First semester: completed

I am proud to announce that my first semester at university is just about finished. I just have my finals to write and then it's Christmas break! I can't believe how time has flown by and that I'm still alive...

When it comes to what I have learnt, no amount of writing techniques and linguistic terms can top what I've learnt about the Gospel and Christ. 

Life can get busy, it can fly by in the blink of an eye, and we forget the important things. What I've learnt this semester is about my priorities. When I make time to read and study the scriptures, talk to my Heavenly Father, and go to institute and church meetings, He makes time to help me. I may have a thousand essays and assignments due but if I put the Gospel first then everything else gets taken care of easily. I still have to do the assignments myself, but my mind is clear and I can focus.

If you haven't figured it out by now I teach piano. I have ten students (including someone I tutor french) and of those ten students I have two... That, lets just say, made me dread teaching them. I knew they didn't want to learn piano (they told me so every week) and that made it really hard. How was I suppose to teach them something they didn't want to learn? 

These two students happen to be siblings so when one acts out the other one does too. 

One day I had the oldest one first, and it wasn't looking to be much different than normal... That is until I went against my better judgement. I turned to the last song in the book titled "Indian drummer" (a song every boy likes) and I played it for him. It immediately grasped his attention. Enthusiastically, he started learning it. In two weeks he passed it off and was not content with his old books. He begged his mum for new ones and when I returned the next week he insisted he go first. 

His face lights up with a smile when he passes songs off. And when he announced how many days he practiced. 

He still has a short attention span and gets bored but that's when we switch topics and I ask him questions about his art class he's taking and friends he's  been playing with or this last week I started saying stuff to him in French (which got his attention quickly). 

His mum has informed me that he enjoys me coming now. It makes everything worth it when he started to become interested in what I had to say. 

The funny thing about being broke

Okay, I'll be honest... There is no funny thing about being broke. Just trying to look for the silver linings. 

Some of the things I've noticed I do now:

Walk around the grocery store with calculator in hand. Making sure I stay under budget. 

Think back to past purchases. "If I hadn't spent that $10 in high school I would be able to use that money now."

Have a schedule of where all the free food is.  Wednesday is for waffles. Break the fast. Parties on Friday. FHE on Mondays. And every other day I'm at my sisters. 

Welcome visits from my parents. Free food? I'm in. Maybe I can convince them to buy me something too...

It never hurts to ask. Can I have food? Want to drive? Can I use your hot water? Do you have a printer? What's the worse that's going to happen? They say no? 

3 things I've learnt from living on my own

1. How to parallel park. 
         We have one parking place and three drivers with vehicles in our household. Thus needing two of us to parallel park on the street. Having only parallel parked once before moving to this place, I would say that yes, my street parking has greatly improved. However, my performance of said task does depend on the mood of my car, Stanely Sheldon. 

1. Yes my car's name is Stanely Sheldon, or SS Clarke for short.

2. And yes if Stanely Sheldon doesn't feel like parallel parking then it doesn't get done very well. 

But that being said I can almost, always, kinda parallel park. 

2. How to cook for one person. 

I grew up in a family of 8 so I have always been use to cooking for large amounts. When I moved to France and had to adjust my measurements for 5 people, I had a difficult time not making too much. However now, I cook for me, myself and I. One person. Uno. The first few weeks I had left overs galore! And even now sometimes I make way too much rice and pasta. 

3. How to master bubble and squeak.

Bubble and squeak is a family recipe that my mum has been making for years. It's not too complicated and I'm going to share with you how to make it. 

      Step 1: you look in your fridge and grab all the leftovers you have. Pasta. Rice. Potatoes. Veggies. Anything and everything works. 

       Step 2: grap a frying pan. 

       Step 3: (this is where it gets tricky) add all your leftovers together. And fry. 

       Optional step: add cheese and/or eggs to the mix. 

I am a...

I am a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a niece, an aunty, a cousin.

I am a broke college student, a piano teacher, and an artist.

I am a friend, a girlfriend, a roommate.

I am a daughter of a King.

I am a child of God.

I am a Mormon

I know it, I live it, I love it.

What are you?

Post of thanks

During this weekend of Canadian thanksgiving, it is always appropriate to give thanks. Although, just like I refuse to acknowledge Valentine's Day by showing love, I proceed to rebel against the set day of giving thanks by doing it two days earlier. 

