First evening in Venice, I had four cheese gnocchi  for dinner and about three quarters of the way through, I decided I was done with pasta. We’d been in Italy for just about a week, and probably gained fifteen pounds each, and feeling my pockets’ tug at the euro as they left for more carbs prompted a trip to the grocery store for salad and cereal.  Of course, we still had pizza the past two days, but after our stop in Milano on our way to Switzerland tomorrow, it’ll be a long time before I see Italian food again. And I am okay with that.

Italy’s kind of like the Florida of Europe. Bright, hot, lots of people running around with cameras. Not my favorite place. I prefer the gray of Berlin or the purple of Prague to yellowing Italy.

Also, it’s kind of cruddy here. Yes, this city is sinking, but some narrow alleyways also stink. There’s no grass, but lots of dogs. This results in little piles of dog crap on the concrete. Hopefully, the alleyway is wide enough to easily skirt around it, and hopefully, a family of tourists isn’t blocking the sight of it before your shoe sinks in.

But despite the smell and the sinking, this place is really cool. I do love the twists and turns, the varying widths of the walkways, the bridges over teal water – it may take fifteen minutes longer to find a place because there’s no easy way to navigate by foot, but it keeps it interesting.

At night its great, no cameras, and quiet. You can actually maneuver through San Marco square. During the day, the empty alleys are cool, but the touristy areas are a bit overwhelming—too condensed.

Trees are rare, but perhaps to make up for it, everyone’s got plants hanging out of their windows. Colorful flowers to match the colorful clothes hang out there, too.

I’ve heard this city was supposed to be a romantic one, and I could see that during winter, maybe it’s less shabby-looking with less of a crowd, but maybe not.

In every city I’ve been to in Italy so far, men have stepped in front of me thrusting roses in my face, or the face of whatever guy is near me – not romantic at all, actually quite annoying. And they don’t understand what “No” means, either.

We went to the Dali museum, and I saw my favorite sculpture ever, that of Adam and Eve, the serpent and apple are there, too, of course. It’s quite sensual and alluring, pretty perfect. On the walls of the museum were Salvador Dali quotes, (an effectively confusing) one being, “What is important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it.”

My favorite was, “There are days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.”

“I do not understand why, when I ask for grilled lobster in a restaurant, I’m never served a cooked telephone.” Okay, so that one was too good to leave out, especially as I’ve been eating in a lot of restaurants.

We took a waterbus to the other islands, Murano, Burano, and Torchello. Torchello’s pretty nature-y, with a church, but the church was closed for restoration, so there really wasn’t much to do there. Except, it was totally worth going to, because we saw the wedding of the guy who we saw in a pink robe and bonnet the night before, who had obviously had a bit to drink, and ended up in a fountain, with a little help from his friends.

Murano had exquisite glass chandeliers, and other easily breakable pieces, non-ideal for travelers, or any transportation, really. Burano was wild—canals still running through it, but each house a different bright color than the next. Burano’s known for its lace.

We’ve been staying at VeniceGold, and the guy here recommended Peter Pan for cheap pizza. They also have kabobs and felafels, but we stuck with the pizza. It wasn’t Gusto Pizza, but it wasn’t bad. What we’re really happy with though, is the cereal Muesli Croccante– hazelnuts, chocolate, granola, and really tasty.

We started working out yesterday(pasta-pizza-pizza-pizza-pasta—you get the idea), and after tonight’s work out and some salad we celebrate with a Bueno bar for our last night in Italy. I kept hearing brief catches of Beatles songs while here, so I asked Bailey which song to play.  She said “something dramatic” just as I came across ‘Revolution’. We danced, and ate our chocolate.