Day 7?

Okay, so I cannot remember how many days we have been on tour, or find the apostrophe key. I am writing from Rome. It is our second day here. Yesterday, we arrived in the evening, saw the Trevi Fountain (yes, we all tossed coins, but only 1 each), the Pantheon, and Piazza Novona. We ate dinner near there and had great gelati. I will miss that when we leave Italy. Anyway, our cabins here are very small and the toilets and showers are up a long flight of stairs, but I slept well last night so I guess it did not matter. Today we came into Rome and went on a guided walking tour of the Colosseum (outside only) and the Forum for 90 minutes. It was really cool. I bought a book outside the Colosseum that shows what is there now and overlays what used to be there, so you can see the difference. Then we took a bus to the Vatican. We ate pizza for lunch (priced by the 100g), got more $ from the Bancomat, and went to the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel. It is all very cool, but my batteries in my camera died partway through, so I had to buy AAs and now I am trying to save power because I know they will not last long. My good batteries are in my backpack, but I was trying to travel light today and forgot to move them into my fanny pack. Oh well. Anyway, then as we were walking to the Metro to come to the Internet Café we found a streetside sale and all bought some really cheap clothes. Fun!

Tomorrow we head off back up to Florence for one night before we venture into Switzerland. We will be "camping" there too, but it is supposed to be a really nice place to stay. Best on the circuit as our bus drivers says.

Recap.... if this is redundant it is because I cannot remember what I have already posted:)
Our stay in Munich was short, only about 2 hours in town to look around, but we went to a beerhall that night which was cool. Laura actually ate a pork knuckle! I have pictures to prove it. After, Steph and Laura went out with the rest of the group and I went back to the hostel to crash. On the way though, our driver and I saw some fireworks which were really cool... but I think I have already told you that. Oh well.

Vienna was totally awesome, but WAY too hot. Though still cooler than Italy. We even climbed the 300 stairs to the top of the South tower of the bit church (name escaping me now). The views were okay, but almost all the tower is being restored so we saw lots of scaffolding. We also shopped a bit and our group drove around the ring road so we could see the most famous sights. We wanted to go to the art museum but it was closed that day, so we hung out in the shade next to it and wrote postcards. People will get them eventually:)

Venice was also very cool... but hot. The first night, we arrived at the campsite in the evening and settled in to camp. For some reason, everyone was exhausted and the heat did not help, especially after the a\c in the bus. The next morning we took a boat into Venice itself. First we toured the Murano glass blowing factory\store, then we went to a lace making demonstration. That is a craft I will definitely never do. Way too detailed even for me:) Then, we wandered all around and shopped. We went to the Rialto markets. I bought a mask and something else, but I cannot remember what. We had panini for lunch, then when and saw the Basilica. Everything in there is gold. It is really opulent. Next we all went on a gondola ride. It was okay, but we did not see anything really great from the boat. Our gondolier, however, did let one of our friends from tour try steering the boat, so that made it more fun. Then we took the boat back to the campsite and had, guess what... spaghetti for dinner! Haha! It had to happen, right? Anyway, the next morning we left for Rome, and here we are.

That is it for now. We need to go meet Steph so we can catch the Metro and train back to catch our bus back to the campsite... obviously we are not staying very close to town:) Anyway, love to all. I will type more later when I finally return to an English keyboard:)