I'm grateful for my family, friends, the opportunity to go to university, technology, the house over my head, the clothes on my back etc...

Lately I've been thinking I need to thank my parents specifically. So momma and daddy, thank you. Thank you for teaching me how to mow lawns and weed gardens. How to back up a trailer. The proper names for trowels, shovels, and spades. Thank you for teaching me how to change a diaper when I was 7. Teaching me the difference between the cleaning supplies. Thank you for teaching me how to work in scorching sun, pouring rain, and freezing snow. 

And thank you for investing time and money for the ten years I took piano lessons. For forcing me to practice until I loved it. Now I am a piano teacher, and all that money you spent on my lessons will be paid off after my first year of teaching. 

And I thank you for that. 

Mid-semester, midterms, and mid life crisis

Well hopefully I am too young to be having mid life crisises, but that's what it feels like as I'm trying to juggle my school work, my job, and my social life. As any college / university student can sadly attest to, midterms are here whether we like it or not and they are bringing the crazy out of everyone. 

To quote a wise man I heard on the weekend while I watched general conference (though I'll admit it I can't remember his name) "you may need to sort out your priorities, and if so, DO IT!" So, I thought it would be better if I got a day planner and wrote down what I needed to do... That worked, until I realized how much I actually needed to accomplish (to be honest, I'm just using this blog post to help procrastinate)

I ended up writing down piano students, homework, things to do research on, people to call, people to meet, people to send emails to, questions to answer in my journal, topic for my blog, and the list goes on to even the patterns of the moon.

Of course it is way easier to organize my life when it is all on paper instead of in my imaginary and even electronic calendar. 

Thrifty Thursday

If you know me, then you know that my staple outfit is usually something from the thrift store. My  "dress up" clothes usually entails me wearing my favourite thrift store outfit. You know those shorts you see in Salvation army that look like they came straight from the 80's and look like they are made from a picnic blanket?

If you imagined something like the picture below...

... then those would be my favourite pair of shorts I got for $3.50. And no, my torso isn't really short, it's just the shorts come all the way to my ribcage.

'Tis the Season to Move In

Everyone and their cat is moving in this weekend. I can't tell you how many  passing cars stuffed to the brim, couches being pushed through the front door, and boxes stacked up on the door step I've seen. 

Today at Walmart, so many college students running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to buy groceries. Frantically comparing prices and volume and hoping their math is correct. 

The secret excitement of chores

Why is it that even the most hated chore can be enjoyable when it's your own place you're cleaning? Washing dishes suddenly becomes fun when they are your own dishes in the sink. The floor is dirty? I can use my broom to sweep! One spot on the table? Let me pull out all my cleaning supplies to clean it off!

Real life full speed ahead

With my apartment keys in one hand and my suitcase in the other I walk head first into real life adulthood. With it comes bills, check books, and a whole lot of head aches. 

And last night was my first night sleeping in my new room. Scary, empty house all alone...

But nothing that a meal with your own dishes and a shower can't fix. 

You know what? Maybe growing up isn't so bad. 

1st month finished already??

Time is flying by so fast I can barely keep up.

It has been a full month to the day since my return to this country and I'm still not use to everything...
I am still surprised to hear English everywhere I go. You may think, well yeah, Ashley, of course English is spoken here. But to my brain when I hear conversations I think that they would be in French.

Adrienne asked me the other day, "So, you know how there's the English side and the French side on boxes? Well, when you pick up a box what side do you read?" The plus side of knowing the two languages in the bilingual country is you read whatever side is facing you.
I have found it very annoying though when they have a sentence in English and then the exact same thing in French and then something else in English and then in French again, because like that, I read everything twice.

Also, what is with Canadian French?? I was listening to the French radio station the other day and I could barely understand it. Everything is pronounced differently and said in a different way that we just don't say over in France.

I keep seeing complete strangers here and my brain does this cute little trick where it makes me think its one of my friends from France. I then proceed to have this mini freakout where I think I'm in France. It quickly passes though and I'm left with nostalgia.

I am 7000 feet above sea level, ladies and gentlemen.

The other day we went for a hike in Many Glacier.

We encountered rain, sun, wind, hail, sleet, and a bit of snow. It took us 3 hours to climb the 5.7 miles up to Ptarmigan tunnel which had an altitude of over 7000 feet.

