Photo from Burano, Italy an island a 30 minute boat taxi away from Venice, Italy
The second week of spring break was packed full of travel! With several of our friends still having visitors, Jim and I decided to not miss the opportunity to travel so we took off early Monday morning from Dublin.
^^^Panorama view of Jet d'Eau
Geneva, Switzerland
To the Alps for our first stop!
We spent just over 24 hours in the pricy city of Geneva. We enjoyed a sunny day of walking around the city checking out the Old Town, Cathedral Saint Pierre, and Jet d'Eau while eating Swiss chocolates.
Photo from the bell tower of >>>
Cathedral Saint Pierre
For supper we went to Bains des Pâquis for the popular cheese fondue. During supper we enjoyed visiting with a retired Canadian couple that was also traveling Europe.
^^^ Cheese fondue served with bread.
Views from the plane! >>>
Before heading off the the airport we went to the recently opened interactive Red Cross Museum.
^^^Views from Castle Hill in Nice, France
Nice, France
Hello sunshine!
The weather in Nice was better than we could have asked for. The first evening we wondered the city to figure out what we wanted to do the next day, had the first of many pasta dishes and visited with our new roommates in the hostel. One roommate was from South Africa and I was able to learn a lot about her culture.
We enjoyed the morning and went on a walking tour around the city. The tour ended at the top of the Castle hill where there was a 360 degree view looking over Nice, the ocean, the port, and out to the surrounding mountains.
From there, we hopped on the bus to go to Monte Carlo, Monaco for a few hours.
Boy did I feel like a peasant!
If you’re not familiar, Monte Carlo has a well known casino. I wish I could say that I won myself a yacht, but five euros lost later we decided it was time to leave the casino and spend our money on more promising things, like gelato and McDonalds.
We decided that McDonalds was about one of the only restaurants that fit our college budget. The view was priceless!!
We spent our last morning on the beach enjoying the sun, ocean and our coffee. Perfect morning and a relaxing ending to our time in Nice!
^^^ The Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy
Venice, Italy
Jim and I arrived in Venice late Thursday evening. We met up with Kenzie, Kayla and Kayla's boyfriend. How I missed my girl time! (sorry Jim) We enjoyed some Italian drinks, pizza and good company.
Kenzie and I out front of Saint Mark's >>>
Basilica in Venice, Italy
Friday we picked up pasta to go and sat in the Piazza San Marco. Then we all took a boat taxi to Murano, Italy.
Murano is known for their glass making. We walked around several glass shops and watched a demonstration of glass making. I will post a video on Facebook of the demo as I am unable to upload videos to this blog.
<<< Enjoying refreshments and the sun in Murano! Sorry, I caught Kayla off guard!
From Murano we continued to Burano which is another island near Venice.
Burano is known as the "fisherman's island" and is noted for the lace that is made there. The island is filled with brightly colored homes.
We enjoyed some time on a dock visiting and watching the boats pass by. A few local kids showed up and one showed off the crab he caught...more like he scared Kenzie with the crab! It reminded me of something my dad would do. I guess some things never change!
Saturday we went on a gondola ride through the canals of the city. The gondolier claimed no one has ever tipped a gondola, but we had other thoughts...
We enjoyed our last night with more pizza and card games. Ryan family- you should be proud that Jim and Kenzie learned tic and dare I say enjoyed several rounds. But, like Grandma Pat says, the score keeper (me!) should always be able to win! It also helped that Jim never knew what was wild and always threw that card away.
We went on a short walking tour of the city learning several tidbits of the city's history before leaving for the airport.
I did end up with a small bruise on my leg from carrying my suitcase up and down the endless amount of bridges in Venice.
I guess that is what I get for not backpacking it like I usually do!
Sorry, Dad, with no farm work to do here I think I'm just becoming a softie!
After two weeks of traveling, we were ready to be back in Dublin for some down time and to catch up on procrastinated school work. (which is typically when I write these blogs)
We will be back at it this weekend with a long weekend in Barcelona, Spain over Easter! Hoping for sunny days and warm weather!
Thanks everyone for reading this far! I find out in a few days when my finals are and then I will be able to find out when I get to come home for sure!
Have a Hoppy Easter!! :)
Love,
