From Rome with Love: Mellow in Merona

Today has been clearly divided into a wonderful afternoon and a tremendously bad evening. We started the morning at 9 by taking the water metro to Merona, Venice's distant glass-producing island. It took about an hour to get there but it was worth it. Originally used as a spa getaway by those fortunate enough, Merona is as tranquil of a place I've been to on this trip. We began by seeing a glass blowing demonstration and then traveling a few steps to the shops that offer countless, authentic glass pieces. Along the main canal, these shops have the simplest of pieces like earrings and lavish treasures in the form of grand chandeliers. Sarah and I shopped around for about a half an hour before we made our way into a cute square hidden behind the rustic buildings. Throughout the square was trees, benches, and little gardens belonging to those inhabiting the canal-side homes. We strolled through to come across another canal, this one with no shops, thus no tourists really to speak of. We parked ourselves on someone's dock for about an hour and enjoyed the crashing waves that were given life from the fishing boats coming in. Towards the end of out sit, a few women from Taiwan came up to us excited out of their minds. They sat next to us and then asked if we would take a picture with us. I warned them, in my full American vernacular, that we weren't the Italians they were surely looking to meet. That must have been lost in translation because they proceeded to take probably 20 pictures on their combined cameras. I kid you not that the exact phrase 'this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Thank you so much' came from one of their mouth. Apparently it was true because we noticed them then taking 'covert' pictures of us sitting. Very strange but so funny at the same time. After that episode, we wandered into a restaurant. I had a zucchini and eggplant pizza. So good and only 7€! After the meal we had to meet backup with the group and head back to our hostel in Venice. The boat ride back was even more enjoyable that the one we took to get there. I had a breezy spot on the side of the boat that allowed me views of the upcoming water and buildings. We had to leave the city altogether a little after we got back. I wish I could have stayed for weeks. It was remarkably beautiful. Though tourists flooded the main ports, once you traveled into the city and got lost in the 3,000 alleys, it couldn't have been more fun. The whole time I was there I think I had this sense that I was in a James Bond movie with the many scenes that also appear in several of the movies. I kept imagining the conclusion of 'From Russia With Love' (get the blog title now?) when James waved to the camera from his departing boat. In a few weeks, we'll be traveling to Lake Como, another location for Bond scenes so I'm looking forward to completing the cinema comparison. The departure from the city of love coincidentally marks the turn of the day for the worse.

We boarded our train and 5 and I'm still on it, at 9:15, with at least another until we arrive in Milan. Ugh. It's not air conditioned, stops frequently, is a little jerky, has smelled badly for a while now, and had an hour delay that ended just a bit ago. Just get me out of here! Luckily there's an Italian woman sitting across the aisle from us that's explained the delay to us so we knew we had some time to get off and walk around. I'm hoping the WiFi is up and running again at the apartment because I can't do another night of standing outside of a restaurant for their WiFi. I'm paying the price for doing that the other night as seen from the 20 some mosquito bites that are taking over. On the plus side, I'm listening to some Dave now and I'll be back soon enough and all will be well in the world again.

Good morning :) right outside of the hostel