Welcome home

I've been home for a week now and it still feels surreal. In the ten months I was gone Marshall, my 14 year old brother, grew two inches taller than me. Brittney became 8 months pregnant. Adrienne started wearing makeup and the such. And Luana Jane grew the most with her new teeth, coordinated feet to run around with, and the words she has learnt.

I almost got eaten alive by the Mosquitos that swarmed me as soon as I stepped outside. I nearly got on the next plane back to Paris because I just was not use to them! Plus, the bugs seem to like my frenchy blood, which doesn't help the transition. 

I've talked so much about my trip to France, that my voice grew hoarse after the third day of being back. The common questions:

How was France? 

What did you do again?

How was the family?

How's your French now?

Have you decided what you are doing this fall?

I'm almost tempted to write down all of the answers and just hand them out when I go see people.

Goodbye Paris

Some goodbyes are harder than others, but then there are the things that I am happy to say adieu to. I won't miss being at risk for lung cancer everytime I walk outside and get bombarded by second-hand smoke. I swear I'm not going to eat pasta ever again. Baguettes are yummy... But I won't be sad to leave them.

And the metros. I will be very content if I never set another foot into chatelet-les halls, or auber, or really just any metro station in Paris. As convenient as the public transportation is, I am certain the underground stations are where zombie apocalypses start. With their ceilings covered in what looks like zombie guts and escalators smelling like urine.

Chatelet-Les Halles is the worlds largest train station, even after my ten month stay here I still am getting lost.

The trains, themselves, are a breeding ground for an epidemic, so if you are a germophobe just... Stay at home.

Paris is beautiful, but I will not miss having to watch my step so I don't walk on dog poo or step in a puddle of urine. 

I will miss Sacre Cœur, but not the sketchyness of it all. It was my favourite area in Paris. Very old and artistic, lots of character. However, scarier than the red light district in Amsterdam.

Goodbye Paris.

Mixed feelings

Three days before I leave, and my feelings have changed from excitement to sadness. I'm going to miss the Marello's, and being apart of their family. Especially Letizia and Giulia, my girls, who I've watched grow throughout the year. When I first got here Letizia was 10, and still a little girl who played with barbies and Polly pockets. Now she's 11 and taller, and she has sleep over parties and goes shopping with her friends and basically doesn't need me there. Giulia has become more active, more energetic, but for being 9, she's pretty helpful. I've seen them make new friendships, excel in school, and change levels in piano.

Last night I surprised them with a cake I made to celebrate the last day of school for them, and last day of work for me. They made me promise to come back and see them. Which I readily agreed upon.

I really couldn't have asked for a better family to have this experience with.

Day 300 and I'm still alive

Well I made it, it has been hard surviving, but 300 days are in the bag, tied up and sitting by my suitcase waiting for the other 11 days to join.

Family or paints?

12 days left...

I don't know which I'm most excited for? Seeing my family... Or being with my paints... But I do know how I'm going to be spending my nights when I have jet lag! I went nine months without painting a single thing, and then Kyrie shows up! (She is another au pair here for three months and she's in my ward.) I've spent a couple of days over at her place using her watercolour set. However, that makes me yearn for it more when I can't paint. I got so desperate I even started making do with a pen, water, and a q-tip to make some art. 

The De-Nesting Process

With technically 32 days left here (minus five for Germany, Disneyworld, and airport day) in France I've started packing again. I have to say it's easier than it was to pack to come here, because either I pack it up or I throw it out. I regret bringing soooo many shoes over. Had to say goodbye to some beloved boots that just weren't in their best shape and some shirts that should've been thrown out a while ago, to make room for my souvenirs and books I am obsessed with buying. Planning out my shampoo and conditioner so I can chuck them before I leave, rationing my mascara and toothpaste. Looks like I will have to go shopping when I get home!

If this next month could please go by fast I would be very grateful, but I feel like it's going to be the longest part of these ten months.

After traveling to umm... Quite a few different countries, there are some things I've realized have become a sort of tradition for me. There are the obvious tourist things like collecting pins and postcards. But then there is something that I didn't really realize I did until my last trip up north on the coast.

It seems that I've gotten into the habit of having to get a picture of me standing in every single body of water I come to.

Waterton

The Chattahoochee 

 The seine

 the canal in Venice

Annnnnd....

 the ocean on the north of France.

