So I have fallen behind again. We have 3 nights remaining until the contiki ends and we are currently driving to Lucerne in Switzerland. I am extremely hungover from unlimited wine at dinner and clubbing at space disco (jersey shore fans know it) in Florence.

So Venice. It was a real highlight of my trip and probably the best experience before I got to Rome. We arrived by boat (obviously) into Venice and were taken through a few streets to our gondola ride. Scuba Steve (our tour guide) was not allowed to guide us in Italy as it is illegal unless your italian, this didn't stop him though. Anyway we had our gondola ride through the water streets and with Di, Corrina, Amy, Nicole and Brenton we got through 3 bottles of champagne while taking in the sights. We were also greeted by the most gorgeous weather. Which reminds me..

On the drive out of Innsbruck we had the most amazing sights of snow capped mountains and I think I played with my iPod for 20mins or so and when I looked up again blue skies, green mountains and the picturesque houses on the mountainsides. It was spectacular. It was also the first sunshine we had seen since the ferry trip into France from Dover. It was amazing and really picked up people's moods. Amazing how weather can affect you so much, especially being a PE teacher, you depend on the weather every day.

Anyway, we were taken for a lace demonstration (so we could supply our grandparents with a life time supply of doilies). Far more entertaining since a few people had really seen the effects of the gondola's champagne! We then were taken for the most amazing demonstration of glass blowing. The demonstrator created two objects, a vase and a horse. The vase took a minute, the horse rearing on its hind legs took 2 minutes. Ridiculous!

Anyway we then had a Venetian dinner of pastas and of course gelati. I averaged two serves of gelati every day I was in Italy, oops. Hide the scales away for six months! We had two accordions playing our music, and the food definitely did not disappoint. Amazing!

We were all pretty tired and after the boat trip back to the bus and then the bus trip to the hotel, we all passed out pretty easily. Rome the next day, be prepared for a story, the most eventful day of my life with highlights and lowlights.