Venice

---

We got to the train station in Florence and got some Maccas for the trip. However, only minutes onto the train and much to the delight of the girls sitting across from us, I managed to drop a whole box of chips on the floor. I doubt they would have found it funny had I dropped the chips on them! They continued to be annoying for the rest of the 3½ hour journey giggling and laughing at anything that moved (and often things that didn't). When we arrived at Venice, we made our way from the train station and headed out to the Vaporetto stop. The Vaporetto are a series of boats that ferry people to and from parts of Venice. Venice is the only city in Italy where there is a ban on motorised traffic. This is fair enough because most of the city is narrow alleys and canals. We jumped on and headed to our stop at Rialto Mercato. After finding out way to the hostel we checked in and went to go see our room. We walked in and were pretty happy as it wasn't bad, not great but fine for what we wanted. There was however a sink that wasn't plumbed into anything and merely acted as an awkward and annoying ornament. After getting settled into the room, we were getting pretty hungry so we headed out and found a small restaurant that was pretty quiet and looked pretty good. We sat down and ordered and had some really good pasta. We went to pay and the bill was €8.00 more than expected. This restaurant charges €3 for service and €5 for a cover charge. Not very amused Venice!

The next morning we woke up after a full 12 hour sleep as we were pretty exhausted from the previous days travels. At this stage the internet was still not working as it had been promised. So with that I went downstairs to see what was going on. The man then tried to tell me that because he had changed internet providers, that his hardline internet would work but the wireless wouldn't. Sorry mate, that's a lie. So I told him that and offered to fix it as it was in my best interest. I explained that I did this sort of thing for a living and he said that if I fixed it that I would get a "healthy discount". This meant big discount in my mind. So with that I set to work and fixed it. He then turned to me and said ok when you check out you get a €5 discount! Yep sure was healthy... for him! We then did Skype with the Wadleys, the Robinsons and Tonez which was pretty awesome. After that we headed down the street for lunch but this time found a great little restaurant with no cover charge! After lunch we made our way to St Marks Square to do a little window shopping and watch the tourist feed the pidgeons. These people had hundreds of the birds all around them and one guy had birds on his arms and on his head. I could no think of a more disgusting and vile thing to participate in.
We spent a while wandering around the city and ended up getting pretty lost after trying to get back to the hostel. Venice is seriously like a maze with thousands of mice and no cheese! On the Vaporetto back to the hostel Sarah started to feel dizzy and passed out. I did thank god manage to catch her and one of the passengers grabbed some water from another passenger and splashed it on her face. Amazing how one person springs into action while 60 stand by and watch someone pass out and do nothing. Thanks random Italian lady, you are a legend! After her fainting trick, Sarah was put up in the front of the boat with me by her side. Thankfully our stop wasn't too far away and went back to the hostel for a lie down. We then headed back down to where we had lunch and found another little restaurant for dinner!

The next day was pretty lazy and we didn't leave the hostel until around lunchtime. We headed back to our favourite eating spot for some pasta. We spent the rest of the day lazing around in the hostel as we weren't feeling the best and really needed to have a day to just do nothing! That night we got some chicken burgers for dinner and sat on the canal and ate them. It was really romantic and good just to sit and watch the passing boats and talk. That night we sat up for a little bit and watched a bit of tv and then went to bed. That night I couldn't sleep, so at 2:30am I started watching a movie called K-Pax with Kevin Spacey. Really good movie!

That next morning we still weren't feeling great and we were pretty sure we were coming down with something. On the way to lunch I managed to get something in my eye which would prove to be a real bastardi as the italians would say. We had lunch and sat on the canal for a while i what we had started to call "our spot". We did see a huge seagull similar to the ones in Cornwall but didn't realise how crazy they were until the next day when I saw one eating a pigeon. That is the first time I have been really scared of a bird! We then headed back to the tourist strip for some gelato. Probably not a smart idea considering that we were both sick and i had now gotten asthma back. The next thing is generally bronchitis. So yeah not a smart idea. We then did what I was looking forward to the most. Headed back to the canals and paid €80 for a gondola ride complete with an italian tour guide. The tour was really cool and it took us through mostly small back alley canals as well as the Grand Canal which is Venice's main (water) road. After our gondola ride, we did a bit of souvenir shopping and headed for dinner at a chinese restaurant. After a fantastic dinner (I had been craving chinese for a while now!), we walked back to "our spot" on the canal and sat and watched the boats in the dock.

Our second last day of Venice started with the pretty bad hostel brekky that consisted of nutella and the worlds smallest pieces of toast. Not being very satisfied by the hostel "food", we headed to the tourist strip and got some pizza by the slice. We then headed to the train station and bought our tickets to Rome. The line was absolutely massive and we would find out why later on. After this we caught the water bus to Lido which is the only island where motorised traffic is allowed. Also it apparently has the best beaches of Venice but we didn't bother trying to find them in the gale force winds and rain. So after eating some pastry from the local cafe we headed back to main island. We got off the Vaporetto at the St Marks Square stop and had a walk around and looked at all the stalls. I think if I had a dollar for every time Sarah wanted to buy a stuffed elephant, I would be able to afford a real elephant! Sarah did however, buy Sandy (the dog) a straw hat that was the same style as the Gondolier's wear! By the time we made it back to the hostel, it was time for dinner! We headed to the normal haunt for restaurants and got a table. This time, however was a little different service-wise. In that there was none. This was probably the most annoying dinner I have ever had. We had a whole family of Indians sitting next to me laughing at my cough, which after having asthma for a week had become quite deep and chesty. This went on for about 25 minutes and combined with not getting our food I had had enough. I asked the woman what was so funny and she played the "Oh we weren't laughing at you" card. No of course not something else was obviously hilarious at the exact same time I was struggling for breath. After another 20 minutes of waiting for our food, We stood up and left. The Indian family did flinch a little when we got up. We then went back to the place where we got the chicken burgers and had something to eat. We then went back to the hostel and headed to bed.

The next day was to be our last in Venice so we got ready and checked out. We then headed to the train station where we were told that something had exploded in Rome station the day earlier and it had taken them 18 hours to clean up the mess! This was not something either of us wanted to hear. I then was a little comforted by the fact that how stupid would you be to bomb the same station twice in two days.

---