L'Opera

So a few weeks ago Anna, Kim and I stumbled across this great little restaurant, Sarasto's on our way to a play in the theatre district. We learned that on Sunday and Monday nights they have a dinner and opera special, and we vowed to come back. Tonight we got the girls together, plus James, and headed out. It felt so good to put my heels out and have a night out in London!





The ambiance of the restaurant is our favorite part-- it looks like an overwhelming opera house inside with bright colors, funky lamps, and even balconys! The booths are like little coves. Everything is so gauty and fun- we love it!! The food is Mediterranean, and the Opera menu was set with a 3 course meal; 8 different appetizers, main dish and dessert. Before we knew it we had a plethora of appetizers before us, and we just started eating and eating and eating. It was fabulous! All of our favorites plus some new ones!! Hummus, felafel's, etc etc. For the main dish Anna won the prize for best choice for the duck was far superior than anyone else's (I was mad I chose the boring dish and got chicken). For dessert we had a HUGE fruit tray and some Turkish Delights.





While we ate a string quartet serenaded/entertained us. These guys were SUCH characters and we LOVED every piece they played!! For some of the songs they came up RIGHT next to us (we were seated in the middle of the restaurant) and played inches from our faces! And if someone wasn't clapping this one guy would stop and go and poke them until they got into it! haha. Oh and the best part was watching them play and do the cancan-- these guys were awesome entertainers! It was so so so so so fun!! After the string quartet 2 professional opera singers came out and sang a variety of pieces which were beautiful. This was by far one of our favorite things to do in London-- I can't wait to take Mom and Dad!

Saturday. Am I at Disneyland? Wait. No. VENEZIA.
Let me take you through my day. WARNING: This post has a lot of pictures.

Our First Glimpse. Walking along the yellow brick road toward the water taxi.



On the Grand Canal.







We hopped off the water bus at a random spot and crossed the bridge to find food.








Gelato is IMPERATIVE in this heat!!


So cute. (the street or the people? the jury is out.)


All you need is LOVE.



The Square at the Basilica. So dramatic.




Feed the Birds?














Getting Lost in the City Streets.






WATER! (Acqua? Ok stuff we can drink! Right?...)




Nap Time?



Taxi Ride To Moreno Island




Christmas in JULY? Say it isn't so?! This means I can start my Christmas music now, right?


Now I know you are all very disapointed, but this concludes my pictures from this day. Due to the extreme heat I gave up taking pictures at the end of the day. The rest of my day in Venice consisted of dinner, bus ride to airport, shower at the airport, plane ride home, longest que ever for customs, spotting my lobster sister ashley in customs, missing the final train to london, realizing we can take a bus, get into london at 3am, dropped off at the bus station 10 blocks from the center in the rain at 3:15am, get to center at 3:30am. Finally in bed by 4am. Sigh.

Friday.
We slept in... till 10 then headed off to get our train tickets for Venice. Then we got gelato (of course) and then made plans for the day.





I was really jealous of the segways.






After the random Civic Center we headed to the Science Museum where we saw Galileo's middle finger and looked through his telescope. We also saw the evolution of the bicycle. Really really cool stuff.




We grabbed lunch at a random cafe... the best pizza EVER, of course ending with Gelato. We had an hour before we were meeting the Blondes so we decided to sit on the pediment of the bridge and talk... and take pictures of course.





After our break on the bridge we made the trek up to Piaza Michaelangelo and to the monestary to listen to the monks chant. After that we needed a nap so we found a bench and relaxed/chatted until 8:30 where we watched the sun go down over the city. so beautiful.













After the Sunset we walked down the hill and had dinner at this great little place... I had tortellini and it was amazing. Then we walked across the yellow bridge to Fetisval Gelato by the Duomo-- it had neon lights and lots of choices. It was delicious.





We finished our night on the bridge ... holding hands and singing songs. No seriously. Our theme song became Death Cab Into the Night. Such a wonderful ending to an amazing day.