That is it!....

For now!

Saint Malo / Mont Saint Michel

The other weekend I travelled to the Bretagne region of France and forgot to write about it, so consider this my apology.

First off a little geography lesson. France is comprised of regions (like states or provinces if you will). Paris is in the Ile de France.

Paris is in the red shaded area. It was a 3 hour train ride to the blue circle where saint malo is located. And mont saint Michel is in the Normandy region (the purple circle). So what's so special about that place anyway, you ask? Well, for one it's gorgeous.

It's right on the coast with a couple of islands like the one above, which can only be reached during low tide.

If you are a boat lover then this is for you.

It's a cute little town.

Mont Saint Michel

Originally it was a burial place for the arch angel Michael.

In the 10 century, it was just tomb on a hill. After many years of monks, nuns, and other religious people pilgriming there...

Little places of settlement started being built on the right side of the hill, and the abbey started being built with the monks monastery.

And finally we arrived to this in the 20 century. With the cathedral on top.

Naturally protected by the tide, you could only cross during low tide and even then it was risky with the soft ground and quick sand in places. 

The inside of the abbey was cold and dark.

Typical travelling tidbit

Why arrive early when you can be frantically toeing the line between right on time and drastically late? Where's the fun in sitting for 30 minutes while you wait for the train to depart? Although there were many things I could (and should) have done, being one of the early birds just wasn't happening for me today.

Literally 73 seconds after I jumped on the train the slam of the doors put my beating heart to normal tempo. 

Originally I was going to have lots of time, but considering I missed the first train that was going to take me to the main station, I had to wait for twenty minutes for the next one. Put simply, the whole thing could've easily been avoided if I had gone to sleep before 1:30 instead of watching a movie. However, I only got 3.5 hours of sleep when I was rudely awoken by my alarm clock playing Fall Out Boys for the second time. 

It's an unbearable hour, five o'clock is. The birds are awake but the sun hasn't fully risen. Every creak in the house is ten times louder. And as you grope your way around in the dark you find that the furniture and all the objects have conspired to make you trip and stub your toe causing you to mutter unsensical cursings and prayers to keep everyone asleep.

I was alright for time, up until my boots grew legs and hid themselves. When I had to look for them that was the moment I missed the first train.

Then there were problems at the counter when I had to print off my ticket, but nevertheless, I made it on time with the help of the ticket office cheering me on.

This was the first time I travelled by train outside of Paris. The trip took 3 hours, but I really didn't want it to end because I was quite comfortable and fast asleep. I have to admit, I enjoy travelling by train.

During all the excitement of Italy and saint malo, I forgot to update you guys on a very important subject. Drum roll please!...

... I am officially enrolled in the University of Lethbridge! I registered for all my classes two weeks ago, I have a roommate (but no place to board just yet) and I am ready for the next chapter of my life.

It took a while to be ok with going to Lethbridge, considering it's so close to home, but eventually that became the reason why I'm so excited.

When I left my little niece was only eight months old.

But now... She's walking, talking, and getting into all kinds of trouble.

And I missed out on a lot of that. So this next September I will be living pretty close to Brittney and her family, and just in time for my new niece or nephew. You can guess where I'll be spending a lot of my time at.

Pentatonix concert

Somewhere in that crowd is me accomplishing another thing off my bucket list. (Go to a concert). Like many other things once you've had one you have an urge for more. This one concert has fuelled a flame that was non existent before. I hadn't realized how fun being stuffed in a crowed room full of screaming sweaty fans who all have a love for the same music can be.

If you don't know who pentatonix is here is a link.

http://youtu.be/lExW80sXsHs

They consist of five talented singers. And all their music is done a Capella.

Bienvenue à Paris!

Getting back to Paris felt great! After being in a country where I spoke close to nothing of the language French was a slice of cake! Before I was feeling like my French was getting better, but after being in Italy for a week and realizing how hard it was with Italian, French rolled right off my tongue. That's good because for the amount of translating I'm doing for my parents and Erin I need to be quick with my French.

Mum and dad and Erin have probably tried every pastry in two days. In Italy they were kind of disappointed with the bread and I kept telling them to just wait until France to have good bread. Needless to say, they devoured the baguettes we got. They still have yet to have some good cheese, but I'm sure that will happen when we have dinner with my host family tonight.

