Ok here’s the rest:
Day 5: Venice, Part 1
We didn’t do much the first day, because we slept in and got to Venice in the late afternoon, because the bus ticket offices closed for the afternoon (I guess they have siesta in Italy too). We once again explored the city with no real game plan, which was especially fun in Venice because of all the tiny canals, bridges, plazas, and narrow streets. There was always something cool to see, and it felt like a giant playground. We shopped around a few of the many handmade mask shops, ogled at the gondolas (Garren had wanted to ride one the whole trip, but then we discovered that they cost something like 80 euros during the cheapest day hours…so much for that plan), and watched a wedding while eating a late afternoon snack on some plaza steps.
Day 6: Venice, Part 2
The next day, we got up earlier and had breakfast with Silvia was finally free from work. YAY! She agreed to be our tour guide for the day, which basically meant the day was going to be that much more awesome. She showed us around the less touristy parts, including the old Jewish ghetto. We took a 50 cent gondola ride across the Grand Canal (the only gondola we could afford, but still so cool!), visited the Rialto Bridge, and finally walked to Piazza San Marco. The plaza was so cool! It reminded me of the new James Bond movie, “Casino Royale,” because this is where the last chase scene takes place, and besides, it was absolutely gorgeous! The basilica was so elaborate and completely unlike anything else I had ever seen. There were high clock towers, the square Renaissance plaza full of very friendly pigeons, and finally a view of the water and more Venetian islands in the distance speckled with yachts and sailboats. I kept trying to convince myself that I really was in Venice, but it just felt too much like a dream. We then went to a few free art galleries in the area, shopped and purchased our own Carnaval masks, and bought more gelato before heading back to Gianluca’s. Then that night, we returned to Venice. Silvia and Gianluca has arranged for us to go bar hopping with a group of their friends, so then we got to explore Venice at night with some natives. So cool! We got back to the apartment around 2 then had to wake up at 4 to catch our train to Milan at 5….fuuuuun, but totally worth it.
Day 7: Milan and HOME
This part isn’t interesting. It was just exhausting. Needless to say, we made it back to Granada after a very long day. We had packed 6 cities into our short trip to Italy, seen some old friends and made others, and had an absolutely amazing time. I’m already thinking about my next trip to Italy and spending more time looking at some of the museums (Ufizi, anyone?) and other attractions that were either too expensive or that we just didn’t have enough time for. Still, the trip was a great introduction to Italy. Thanks so much to Silvia and Gianluca for everything!
And I’ll finish it off with some pictures from Garren and Vanessa’s Facebooks of course…And I apparently uploaded the same pictures twice, so sorry about that 
Coming soon: MADRID!
