8 hours I'll never get back.

Our flight from JFK to Germany was nothing but LONG. We sat on the runway for an hour in New York. Didn't take off until 5:30pm. Guess it was because of the rain. I ended up falling asleep the hour we were sitting waiting to take off and was pretty much awake the entire flight. We watched "It's Complicated" with Meryl Streep, ate airplane macaroni for dinner and fidgeted in our seats for 8 hours.

Oh, and the screaming Italian baby was 3 rows in front of me on the plane. Sweet.

We were in Frankfurt airport for about 2 hours or so. Not long enough to make any real comments about Germany other than the German flight attendants were fierce and everyone says "'Sank you".

I lucked out and got a window seat on this flight to Venice. Unfortunately, we were all split up on that flight but it was so quick, it didn't matter. I slept the 2 or so hours and was just happy to be able to look out the window when we arrived in Venice!

We landed smoothly and met one of our tour guides, Stephania. She is a drop dead gorgeous Italian woman. Bronzed skin, curly black hair, perfect little Italian accent. The first thing I said was "I want to be her!!"

When she lead us outside to our bus and we took our first breath of Italian air, we were so excited!

We took a bus onto a ferry and took a ride to Lido, which is the city outside of Venice we are staying. The ferry ride, which you would think is just a plain old ferry ride, was nothing short of spectacular. We cruised to coast of Venice, saw the most amazing buildings, bridges, passed St Mark's Square. Unreal.

Once off the boat we got back on the bus for a short ride to the hotel. Stephanie recommended we take a public bus to the main street of Lido for the afternoon, which is exactly what we did. Our hotel is clean, fresh and modern. Chez and I got our room, cleaned up and met Jill and Mary to make our way.

The first thing we did when we got off the bus and turned the corner is get our first gelato. We just HAD to do it. Soooooo delicious! So much that after we strolled down the streets of Venice eating our first cone, we stopped at another vendor near the beach and got another! We agreed this would turn into our new obsession quickly. My goal is to not eat one flavor more than once. So far...

1) Amare (amaretto flavored)
2) Cookies (cookies & cream flavored)

We also walked to a Venice beach! We walked on and were staring out at the Adriatic Sea. Really? Really!! Took lots of pics. Afterwards we strolled back towards the main street. Stephania said it is a GOOD thing to get "lost" in Venice, there are so many side streets and little areas to see. We cut through lots of streets and found so many picturesque homes. Homes with beautful flower boxes, laundry hanging across the windows. Literally, what you dream Venice to be we saw in our first short afternoon. I keep saying this to Chez.. we love Italy so much and we literally haven't even seen anything yet!

Oh and let me just take a moment to say: Italians got it made!! Do these people work! Everyone is just strolling and eating and laughing and on their boats at 1pm in the afternoon. It's just THE life!

Mary and I went back to the hotel and napped. Chez and Jill stayed out a bit longer and then they came back and fell asleep out by the pool! I just got out of the shower which thankfully and surprisingly had amazing water pressure. Chez is sleeping again next to me. We have a group dinner scheduled for 8pm so I am about to go get ready.

I asked and an hour of internet is 2 euro. I may purchase an hour and share some pics either later tonight or tomorrow night.

Until then... Ciao!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry