Honeymoon Part IV

Saturday, August 13, 2011

We woke up on the train in our tiny, not even twin size beds, to find that we were in Italy and nearing Venice. We thought it would behoove us to know where we were going to stay in Venice so we looked at our travel documents. It turns out we weren't staying in Venice at all, we had a hotel booked in Mestre, whatever that is. We asked the train guy and he said the train would be stopping at the Mestre station before heading on to Venice, phew. We got off at the Mestre station and tried to find our way to our hotel. It was a bit of a mess because we didn't have a map or anything, and Jason didn't want to get a cab. A nice Australian couple that we met on the train and had stayed in the same car as us helped us out while we were struggling to find out where to go. Eventually we took the bus to the stop before where we were supposed to get off, and did quite a bit of walking with all our baggage to finally make it to our hotel. Jason had already decided he didn't like Venice very much. Poor Venice, we weren't even there yet, we were still on the mainland, and Jason was already giving it a hard time. The important thing was that God kept us safe, and we were together, plus we even made some new friends.

After we got cleaned up at our hotel, we asked the concierge how to get to Venice. A bus stop was close to our hotel and would take us right to Venice. So we got a one-way bus pass from the hotel, we would have to get a 3-day pass later from a tobacco shop, and bought a Nestea lemon flavored iced tea for the bus ride. The iced tea was delicious and that was to become my new drink of choice in Italy, since Fanta tastes funny in Italy. The iced tea was amazing though, it definitely doesn't taste that good in the states, in fact, I don't even like iced tea.

When we got to Venice we were taken aback. It really is like a fairytale or something. No roads, no cars or motorcycles, just narrow walkways and lots of canals full of boats. Since we hadn't eaten anything but cookies and fruit, we decided to find a place to eat. It didn't take us long to find a place that had good food. We got spaghetti carbonara and chicken. I got another Nestea, and Jason had a Coke. The good was amazing.

Frommer's told us to get lost in Venice and then you would discover its true flavor and depth. So, we didn't ask for directions or look at our map, we just walked around. We eventually found a place to buy our Museum Pass and Bus Pass and even though everyone we asked said there were no ATMs or that they hadn't heard of them, we found one.

We found a mask shop and got some really pretty Venetian masks that are a pair. They are crimson and black and have music notes on them. I liked them so much that I was convinced I would not find a pair that I liked better and we had better get them right now. I was right, I didn't find any I liked better.

We continued on to Piazza San Marco, which is huge, after we saw a few cathedrals on the way, and we visited the Correr Museum where we bought a guidebook because no pictures were allowed.

After taking a short waterbus ride, we walked around to find a place to have dinner. We ended up eating at a pizzeria where we ordered swordfish, spaghetti ragu, and a ham and mushroom pizza. It was the first time either of us had swordfish and it was pretty good. It is very fishy tasting though, so you have to be in the mood for that. The spaghetti and pizza were also good, but not as amazing as they should be when we are in Italy. When we finished dinner we hopped the bus back to our hotel. It was a long, but good first day in Italy.

The other side of the coin

Today I am not bored at all. The thing about still being in the same town as my parents, they forget I don't actually live at home anymore. So, after I woke-up to fix Jason monkey bread for breakfast, not exactly the breakfast of champions, but delicious all the same, my dad called to have me come drive a water truck so that it doesn't get too dusty with all the wheat trucks driving over by the elevators. Fine, fine, but I actually had plans for today. I have to wash the cars, I need to put clean sheets on the bed, take the dogs for a walk, fix Jason lunch, blog about our honeymoon, ask Cim if I'm allowed to go on wildland calls even though I don't have my red card, and fix Jason and myself dinner before going to my fire meeting at 1900 hours. Funny how things happen. I guess I just like to plan all my stuff in one day because I haven't been doing much the last few days. Now Jason comes home and tells me that I should write a book and record a cd. I guess he has his own plans for how I should make money but still be home whenever he is because that is where the real trouble lies, I might be a bit bored on occasion right now, but I don't want a job because Jason is about to go on night shift, then we would never see each other. That isn't good for a relationship, but really not a good precedent to set when we just got married. I think for now I will stay happily unemployed and just take care of my husband.

Raul and Lucy

Finally sat down and played guitar tonight. I missed Raul a lot while we were in Europe, and I knew that when I did start playing I wouldn't want to stop so I was waiting for the right moment, even though it was killing me to wait. My fingers are completely out of shape and they hurt now, but it was completely worth it. First I played Lucy actually, had to sing "Sexy Jason" to my husband with uke accompaniment. Then, a little worship and a little bit more serenading my husband; perfect end to the night.

