We then traveled back to Italy to see Venice. We were lucky and happened to be in Venice during a festival. I never found out what the festival was, but when we were on the bus into Venice there were about 15 people on the bus with us that were dressed in the most elaborate Elizabethan costumes I have ever seen! One of the ladies looked exactly like Queen Elizabeth and she sat on the bus texting on her Blackberry. I had no clue Queen Elizabeth not only used public transit but also texted! It was amazing!

We found a beautiful chapel that was having a Vivaldi concert, who just happens to be my favorite composer! The chapel itself was amazing; it was filled with beautiful sculptures and paintings, it had marble and hardwood floors and incredible stained glass windows! We had fantastic seats, we were about 8 feet from the musicians who were on a small stage. When the music started I was absolutely thrilled, I was sitting on the edge of my seat and, as much as I hate to admit it, grinning like an idiot. By about the third song I noticed that the upright bass player, who didn’t have a very large part in the concert was looking at me, and kind of smirking. I also realized that I looked ridiculous, I promptly composed myself and sat back in my seat and tried to look appropriate. That lasted for just a few minutes when I was back on the edge of my seat grinning! The bassist continued to laugh at me the rest of the concert, but it was so incredible I didn’t care!

The next day was when we were supposed to fly out of Venice back to the US, but as seemed to be the standard for this trip it was overbooked and we weren’t able to make it on that flight. The next flight that we could fly out on was the next day, but leaving from Pisa. We rented another car and drove through Tuscany to Pisa. It was a beautiful drive, but the downside to this was the car… the only car we could get was a smart car. It was awful, and it really was as small as it looked! We didn’t want to pay for another hostel, so we thought we could just sleep at the airport, unfortunately the airport in Pisa closes, so we slept in the smartcar. I didn’t know it was possible, but I actually slept better in the SLC airport! But after a few long flights I made it back home, and still really miss Europe. It was so beautiful and amazingly surreal! I can’t wait to go back and see more!