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Published: November 13th 2005
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We got back from Venice yesterday night. It is everything everyone says and more. Just as i imagined: gorgeous. We woke up at 4:30 Friday morning to make the train ride. Some of us have eurail passes so we where just going to get on the train without reservations which was going to cost 12 euros each way. Whats the point of buying a eurail pass if im going to have to pay still for a seat? So we decided to chance it and just get on. The worst i thought could happen was that i wouldnt have a seat and we would have to sit in the dining cart, no big deal. Well, there were plenty of seats, which was nice. About 45 minutes later, Laura wakes me up and the guy who checks tickets is standing there. Laura then tells me we have to pay 20 euros because we dont have a reserved seat. That is the most ridiculous thing ive ever heard. We had to pay an additional 8 euros on top of the 12 because we had to get one on the train. And there were plenty of seats everywhere on the train. Well, there went part
father and son
this little boy was so cute, playing with his dad and all the pigeons of my budget for venice. So venice not off to a good start. We get to venice and walk to the hotels all of us are staying at. The students are staying at cheaper hotels (still expensive for what we got). Emilio and the quinns stayed at a nicer hotel that i never saw. Since five of us where coming home on sat. instead of staying until sunday, they put all of us in the same room. The room wasnt that bad. It was just a bunch of beds and a bathroom. No lightbulb in the main light fixture which kinda sucked. We put up our bags and then head to meet the group outside. They were all going to walk to the nice hotel so they could drop off their stuff and then start the touring. Well, i was in no mood to be dragged around venice, so laura, sarah and i leave the group and decide to do our own thing. We first got some advice from the lady at the hotel about the boat rides, then we stopped to eat a quick bite for lunch. We ate in this little piazza and there was the little boy
playing with his father and all the pigeons, it was the cutest thing. The pigeons swarmed us trying to eat our bread and stuff. Then we went back to the train station to make sure there were trains leaving the next day that definitely did not need reservations. Thank god there were tons. Then we decided to walk to saint marcos square then take a boat back to the hotel down the canal. It was so much fun walking through venice. It was just one store after another selling tons of amazing masks and glass work. Every store had so much beautiful stuff. Now i understand why everyone says venice is so expensive. Its not that the actual stuff is just outrageously priced, its just that you want to buy everything you see and there are tons to see. It took us forever to get to saint marcos not because its a long distance, but because we stopped at so many stores. We finally get to the square which is so beautiful. Its this huge open space surrounded by tons of shops and in the center are hundreds and hundreds of pigeons. You see people all around feeding them bread,
being swarmed, completely covered in them. They will just come and stand on you. One came up and sat on my head and all i could think about was that it was going to poop in my hair. We kept feeding them bread; they were really attracted to sarah who constantly had tons on her. It was pretty funny. There were little kids around completly covered in them. It was getting pretty cold and late in the day (it gets so dark so early now) so we decided to go ahead and buy our boat ticket back to the hotel area. When we are waiting in line for the boat we actually run into the group who were getting on the same boat. What are the odds? It was nice riding the boat down the canal. It was so beautiful because the sun was setting and then we got to see venice at night. It got so cold though. The we went back to the hotel and sat there awhile before going to grab a bite to eat. We just grabbed some cheap wrap for dinner and then some cookies at a grocery store. We needed to keep it cheap
canals
i really couldnt stop taking pictures, everything looked so beautiful, so im pretty sure i took the same picture like a billion times since we were spending so much money of stuff there. Then we walked around so more. We were pretty bored because venice is definitely not a night city. Everything pretty much closes early and theres not much to do or see. Except for the main roads, its pretty dark. Plus we were pretty tired anyways. We did spend some time following this beast of a dog who just kept walking up and down this same strip on the road. It was a really weird looking dog. So we headed back to the hotel and slept in until about 9 the next morning. We got our stuff together, checked out and had some breakfast at this cafe below the hotel. Oh, by the way, the reason behind my title, basically we were told not to drink the water in venice because it was supposed to be pretty bad, so, yep. Then we just walked around some more, did some more shopping and decided to get on the 1:30 train back. It was a very long train ride and pretty miserable. We kept going in tunnels the whole way back and it kept causing pressure to change so my head felt like
it was going to explode, plus i had one killer tooth ache. So, train ride to and from venice not good, but venice itself: great. I had a blast and im very happy i got a chance to see it. Definitely worth the trouble. I hope everyone gets a chance to see it some day. Well, until next time.
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erin
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Great pics! So I'm guessing the pigeon didn't poop on your head? :) I'm glad you ended up taking your coat, looks like its coming in handy. --love, erin