naples--some piles are 6-feet high and smell horrible. We're pretty happy we only booked 2 nights here.

We're staying at Hostel of the Sun--cute little place with all the amenities you need as a backpacker. The girl at the front desk told us last night of the best pizza place in Naples (Gino Sorbillo) so off we went. Naples is the birthplace of pizza, you know. Wow, that was definitely the most amazing pizza we have ever had, and it was cheap! They were the about the size of a medium and ranged from 3-8 Euros a piece. We've had 2 more since then and they don't even compare. I think we're ruined for life now....the only place we'll ever find good pizza is in Naples.

Today, we visited the buried city of Pompeii. It was a Roman city that was covered by a volcanic eruption in 79AD. The volcanic ash seemed to preserve the city extremely well. Almost 2,000 years later, archeologists are still able to uncover details of their stone flooring, murals (called frescos), and even the remains of humans and animals.

We're pretty tired from all the walking and travelling. It's 10pm now and Colin's been passed out for the last hour next to me as I write. We're both feeling a lot better, although it's taken me over a week to kick this cold. The nice weather in Italy is helping ;) Tomorrow, we head off to Rome! Ciao.

Beautiful island cemetery in Venice...view from the water bus on the way to the hotel.

Our room at Ca' Bauta hotel in Venice...we were originally going to stay at their hostel but got upgraded to this beautiful room in a 400 year old palace.

Just off of the Rialto Bridge in Venice

We had to do one tourist-y thing ... this was the view from our gondola ride.

That's the gondola guy in the background. His English wasn't too good so he spoke French. All those French courses I took didn't completely go to waste ;)

That's the Rialto Bridge in the background...view from our gondola ride.

Naples - the only picture we got of our delicious pizza dinner at Gino Sorbillo

Pompeii - This is a plaster cast of a body that was preserved in the volcanic ash. While digging, archeologists found a cavity in the volcanic rock with what appeared to be bones inside so they stopped digging and injected plaster inside the cavity. This is what they ended up with after chipping away the rock around the hardened plaster. You can see the expressions frozen on their faces at the time the eruption hit. Creepy...and cool all at the same time.