Croatia, Venice, Florence and now in Rome. Whoa that's a lot

On my way to Florence.  Already postponed leaving Venice from last night to tonight, extending my stay in grandma death's attic.  Think that the hostel, or in my case the reception office attic is ruined by nuns.  She turned down like ten customers yesterday because she would not put boys with us two girls.  I met two girls traveling the same route as me for a while.  They paid for the night train between Slovenia and Venice on my way from Croatia when I didn't have a small enough bill.  Glad to be back to euros, the currency was getting complicated in eastern Europe.  The two girls names are Sara and sarayha.  Funny right?  We already got the, you've got to be kidding me, when we introduced ourselves in a row to the girl heather who joined us Friday afternoon in the attic.  I still very much prefer traveling alone, so I let them go ahead to Pisa and Florence yeaterday, because I thought Venice needed more time, and there really is not much in Pisa, besides of course the leaning tower.  I can google a picture of that:).  I also like being able to couch surf, and I have a place to stay in Naples.  The friends I had made in Galway and met again in Dublin, from Naples, found me a boat to stay on.  They can come stay with me, but I realized a lot of people walk a lot slower than me haha, and I like to cover a lot of ground, so I'll be leaving them in the dust.  I also ate more in one day with these two girls then I usually in a week.  We sat in a cafe in the morning and dinner at night.  Not really my style right now. 
    My last day in Krk was grand.  I took a ferry out to the island of Rab.  It is a gorges little Adriatic island with an old roman town on it.  There are four belle towers that you can see from the sea still coming into the tiny port.  You can cover the whole island in an hour.  It was gorgeous though.  There were grape vines hanging from the walls and old roman ruins, and a church connected to each of the belle towers.  I escaped the crowd by going to the end of town for the last hour to soak up the last of e warm weather for a while. The escape was easy, because I am certain there was not a single person under the age of sixty on my ferry or the other one that came in.  They couldn't walk that far.  It was nice getting treated on the boat ride back.  The kids that worked on the boat gave me an extra fish for dinner, and they kept sneaking me beer, when the old people weren't in line purchasing it.  I got into town with an hour to spare until the last bus back to Rijeka.  I grabbed my bag from the hostel, which was like my own little island get away thT weekend, and set of.  When I got to Rijecka I had a half an hour until the train to Slovenia where I had to wait from eleven until two thirty to catch the next train to Venice.  Even though I have only briefly stopped through Slovenia on two trip, I feel as though I have visited Ljubljana, that place is definitely not without it's stories. I did have a nice kid that worked in the 24hr pizza place give me a diet cook and let me sit at a table until my train came though.  
         I arrived in Venice Friday morning at 7:30 am.  Everything here is by boat, which is incredible to me.  It never got old.  I found the hostel that was ins my book, these girls would have been so lost without me haha, and they were booked.  There was a nice young venetian girl, however that told us about hotel marte, and a local place for dinner, which is usually 21 for the three course tourist menu, but with her card and name 17. I didn't go the first night with these two girls. They aren't much for really wandering around and traveling, although I do think I dragged them out a bit.  We just went to a typical tourist spot near the one star hotel that night.  This hotel was absurd, and probably my favorite place so far.  The attic is divided by sheet on the sides where it slopes down and some beds are thron behind there.  There are sheets and towels hanging everywhere.  This is definitely the storage and cleaning room.  The tiny old Italian lady just took our money said to come back at one then told us to just throw our bags in the corner of the lobby.  We went out to a cafe for breakfast, took a break,  after like two hours, you've got to be kidding me.  Then when it started to rain decided to do the normally really crowded tourist stuff by San Marco square.  It is really gorgeous.  The neatest city, with tons of dead end and random mazes of bridges.  I don't find it that hard at all to get around with a map, but you also never mind getting lost because there is so much cool stuff to see.  Just people driving there personal boats drinking coffee with there baby in a stroller next to them,  gondola s cruising tourists around and boat cabs and boat buses and bus stops of the sidewalks.  The sidewalks are labeled like streets.  The line for San Marco basil, where under the golden alter the remains of saint Marc are, is usually hours I guess but it was hardlyanything at all with the rain driving everyone into there hotels.  The hostels here are hidden a d you can only find out where to go by asking locals, so most people who visit pay a lot for a hotel room.  This is the most expernsive city in Italy.  The basilica was astonishing.  It had originally burnt down in the 900sbut had been rebuilt I the early 9 th century immediately after.  For the 1000s the elaborate detail of this ginormeous domed basilica is incredible.  Inside there are gold mosaics and everything twinkles with gold leaf.  The alter is a giant gold cross with golden figures of the disciples on both side.  The lateens that hang are this deep red and everything seems to be fastened and carved out of some precious metal or gold.  Definitely the coolest churches I have been to in europe, and there are a lot, more like a trillion.after this we wander through the streets, where after turning a corner twice you would some how miraculously find yourself in a circle.  Went back to check in where we were finally introduced to the attic.  The first option was the room at the nearest end with an actual door but crawl space high ceilings and one twin bed.  I think she honestly expected us all to share until I finally last piled in the room, and she realized that not everyone is four ten like herself.  She knew English but would repeatedly gabble off in Italian and laugh to herself, then finally just wave us on, "come on come on".  She was absolutely hilarious.  We moved to the far end where there were five beds,three in a row then two behind a changing wall thing that was about to collapse where she kid tons of creepy old baby toys.  There were photographs of random people everywhere and nothing but curtains for doors, Also everywhere, and lines with random things drying all the way back to the end room.  Even she knew that this was absurd, when I walked by her alone and she saw my face of astonishment she said, "comical".  Yes, comical it was. We set up cleaned up and went to ha e dinner. It was good but touristy.  Our server was a very forward funny and gitty  Italian man.  We might as well of gone to the restaurant that the girl T the hostel had suggested because after wine we ended up spending more.  