Friday when we got into Paris, it was raining. Normally, because I'm poor and young, I would've taken a bus and a train for 2 hours from the airport to the hotel, but it was nice to ride in a taxi for once and see Paris from a car for the first time since I got here.

We decided to visit the louvre for the warmth and protection from the rain, but so did everyone else. We spent two hours in it before annoyance from the crowds and fatigue from the early flight from Naples hit us. They saw what they wanted to see, Mona Lisa and Venus de milo. 

The place where we are staying is perfect. We are on the 5th floor of six, with a cute balcony and a nice view of sacre coeur.

They only downside is it's close to the moulin rouge district, so at night it gets kind of sketchy.

Saturday morning we went to yet another market. I went there before to check it out so I knew what I was doing when my family came over. Dad and mum kept telling us that it was bringing back old memories of when they use to do markets, and the friendships that grew between vendors. Others nearby helping out when Jordon or Brittney had to go to the bathroom or would wander off.

We got lost a couple times, mostly inside the metro station. My parents sympathized with me and realized how difficult it would've been when I first got there and having to figure everything out by myself.

Wrapping it all up

The motor home was the best idea ever in Italy. It brought back so many memories of travelling to and from Georgia for reunions. We were able to see the countryside of Italy, and we oohed and awed over every village on a hillside.

With the motor home, we went at our own pace, not to be rushed by a train ticket. A nice place to just relax when it got dark and we were tired. 

Pompeii

Like in Rome, Pompeii was so full of history it's hard to share without pictures, but I'll get them to you later. We really lucked out in Italy, the weather was fantastic! Sunny everyday we went outside, it only rained when we were driving. Pompeii was no exeption, so hot! It was perfect. It was so interesting going in and seeing what use to be people's houses. We were without tour guide, but that made it even better, it became a game guessing what was what. Making up stories with the help of our little book. Arguing because we each thought our own theory was the better version.

When in Rome

Explaining our time in Rome won't even do it justice it was that amazing. We had three different private tours, with two different amazing tour guides! The first tour was on a golf cart. The best way to see Rome! We were able to go down alley ways and to places that a normal bus tour couldn't, and see way more things than if we were on foot. Andrea was our tour guide for the first day, he took us places that weren't even part of the tour just because he thought we would like it. We looked through the worlds most famous keyhole that we didn't even know existed. Went to a place where we had a beautiful panoramic view of Rome. And the whole time he was telling us stories about what happened where and such.

(Pictures and explanations will be in a later post)

The second half of our first day he took us to the Vatican. It was all amazing but my favorite part was Wednesday morning with Eva. We toured the colosseum and the forum. She told us so much history and information it was overwhelming. It made us all want to read more and figure everything out better. 

The colosseum, for those who don't know, was like a modern day baseball stadium except made out of marble and held the gladiator games. 

Eva kept describing Rome as lasagna, and you could definitely see why when you walked through the forum. Layers upon layers of buildings. The forum was where all the town business happened. People gambled, made political speeches, waited for jobs, traded supplies etc.. 

Saw Julius Caesars house and where his ashes were kept. Finally understand the story between him and cleopatra and mark Antony. It was a very educational day and now I just want to read every single thing I can get my hands on about Ancient Rome.

Pisa!

As soon as the sign for Pisa told us we were entering the city limits, we all stuck our heads up against the glass in search of the tower. It was in vain, as we could only see the very tip when we had parked due to the high wall. Our breath was taken away as we rounded the corner by foot and the tower almost fell on us.

We all had the urge to try and catch it and the angle it was leaning at was bigger than we expected. Before, we weren't so adamant about climbing up to the top, but as soon as we saw it we decided it was a must do. 

While waiting for the two hours until our time to climb we posed for the corny pictures of us trying to hold the tower up or pushing it down.

When the time came we climbed the 293 slanted slippery steps up to the top of the belfry. It made us dizzy and dad sick as we turned around and around up to the top of the 55 metres. It was very disorienting standing at the highest part and being slightly tilted. 

Bucket list item: accomplished!

Easter monday

Dad's very specific itinery was nice, but so far we haven't followed to a tee. Finishing Venice earlier than we thought we would be, and seeing more in Florence other than Michelangelo's David. We were still on track, but today (Easter Monday) was full of driving. Having to leave the campsite and start driving by 8:30am in order to make it to Pisa and then to Rome, the day consisted of a total of 5 hours do driving. It still amazes me that we can get so far across the country in so little time.