Honeymoon Part III

Friday, August 12, 2011

Our last day in Paris. We had already done so much, that we didn't exactly know what we should do on our last day, so we turned to Frommer's. I did know that I wanted to see the Moulin Rouge, not a show or anything, I just wanted to see the windmill in person. Other than that, not much as far as plans. Jason found a place he thought he wanted to go, it was just a nice neighborhood that apparently had good shopping. Check-out was noon, but they could hold on to our bags, so we checked-out around 1100 hours and got directions to the Moulin Rouge. Actually, that neighborhood was where our concierge told us to go, Montemarte. It also is where a huge basilica is, apparently a place we shouldn't go home without seeing.

When we got there, the basilica was huge. It was built up on a hill and there were tons of steps to get up to the entrance. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so I will try to paint a picture with words. The basilica was huge. It had the typical cathedral design, with multiple altars along the sides. It also had a giant dome, it actually most closely resembles St. Peter's Basilica, but not as large as St. Peter's of course. Huge paintings filled the walls, and stained-glass windows brought in beautiful light through their stories. The organ was not very beautiful, but I'm sure the music it makes pleases Yahweh's ears, which is what matters.

As we walked around the church we found a public toilet or as they say, a Water Closet. It was horrible. After each use it automatically cleans itself , which basically consists of water spraying everything down, so everything is wet when you go in to use it. But Jason and I both needed to pee, so we made sure not to touch anything. Even without touching anything we felt dirty and tried to wash our hands with water from a spicket. A nice lady who was washing her hands with hand sanitizer spotted us and asked if we wanted to use some as well, we gladly accepted.

Then, we walked through some tourist shops, trying to find a place to eat, and found a place run by Asians where we got quiche. It was actually quite good, but the service sucked. After our quiche, we went to a different place and got beef bourguignon. The bourguignon was very strongly flavored with red wine, a bit too strong. We got some more souvenirs after eating, then headed towards the Moulin Rouge.

When we got to the Moulin Rouge it was neat to finally see it in person. It was definitely situated in a seedy part of town. Sex shops lined the street, places with names like Pussy's. We read the history of Moulin Rouge and took a ton of pictures before going back to our hotel. It was a good last day already.

We made it back to the hotel before we needed to catch a cab to the train station, so we walked around our neighborhood a bit and found a mall. There was a grocery store in the mall and the first thing we noticed was an orange juice machine. You just put the oranges in and it squeezed them and gave you fresh squeezed orange juice. We made a bottle, mostly because we thought it looked super cool and wanted to see how it worked. It was really delicious, so we were glad we did. We also got grapes and raspberries; we had to weigh the grapes and print out a price tag for them, which was really neat and would save time at the checkout line if we did it that way here. Then, we saw a loaf of bread for .49 Euros, but it wasn't labeled and we thought we must need to put a label on it. I tried to ask the cheese lady about it, but she thought I was asking her to cut it for us, so we ended up having our bread ready to make a sandwich with. It was a happy miscommunication. So, we got some ham and cheese as well and figured we would have a nice little picnic on the train.

When we got to the train, everything was messed up. The trolley we were supposed to be on was broken, so they put us on one that was supposed to sleep 6 instead of 2. Awesome, 6 twin beds, how were we supposed to cuddle.

Random Ramblings

I've decided I would love to have my own cooking show. Not because I think I am a fabulous chef or anything like that, I just would love to make things, make a big mess, and have someone else clean it up. How nice would that be. I mean, do you ever see the host of the cooking shows you watch washing their pots and pans afterwards. I haven't. Cleaning up isn't all that bad, I'm actually pretty alright with cleaning up as long as I made something good, otherwise it really wasn't worth the mess that was created.

So, where is all this coming from you might ask. Well, I'm starting to get into the whole housewife thing. I definitely did not wake up at 0600 hours this morning to cook eggs and bacon for my husband before he went off to work, but I got got up three hours later and baked him banana nut and chocolate chip muffins. That's gotta count for something. Jason seemed to like the chocolate chip at least because he has already had two. Though I must say, they aren't really chocolate chip because when I added the water to Betty Crocker's pre-made muffin mix, I wasn't thinking and I added hot water because I had just washed my hands recently. The hot water melted most of the chocolate chips, so now it is more of a chocolate muffin, but it was pretty tasty, and I don't even like chocolate muffins, or chocolate chip for that matter. Now that I'm home from church, I decided to bake cookies by myself for the first time in my life. I've always had someone help me with any baking in the past, I'm really not much of a baker. But I got really excited about baking cookies, especially when I realized I would get to use my awesome KitchenAid mixer that my aunt Mary Ann and cousin Lindsay got for us. It worked just as amazingly as I would expect by the way. But I had no memory of how much of a mess you make when mixing cookie dough. I did spill some sugar, but that isn't what I mean. I have like two mixing bowls to wash, a beater, a spatula, and when the cookies are done, three cookie sheets. That doesn't even all fit in the sink. This is what the second person is really for. If only my husband were home to dry and put stuff away as I get it washed. Probably not a good idea to wait until he gets off work to have him help though, stuff would get pretty stuck on by then. I better go get started.