       After getting some candy, that all tasted like grandma candy, so I pawned it off on my eccentric waiter on the way past where we ate, we went back to the hotel.  I got a big sloppy kiss from that because I think he though I was being sweet.  I had to walk by him everyday to follow.  At the hotel we met heather.  I had the idea to go to the island villages of murano and burano the following day, so being that they had no plans and hadn't ever heard of these places all three joined me.  Murano is the closer of the two.  You have to get a water bus day ticket to get to them.  Venice is kind of like living in water world for a few days.  It is known for it's glass blowing.  There are incredible works and I even say a free demonstration.   I saw so much I wanted to get for people but knew ere would be no way it would make it back safely so I got a few bead, some pendants for everyone and myself a really cool pair of twirling hand blown earrings that I saw a last making right at her cash register.  I also got a mask.  I couldn't help myself.  It was the same handmade ones I had seen in the tourist shops for double the price.  There were such cool glass galleries and little shops.  After a few hours we got the connection to burano, where it is known for there lace and hand woven lace clothes.  Although impressive and meticulously done, not something I would collect myself.  The houses are so cool here!  They are all along the canal and each in a different pastel colors and bright painted shutters of different colors.  I loved it.  
    I was dead set on going to the Peggy Guggenheim museum so I broke off the two girls, who hadn't ever heard of it, and decided to stay longer or go to Florence later.  Me and heather started to rush there before it closed but realized we wouldn't have enough time so we saved it for today.  We dropped off our stuff and relaxed in the attic then set out for the place the girl had suggested.  It was in a local and remote part of town, and then that night we wanted to see  the part of town that is suppose to be the only night life.  
     I'm going to freak out because right now there is a brain dead jersey girl ranting about her fucking love for the jersey shore and how wonderful it is.  I'm about to rip my hair out of my head because her overly obnoxious loud voice, sharing useless stories to someone hardly listening is making me cringe along with everyone else around me, and the right ear of my headphone just stopped working.  Please don't let this be happening for the next hour.
    Anyways,  I will try my best.  The way to the restaurant was a bit confusing,but in wandering  through the little alleys and back streets in the light from the near full moon, we came across some really neat little hidden places.  One we walked in we told the jovial large bald waiter that Leila sent us and he immediately escorted us to a table for two and brought us, shoot I can't remember,  but it's famous, like a mix between white wine and champagne.maybe starts with a p.  If I didn't have this twat in the background I would remember.  Excuse me for my foul disposition towards this right now.  Even the Italian guy across from me finally slammed down his book.  The way dinner works here usually is. First course of pasta then a second course meal which was a choice between meat and pelentia or fried fish and zucchini.  the pasta was this really good seafood pasta with clams and calamari and shrimp.  Everything is fresh that day.  The fish surprised me.  They are little sardines, heads and all.  Apparently Venice is known for it's sardines.  They were good, just like fish, and it had calamari a d shrimp mixed in with a bunch of zucchini strings.  We got a jug of the house wine, which came out of a barrel and was served in a. Pitcher.  I don't usually even like red but this was fantastic.  As if we weren't stuffed yet here came free desert, and as our waiter got drinker and drinker at the bar he brought us over more and more.  We got some free liquore with cookies, which unless you dipped the cookie, as we were told, you would not have realized how deadly strong this sweet glass of liquor was.  When we finally got out, with under a forty five dollar bill and the best meal either of us had had since Europe, we clumsily managed to find our way to other side of the city where the night life it.  
