I'm leaning towards...

28 March: 
Just an hour train ride and we will be there! Plan on spending part of the day here and returning to Florence for our last night of our Italian adventure!

Went up to the top of The Tower of Pisa. Great views. 

At the top

Ahh! It started leaning more! I nearly fell over!

Acted like a tourist for the day in Pisa. 

Still leaning!

So glad I prevented it from falling over!

Seeing the Tower of Pisa was great. Really is amazing that it was built in 1173, that just blows my mind. Walking to the top of such an old tower was very unique as well. So glad I get the opportunity to experience such famous places in the world. 

A lot was closed as it was Monday. Found a delicious little cafe and walked through town. 

River in Pisa

Fairly small city, nice to visit, don't need more than a day there.

Back to Florence. Walked a bit and fel like relaxing in a piazza. Sat there for well over an hour people watching and listening to a guy play his guitar. 

Statue of David

Had another very very good Italian dinner at an authentic place outside of the touristy area. Glass of vine. Olive oil and bread. Chicken, creamy deliciousness white sauce and asparagus.

Then went back to the same piazza and another guy was playing acoustic guitar, playing great songs. We got gelato and listened to him play for quite some time. 

He is English and had been playing in Florence for 13 years.His name is Ken Mercer, I ended up buying his CD; Moon Shadow

Walked back to our hotel after a nice relaxing evening for our last night in Florence.

29 March:
Woke up, actually had breakfast at the hotel for once. Walked to the train station and took our train back to IBK.

Overall had a blast in Italy. Loved t so much. However, I don't know if I can imagine myself living there. The food is great, obviously. As of now, I prefer Innsbruck. Suits me better. Outdoorsy, mountains, clean, etc.

Oh and PS, I went to three major famous cities in Italy. Guess how many Starbucks I found. Zero!! It's been over a month now, withdrawal period. :)

Unpacking and having a relaxing night in IBK. Excursion for my alpine tourism class to St. Anton tomorrow. One of the most famous and expensive ski resorts in the Alps.

From corn fields to orange groves to vineyards

26 March: 

Walked through the lively streets of Florence on a Saturday night. 

Piazza

You'll never what we had for dinner? Spaghetti, pasta, bruschetta? Nope!! Two entire huge pizzas! 

Heaven

Found numerous piazzas which are big squares with restaurants, statues and normally a church. What would one want after pizza? The best gelato ever! Vanilla oh so good!

Managed to find a bar with some good music and we were set for the night. Coat check. Drinks in hand. Feet on the dance floor. We danced the night away, literally. The time changed at two am, spring forward, so we were definitely out late. 

Met a student from Berlin who was studying architecture here for a week. Talked to him for awhile outside to get some fresh air. Returned to the dance floor and eventually called it a night, or morning, got some gelato and walked about to our hotel.

27 March:
Got much needed sleep and were awake and ready to see the city during the day.

Saw all the famous cites of Florence. The Bridge. The Duomo. Etc etc.

Walked through a Sunday market selling everything you could imagine. Really cool. Found another place for lunch. Guess what we had this time? The best pizza I've ever had in my entire life, honestly. Enjoyed it so much, we might have gotten seconds. Also tried something made with nothing but flour and ricotta cheese. My taste buds were having a party! The lady working in the shop was very nice too! Surprising here.

Without a doubt, best pizza I've ever had

 So after pizza, what comes next? Gelato! We might be addicted. 

Walked around more and explored the sites. People watched for a bit and relaxed. Then came next mission: interview for my loyal viewers!  

Duomo

Where's Waldo?

Explore more, sat down on the bridge, relaxed, played Mad Gab. 

Loving Florence

We then met up with Denny from Berlin to have dinner. We went to a nontouristy typical Italian restaurant. Had bread and olive oil, glass of wine, and vegetable pasta. Great dinner again. 

Denny, Keri, & I

Walked around more, took pictures and ended up dancing at the bar again. Home earlier last night and got a good amount of sleep again! 

Yoga

Ended up walking at least ten miles in one day! Crazy but so fun. Does that count as training for my half marathon? 

New Italian city tomorrow! Guess where?

Gondolas Gondolas Gondolas

25 March:
Slept in a bit. Woke up excited like Matt was going to a new country, oh wait. That's exactly what it was like. In just a few hours I would be in Italia. Had breakfast and packed last minute things. Had my giant backpack and took the bus to the train station to meet my travel partner Keri! We bought our tickets, and made a stop at the supermarket. Rice cakes. Check. 2 giant chocolate bars. Check. A bottle of wine. Check. Passports and train tickets in hand, what more could two American students traveling abroad need? Maybe a wine opener!

