Now it is time to say auf wiedersehen to the beautiful hills and valleys of Austria as we make our way to Italy. Buongiorno!
While the picture from the bus isn’t great, we got to see the Highline 179 bridge one last time as we drove under it. I cannot stress enough how high and long it is!!
We made a pit stop in Schönberg im Stubaital. We had a few minutes to stretch our legs and saw a section of the ancient Roman road – Brenner Road. The McDonald’s had a spectacular view!
Group lunch in Egna, Italy – mixed salad, lasagna, and gelato! We each got to select 2 gelato flavors in a cup or cone. I selected dark chocolate and hazelnut. Mark chose dark chocolate and vanilla.
Venice
After getting off the bus, we board a Vaporetto boat for a Grand Canal ride to our hotel. We stayed in room 161 at the Hotel Serenissima. One thing we have appreciated about the tour is that all of the hotels are centrally located. Hotel Serenissima is just a few minutes from St. Mark’s Square.
Lisa gave us an alleys and canals orientation before dinner.
We ate dinner at Trattoria alla Scala. Mark and I both chose spaghetti with tomato and basil for the first course. We also had mixed salads. For the main course, Mark selected mixed fried fish. I chose the rib eye steak entrecôte. Tiramisu was Mark’s section for dessert while I selected crème caramel.
We joined the group for an evening gondola ride. There were several gondolas, including one that had musicians. Afterward, we walked around Venice at night.