I am writing this entry of don’t doubt danielle in a Word document to be posted later, as I have no internet here. The setting is striking and I must share it with you. I am currently in Venice, “Venezia.” Betsy and I splurged here and got a hotel which with its last minute rate is actually priced comparatively with most hostels. It is called Hotel Gabbo. Our room is sweet and charmingly Italian from its hard tiled floors to its large armoire and of course, tiny little bathroom. Any bathroom in Italy is considered a luxury. The most wonderful part of all, however, is this tiny little terrace-it is from here that I write this post. It is a very small rectangle with terracotta tiling and planters filled with red geraniums. A soft white curtain billows in the doorway dancing in a cool breeze I have not felt and have desperately longed for since arriving in this country. I am seated at the tiniest of wooden tables. A glass of red wine (Vino rosso-a regional Chianti actually) along with its classic Italian style bottle. We do not overlook anything special- in fact the view is as plain as ever, but it doesn’t matter b/c its our terrace! Church bells chime off every hour making the whole scene even more movie like.
Venice is amazingly beautiful leaving me longing to take a picture with every turn. There is water everywhere with tons of bridges, boats, and of course, gondolas. I don’t think I’ll have an opportunity to ride in one as they are very expensive (starting at about 80Euro and rising as evening approaches), but I will still admire them from afar. Soon, Betsy and I will take off for dinner. We hope to find a place that is not so tourist orientated, but that is difficult to do in this small town. We have been taking it easy here after three days of power sight seeing in the capital city. I love it here and though crowded, it is not nearly as hot or crowded as Rome. Tomorrow we leave for Florence.
Rome was of course amazing though incredibly hot and dirty. If I had written my post from Rome it would have been entitled “Dirty Danielle” as I was literally covered in dirt from head to toe by the end of each day touring. The heat created loads of dust-I don’t remember seeing smears of dirt on my legs like I did there since I was a little kid! In Rome we had a wonderful holiday and still have a list of things to do when we return at the end. We stayed at a placed called The Beehive which was incredibly clean, comfortable, and friendly. It is run by a couple from L.A. who moved to Rome several years ago. It is very hippy-esque, but very charming indeed. Some of the things we saw in Rome include The Sistine Chapel, The Vatican, St. Peter’s Square, the Roman Forum, the Collosseum, the cat sanctuary, the Spanish steps, the Palentine, and many more. The amazing thing about Rome is that everywhere you turn you run into something else beautiful and old! The only major problem we had there was the heat! I’ve never experienced such heat in my life and I don’t know when I last consumed that much water! I am happy to be in the slightly milder temperature of Venice at the moment.
Well, a baby has started crying somewhere down below our terrace- “quiet baby, you’re ruining my terrace!” I want to shout, but I won’t. Besides I doubt he understands English anyway =). Will post again soon!
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