We got on our impressive clean Austrian train. Destination Venice. Zero transfers. Travel time four hours 43 minutes. Huge room with six seats, outlets, all to our self. Sound too good to be true? Well....it was true for about an hour. We were in Italy in about thirty minutes after leaving Innsbruck.

We arrived at Brenner, just past the Italy/Austrian border. We were to be at this specific stop ten minutes longer than a normal stop. No biggie. Ten minutes turned into twenty, twenty into thirty. Keri and I were the least bit concerned. Numerous announcements were made in German and Italian. Did we understand anything? Nein. No.

Keri then said- "I hope the train is okay" I died. As if the train was some little boy who just fell off the playground and hurt his left knee. Another announcement and I heard the word problema. Keri scoped out the situation and turns out the train apparently wasn't okay. Everyone had to leave the train and catch a much more crowded less impressive Italian train. Zero transfers turned into two, but that didn't damper our mood a bit. How could it? We had no place to be at any particular time, no rush, no problem. It's hard to get upset when there is nothing but mountains and vineyards the entire way thus far. Plus the fact that our destination is Venice and we have five days of Italy ahead of us. Pizza. Pasta. Gelato. Wine. Oh and I WILL find a Starbucks, even if it means I must steal a Gondola and find one myself!

Making our transfer to our new train

Being silly. Why wasn't this wine twist off? It was 3 euro!

Trains are great. More room than a plane, great scenery, and relaxing. No security check. Making a transfer is easy. Making our way closer and closer. Exchanging stories. Laughing. Talking about home. Talking about our future. Introducing each other to new things like geocaching and couchsurfing. Listening to German, Italian, and English languages all around us. And not knowing what to speak. Saying danke instead of grazi. Hilarious.

Made it to Verano to transfer to Venezia! Had three minutes to make our  transfer. Success!! Much nicer train also. Took me a good twenty seconds to realize you have to put your foot on something on the floor to get the water to work at the faucet. :)

Found hostel. Venice Chic. Very nice. Fourth floor. Spacious room. Comfy bed. Free Wifi.

Walked around. Had pizza. Extremely delicious! Eggplant Zucchini! Bottle of wine.

Nearly the best pizza I've ever had

Playing futbol with a dog!

Drinking some water

Admiring Venice @ Night

We then decided to make another stop. More pizza for sure. 

Heaven

After walking around and exploring more, we made a great decision; Gelato. While here we met Nancy from Australia. She was traveling for 10 weeks on her own throughout Europe. Meeting friends she knew throughout. How awesome.

Can't believe we made it back to the hostel thanks to her help! We walked for over an hour just exploring. Expected to turn around and make our way back. She told us we were near the train station so we walked ten mins to our place!!

Researching places to stay tomorrow night!

26 March:  

Good morning Venice

Gondola

Waking up in Italy. Still dreaming right? No way Jose! An entire day in Venice. Didn't even have a map the entire time! Although probably highly suggested if you want to get to a particular place. What can I say, we just have a good sense of direction and nothing in particular on the agenda. Walk around, site see and enjoy the beautiful weather with the sun shining.

 
Had Lunch outside in the sun. Waiter was hilarious, as in very quick to the point and wanted little to do with us. Didn't bother us a single bit. Made us laugh actually. I had another delicious pizza and peach juice. 

Where we had lunch. You can see our waiter here as well.

After a great lunch In Italy what would someone want to do next? Sleep, run a half marathon, ride in a Gondola, take more pictures, study the map of Venice? All the above? None of the above!!! Gelato!

Our second time having Gelato and who did we run into? Nancy from Australia again! She probably thinks we live off Gelato! Nancy- "Guess mint is your favorite flavor Keri!" Chatted with her a bit. She is off to Rome this evening and to Florence later in the week. 

Our friend Nancy

 Continued to walk through the narrow maze-like streets and discover new places.

Rialto Bridge

Sat down on a bench and listened to guys play acoustic while eating our strawberries by the water.

Managed to walk our way back toward the train station. Made another stop: Nutella crepe! Delicioso! Messy and difficult to eat while walking but well worth the trouble!

Made it to the train station, train going to Florence in ten mins so we rushed to pick up our bags in storage and just got on the speed train. 

Sat down, let out a huge happy relaxed sigh. Two hours to Florence. Bliss. Or not. Sixty seconds later, we were in someone else's seat! We didn't realize we actually had assigned seats on this train. Fancy huh? Moved to our new seats and enjoyed out ride to Florence.

Our train to Florence

Overall impression of Venice? I was impressed. Very relaxing, much cleaner than I expected. Very unique city to say the least. Not much night life, but definitely a great place to visit at least once.

Arrived in Florence, eventually found our hostel after asking a few locals. Once there, we got all settled in and ready to explore and go out for the evening! 

Next post: Florence!