steerike two!

Just another normal day in France. Hundreds and thousands take to the street to protest... what is it that we're protesting again? We do this so much I've lost track. It was apparently regarding the economic crisis, but by the looks of it, it was more like a random collection of marches. I'd say striking is France's second national sport next to soccer.

*****

The rest of our Italy trip was phenomenal. Venice was so cool. It freaked me out a bit, looking at the land from the boats, because you can never see any natural shoreline. It feels like floating docks and made me a little uneasy. But once we were on land, I didn't notice anymore. We wandered the streets of Venice and rode the boats as much as possible. Twas loverly.

The Essence of Venice

The island of Murano, known for its blown glass, is really only that. And while many of the islands look the same, they all have a different feel. We stayed on the island Lido, which reminded me a lot of the Côte d'Azure in France. It's a lot more of a beachy feel, and it's not much more than a kilometer wide. Our hotel sat right by the waterbus port and around the corner from a grocery store that sold wine in juice boxes ;) ... that was fun.

Our one night in Milan was interesting. Shady hotel off the main drag... fulllll of character! But we had the best sleep of the week in those beds. Thank god because we had 7 1/2 hours of train ride the next day.