Venice is my new love. It is so stunning and smells a LOT better than Florence, actually. There is just something so romantic about water and gondolas and bridges...*sigh*

We left Florence this morning and made a quick stop in Padova to see the Giotto frescos inside the Scrovegni Chapel. Those frescos are so much more impressive in person than they are in images. The textures and facial expressions are more intense and more believable when seen up close. I was way more inspired than I thought I would be. Go, Giotto!

We spent the evening walking and exploring Venice as a group. After the professors had shown is all the things they wanted to, we split off to so our own stuff. A group of us went out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant (I decided to splurge a little bit tonight since it is Venice!) and then enjoyed a leisurely stroll back towards our hotel.

Venice is beautiful with all the water ways and bridges, but it is also easy to get lost with all the side alleys and random little inlets. However, I was rather impressed with my sense of direction and ability to follow street signs and we were able to make it back without too many issues.

Towards the end of the evening it had ended up being just Nate and I on our own. The others were getting cold and tired but he and I wanted to explore the city a bit more before it got too dark. After some exploring, we wee making our way back to the hotel and this flower seller came out of nowhere and shoved two roses into my hands. I pushed them back saying, "No grazie. No grazie." and motioning that I had no money. He insistently forced the flowers back and kept saying, "For free! For free!" Finally, I just took them and started walking away. He let us get about 10 steps before he grabbed Nate by the shoulder and said, "Two euros!" Nate shook his head and I tried to force the flowers back into the guy's hands but he kept bouncing away saying that we owed him money. Nate finally reached into his pocket, trying to avoid a scene and trouble, and pulled out a fifty cent piece. The guy was offended but took the change and then the roses out of my hand. Nate got mad and demanded his money back, so then the guy consented and gave me a single rose. It was all rather ridiculous. As we walked away, Nate and I decided that next time we needed to just drop the roses on the ground and walk away (I had felt a little flustered because the vendor wouldn't take them back and I didn't know what to do). So...lesson: don't let them get the merchandise into your hands at any cost and NEVER believe that anything is "free." Street sellers are really starting to get on my nerves. They will do almost anything to make a sale! Blah.