Italy, Day 4

We checked out of the Hotel Perseo and set out exploring Florence. I won’t lie…. I fell completely in love!!! With Florence, of course. We wandered around, did some souvenir shopping, had lunch, and headed to Ponte Vecchio, one of the most amazing places I have been. You’ll have to see the photos! But, of course, if you have already been there then you know exactly what I am talking about. Then we headed over to the Palazzo Pitti. We wandered around the palace, where we were supposed to be admiring famous artwork, but really just stared at the ceilings (the main reason we went there in the first place). P commandeered my camera and was photographing the beautifully carved and painted ceilings. He was told about three times to stop taking photos, and I was so scared they would confiscate our camera! (But now I’m sooooo happy to have the photos!!) We meant to spend only a couple hours exploring, but eventually realized it was six hours later, so we headed back to the car. P went to pay for our overnight parking, and when he came back to the car, he looked like he had just seen a ghost. After the initial shock wore off, he was able to tell me how much the parking cost. I would tell you to try to guess, but you would never get it. For about 12 hours of parking… 73 Euros!!!! Yeah… that’s like $120 (or Swiss Francs)!!! INSANE, right??? I’m still shocked.

So we set out for our next destination, already planning to return to Florence as soon as possible.

Our next stop was Venice. As we approached the city by ferry, I was immediately awestruck. It was just as gorgeous and romantic as I imagined it would be! We checked into the Hotel Belle Arti, left our luggage in our room (which, by the way, was pretty much an homage to red velvet… wallpaper, curtains, etc.), and set out wandering the tiny “streets” and looking for a place to have dinner. It took quite awhile, but eventually we found a restaurant that was still open (it was almost 10 p.m. at this point). It was a Wednesday night, so of course… FUN WEDNESDAY IN VENICE! YAY!!! So we had dinner and celebrated before heading back to our hotel. Or at least trying to. Trying to follow a map in Venice is probably one of the more difficult tasks I have attempted. We got lost for quite awhile, which was actually really fun. :)

We finally found our way back to the hotel, had a cocktail in the outdoor seating area, and went back to the room. We were just about to go to sleep when we heard people trying to get into the hotel after hours (doors closed at midnight or 1). They were ringing the bell and yelling to let them in, but nobody came. P and I looked out the window which faced the front, and the guy started asking us to let them in, which we weren’t really inclined to do. The guy was complaining that they couldn’t get into the hotel, and P goes, “I can see that,” and then shut the window. Hahaha it was so mean, but soooooo funny!