The first hour leg of the journey to Pisa was enjoyable and quick through the Italian country side. (Read the next post for details on Pisa).

The second part we decided to make a detour in a little town on the coast called Piombino. It took us longer but the view was worth it.

The drive to Rome came next. The gps told us four hours, but with the traffic and bathroom breaks we ended up arriving after six hours. It was easy to keep us entertained before the sun set with staring out the windows, but as soon as it got dark we had to resort to other options. We made ourselves sick playing guess the flavor of the gummy bears and we lost our voices rocking out to bohemian rhapsody. We were playing guess the song until mum shut the music off when ACDC's I've got big balls came on. 

Missing the turn the first time around to the campsite, we had to find a place to flip the motor home around and come at it again. Finally parking at 10pm in the loudest lot of the place, we sat down for yet another meal of pasta and bread.

Market time

If you have ever been to a market you know that the vendors will say anything to you to get you to stop and look. Us three girls got tons of compliments on our smiles, men calling us their flowers, and merchants shouting "student prices" at us. Our favorite line though, was "special prices for spice girls!" Meanwhile, mum and dad kept getting "honeymoon prices", and when explained that they had been together for 25 years, the vender across the street yelled "celebrate 25 years over here then".

We were able to barter the prices down on some jewlery I found. And dad, like normal, was able to talk his way into a decent price. But we knew that as long as we were buying it, they were still making a profit. 

Fiasco in Firenze

If you think driving a motor home in downtown Atlanta, Georgia is difficult, try driving it in central Florence, Italy. Unimaginable, right? The streets so narrow we had to pull in our mirrors in order to not hit the signs and people, and even then, pedestrians had to put themselves flat up against the wall so as not to get taken out by our gigantic vehicle. The tightness of the streets made our caravan feel like a caricature. Our nose was ten times bigger and our hips were bumping the corners. The closer we got to the central market, the tinier the streets got. Dad's determination to get us parked as close to the market as possible resulted in many shocked and astonished faces from the locals. Pulling up to a stop light, dad spontanealously jumped out of the vehicle and asked the taxi driver in front of us to take us to a parking spot. Although dad's Italian didn't improve, his horn usage got more and more frequent. However, it did serve the purpose of getting people out of our way as we followed the taxi to an underground parking that we didn't even fit in. Taking his five euro fare, he left us to figure out what to do next. Deciding it would be easier to find a park by foot, I jumped out to look. Dad's wish of a close parking spot was granted when, with a mixture of French, Italian, and hand gestures, I persuaded a local to move to a smaller spot so we could occupy the only area large enough for our motor home. We were parked as close as we could get to the market, a mere twenty steps from the first stall.

Venice pictures

Florence day 2

Our original plan was to just go to the Galleria dell' Accademia to see Michelangelo's David and to head out before 3. 

Mum quickly got tired of staring at the naked statue, and tsk'ed her whole way throughout the museum.

Our plans quickly changed as 3 rolled around and we were enjoying exploring the city. We climbed to the highest hill to get the best view of the whole city.

Ciao Firenze!

Surprisingly we finished venice in a day, and good thing to because Saturday was not very enjoyable weather. After figuring out yet again some more problems with the motor home and buying groceries we said arrivederci to venice and started on our way to Firenze (Florence).

Touring Venice

"The only way to see venice is to get lost" and lost we did! So many alleyways little canals it was impossible to find your way. We had twenty minutes to run from one side of venice to the other for our tour. Too bad it was going to take us 40 minutes. We ended up getting a water taxi. If you're in venice either you walk from place to place or you get a water taxi and then walk some more, there is no way a car would get in those streets.

Having the most experience with Italians and the language, I was the one sent to ask questions or get directions. Thankfully a lot of French crosses over into Italian except instead you pronounce all the letters whereas in French you only really say half the word.

The tour was amazing! Took us 2 hours to walk all around venice with someone telling us all the history.  

The basilica was bellissimo!

I took so many pictures of buildings and boats and bridges. 

Instead of crepe stands, like there are in France, there are gelato stands and stores all over the place.

The boat tour was my favorite part. 

Seeing venice from the canale grande (grand canal) was magnifico!!