   It is in. Huge square which is typically a shop spot by day.  By night the bakery, gilato shop, pizza parlor and fruit stands pack away there food and line some liqour bottle on the counter, bust out some bottles of wine and fill the soda fridges with beer.  Everyone just walks around the square, sits on the ground, or statues or the few benches.  It was neat to see.  We were a bit foggy though and heard grandma death say something about locking up shop at 2.  When we had first asked about keys when checking in she just laughed.  I think we would have gotten more of a response if we asked for some string or a twist tie to close our doors. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed, no blanket no changing, nothing.  At eleven this morning we got a late start to the museum.  I snuck on the water bus.  I have snuck onto far to much public transportation so far.  I'm down to eating bread and cheese and some fruit only again after eating out twice now.  I am glad we didn't rush the Guggenheim because we ended up spending near two hours.  There were a lot of Salvador Dali's paintings and Picasa and many other famous relatively modern  artists' works.  On the way I saw the Santa Maria as well, which was also very impressive.  There was this little triply Japanese modern futuristic are gallery set up on the way too.  Crazy, and some what disturbing, but entrancing sculptures and paintings.  We wandered through the remote part of town, which seemed to be a lot more residential, on our way back.  We stumbled out to, wait for it, cars.  It sucked.  We were on the edge of the city.  I wasn't prepared to leave water world yet.  It was easy to find the train station from there though and from that the hotel.  I went back.  Got a snap shot with grandma death, who never even checked if we checked out at all from day one,  and headed to the train station, where to my dismay everything was booked.  I finagled my way on with the conductor.  Apparently only two times a day you don't have to pay a ten euro fee to reserve, which are the two worst times to travel because they are in the middle of the day, in Italy.  I am suppose to technically pay eighteen euro I think but no one has come yet....fingers crossed.  Definitely shooting for couch surfing in Rome.  Then I can go out again and have a local to show me around.  There is so much to see and do there I definitely don't want the hassle of dealing with two other people, especially since they aren't little history nerds like me.
     Well I plan on doing Florence at least allay tomorrow, but if the last free of charge train for me is at four may stay until the twelve o clock one on Tuesday.  Stay in Rome until the cheap afternoon train Friday probably to go meet Simone.  Stay until Sunday or Monday morning the 17th, catch a night ferry, which I need you to call and reserve for me mom!  And can you call and see why the train isn't running between patras and Athens.  I need to get a bus if that's the case.  Can you see if the eurrail still runs to the islands still as well? Come on dog I asked you this already:).  If not I think I will skip out on Greece.  I need to know soon though!  I have to buy a plane ticket to London by this week.  If they don't I will do Sicily and Malta because that is included on the eurorail, and save Greece for another time. I do have a place to stay in Athens though so I'd like to know to let them know.  Ok cool.  So up to Naples I'm set, then who knows where.  Perhaps even a night train up to Switzerland if I don't do Greece, night train to Amsterdam, then take the underground from north France.  Have more time then after too to maybe take the ferry out to the island off Barcelona.  Really want to take advantage of my pass, but Greece is blowing it right now.   Maybe Tuscany for a day.  I'm in Bologna right now I think.   hmmm....don't have much more I can think of.  Kk.  Cool.  A little over stimulated.  Glad to not be stuck in Bulgaria right now.  It think eastern Europe if for a time not alone.  The girl heather I stayed with hitch hiked all of south America.  Don't worry mom, but it does seem fascinating.  I think you could hitch hike here pretty easily.  Couch surfing is kind of like train hitch hiking.  You just literally can't have a plan.  The guy in Budapest to me about someone who was hitchhiking around the world.  Finding boats to crew on across oceans, and hitching rides cross country.  I find this incredible really.  What a free feeling.  Find a job when you need it, don't think of anything else but sustaining yourself and living in the moment. My almonds smell like tomato from my tomatoes squishing the bag with them.  I'm pretty scurvy guys.  They even have a hint of tomato.  Sundries tomato almonds.  I think I'm on to something.  Ok I'm rambling, going a little delusional on my own and tired.  Jersey girl stopped running her trap so maybe an hour of shut eye before wandering around anew unfamiliar city.  Love you all, hope October is treating you right.
    Oh wait there is something else I wanted to share.  The gondola guys wear the crazy hats and striped shirts.  Apparently it is like a family passed down occupation or something.  Anyways,  I saw one of the guys peel of his striped shirt and just as stereotypically expected, he was wearing what else, but a wife beater white tank with a gold chain dangling over it. Too good,  So Italian.  kk bye bye now.


Alright so I never found, Internet.  Florence was neat haha.  Sunday night was a bit absurd, finding what to do with myself for a night.  I'm just going going to go into that.  I met Sarah and sarayha, finally found them, at the Santa Maria cathedral.  This this was massivecand dominated the entire square.  On the ceiling was the mosaic of the cupola of the baptistry.    This is the picture of Jesus with with the crucifixion wounds in his hands and feet sitting almost cross legged,  I remember it from the cover of,  sorry to say it,  the creepy song book at pats church:) from when I would go.  We checked out the ponte vecchio bridge, which was one of the only to have survived world war II and the oldest in Naples.  We checked out the gardens, which had various roman statues and fountains.  I got a picture of my favorite, which I will proudly show you all upon my return.  Then set off for Rome after some last minute reservations and a bottle of wine to bring on the road.  I'm so excited for Rome!    So much to see and do,  I don't know how I will do it all, but I'll try my best.  Also excited for Naples, staying on my friends boat and having a couple locals to show us around,  not to mention Pompeii, where I have wanted to go since I was like ten.  The train is classic.  No light in the bathroom besides the hole in the toilet that goes straight to the outside, shining in a little light. I'm sure I will fill you in on Rome by the time I get to Naples, or both together after.  I am really excited now to be traveling with some people.  The first time I havnt had to wander through a strange place alone.  We are way more on the same game plan than I had expected.