PART III - VENEZIA!!!

well apparently i didn't have anything to say when i was actaully in venice and it might have been that on this part of our journey i got sick, had allergies, and oh yeah, it was also a bagillion degrees! no seriousy it was over 100 degrees there according to the news not to mention the humidity. it was a curly haired persons hell. utterly wretched. i know people always talk about how awful it is to go to europe in the summer and no one listens but i have done it and can vouche for the fact that venice in the summer is truly horrid. if i hadn't been before and this were my only experience i would have hated it and had a bad impression of it forever. well despite how wretched i felt the pictures still came out good.

here's grace.

so then we headed to st. marc's square and my journey of healing began.
this was one pigeon among millions. last time i went to st. marc's square i tried to take a picture in the center but all these birds came out of nowhere, i froze, started crying, and had to be carried out by a guy with us as he threw his jacket over my face. i mean seriously i was histerical, no exaggeration. but damnit i wanted that fucking picture! but alas i had no picture so i decided that this time i would get my photo.
my everest...well by some stroke of luck the square was fairly empty as far as birds went. it gets really bad when all the asian tourists come otu and buy bird seed and throw it everywhere and the pigeons flock from all over and cover the square. but it wa slike 8am so there were hardly any tourists. so i had my mom stand in position, get a good angle and as she counted to 3 i ran to the center and posed and then ran away in a hot minute. and yet i look so relaxed....I don't know how i do it i just do it.

so then we took a gondola ride because even though it's cheesy you have to do it. I knew it wasn't going to be super authentic when our gondelier was texting and using his cell phone the whole time.
note he is on the phone in this picture. oh yeah and we had to take the gondola with other people on our tour because it's too expensive to do it alone. also this nice ride got us into the shade and was a nice cool down from the bagillion degree weather.
this also struck me as odd. the gondola next to us had a sarape draped over it. wtf?
yes i wore a baseball cap! would you blame me! i mean really it actually helped. next thing you know i'm gonna buy teva sandals. no no i would never do that.
here's a better picture where i posed and accessorized.


i leave you with this shot. this was me at my most uncomfortable. despite my smile i was actually on the verge of tears. i was hot, sweaty, had a runny nose, coughing, and our tour guide was running late. i wanted to just die. so wretched. all that aside i did some good shopping in venice. last time i went i didn't buy anything and this time i bought murano glass earings, a necklace (pictured above but not in it's full glory) a pendant. i'll put up pics of all my purchases in a later post.