I ate dinner at McDonald's tonight. Don't judge.

What can I say? A burger, fries, and a chocolate shake just sounded
good. It of course wasn't, but it at least scratched the itch.
Besides, this was after 90 minutes of wandering the streets of Venice
and getting lost trying to find a particular pizzeria that come to
find out had shut down. So I was tired and hungry. Okay?? :)

Jen and I had an amazing 'Last Supper' together in Bologna last night
before she headed out at the ungodly hour of 4am this morning. It was
at a little enoteca...we started with just a glass of wine at the bar,
but the service was so warm and genuine, and the menu looked good, so
we decided to settle in there for the evening. We had fennel and
orange salad, tortellini with duck, argentinian beef with vegetables,
and more great wine. I believe there was then dessert, dessert wine,
and a digestivo, but the details for me at that point get a little
fuzzy :). The chef came out and chatted with us for a while too,
which made it extra special.

The rest of the day was fairly smooth. I walked the wrong way from
the Bologna hotel this morning for about 25 minutes before it hit me
that I was going in the opposite direction of the train station. But
I'm getting used to things like that. My internal compass seems to not
work very well in the morning. Perhaps I should have gone back on the
caffeine for this trip! But, it gave me a little more exercise before
getting on the train to Venice, so that's good. Unfortunately, I'm a
bad Auntie and keep forgetting to take a photo of the trains here (my
sister's little boy Matthew loves trains!) - but lucky for me my
Venice hotel is right near the station, so that's on my list for
tomorrow.

The B&B I'm staying at is gorgeous. Absolute heaven for my last few
nights in Italy. View of the Grand Canal, soundproof windows, jacuzzi
tub, side-jets in the shower, walk-in closet, beautiful fabric on the
walls, exposed beam ceilings - a really wonderful mix of modern and
classic Venetian.

Tomorrow I'll take the slow boat ride on the canal, wander a bit, and
then meet up with a local named Alessandro with a group of other folks
for a "Classic Venice Bars" tour. What, you expected something else
from me? :). It's a mini "pub crawl" to three historic Venice bars -
you taste local wines and "cichetti" (bar snacks), hear stories, ask
questions about the city's history, etc. A visit to the Peggy
Guggenheim museum will also be on my list for tomorrow or Saturday.
Then it's off to Paris on Sunday! Yippee!

Hope everyone is healthy and happy. I miss you all!
Love,
L