Venice and Rothenburg

Hello All,

Since our last email, we travelled by train to Venice. There we stayed at a small B&B. The first thing we noticed was that there were no cars. The main river ran right in front of the main train station, and was very pretty. All of the police, taxis, and ambulences were boats. It was definitely an experience. All that aside, we didnt really like it. While the rivers were pretty, it was very crowded, and the streets were like a maze. There was also grafiti everywhere, even on Rialto Bridge which is a big landmark and tourist attraction. Also, since there is no grass, the dogs use the bathroom right on the street. We were planning on having a cooking class with the owner of the B&B, but she ended up having a concert to go to instead. She is a member of a gospel choir and it was their Christmas concert. Attending that ended up being the highlight of Venice. They sang Christmas songs and even a few songs by Queen, all in English. So all in all, Venice seemed like a dirty tourist trap with little redeeming value in contrast to Florence. But we are still glad for the experience.


From Venice, we took a 12 hour train journey to Rothenburg, Germany. The scenery was beautiful.

It is a Christmas village year round. People come from all over to shop here. Its kinda like Fredricksburg in that 75% of the population works in tourism. We noticed right off the bat a difference in the German people vs the Italians. They were all so very friendly and helpful. They smile as they pass you in the street and seem much less concerned with fashion and much more down to Earth. Our hotel is very nice and has been a very relaxing retreat from all the touring. We leave tomorrow for Paris, where we will be until New Years Day. I cant believe we are already entering the last leg of our trip. We will be home before we know it.

Will write when we can,
Love,
Melody and Dylan