Rain, rain go away

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I decided to get some breakfast on my way to the train station in Nice. I stopped in a convenience store and grabbed some food. All I had was a 50 euro note, and the woman at the counter refused to sell me the food because she didn't want to make change. I'm getting sick of only getting 50's from the atm, yet having to go through tons of hoops to spend the damn things. We get by just fine with 20's in the US, they should do the same here. Frustrated, I decided to find the actual grocery store, which turned out to be about a block away. They had much better stuff anyway and they didn't complain about the 50 either.

As I walked out of the store I realized I was going to have to hurry to catch my train. I hustled to the station and I had about 15 minutes before it left, but I didn't have a reservation. So, I took a number and stood fidgeting while I watched the minutes tick away and the lazy (rail employees in France always are) people took their time shuffling papers and talking to each other between "serving" customers. I got my turn 5 minutes before the train was due to leave. The woman asked if I wanted the evening train, and I gave her this look that said I better not miss this train, and then told her nicely that I wanted the one leaving NOW.

I hopped on the train as the conductor was blowing his whistle and found my seat. This was to be my first introduction to the Italian rail system and as I looked around I wasn't impressed. I got stuck in an ancient compartment -- why they still have these is beyond me. The first stop was in Monaco where hordes of asian tourists got on the train. I'm not sure if they were just sightseeing or what, but they were certainly well-dressed so I'm inclined to think they were there to lose money.

It didn't take long to reach the Italian border after leaving Monaco. We had a cursory check by the French officials and then we slowly worked our way across the border to the Italian side. On the Italian side they were more serious about things, and they seemed to be doing some serious profiling as the only people who had any trouble at all were Black.

It took quite a while to reach Milan, where I had to sprint down the platform to make the connection to Venice. The Venice-bound train was nicer, although it was totally packed. We pulled in to Venice well after dark and I was tired from a day of travelling as I walked out into a chilly, but beautiful city.

I set off to find the hostel listed in the LP. It wasn't far from the station and I was soon ringing the doorbell. Again, and again. I stood there for maybe 5 minutes before someone showed up and told me the owners were on vacation and it was closed. Is it really that difficult to put up a sign that says "closed"? I try not to making sweeping generalizations in these posts, but time and time again customer service has left me wanting more in Europe.

With nowhere else that looked appealing or affordable in the guidebook I went and found an internet cafe. The guidebook warned that internet is expensive in Venice, but I was shocked. It cost me 3 euros for 15 minutes! The most I normally pay is 3 for an hour. I had no choice, though, and there didn't seem to be much competition, so I reluctantly paid for 15 minutes and spent that time frantically going through hostel listings. I scribbed down directions to a couple of them and set off for the first when my time was up.

Archie's House, as it was called, turned out to be a few rooms inside (shocking) Archie's actual house. It was cheap, and I didn't have much choice so I booked two nights. In the room I met Stephanie and Yoorana, who are cousins, albeit from different continents. I used Archie's free internet for a while before the three of us went off to find some dinner and then a pub.

Dinner was easy enough -- we picked an appealing pizza place about 100 meters away and grabbed some fantastic, huge (and cheap!) slices of pizza. If this was a sign of things to come, food was not going to be a problem in Italy! After eating we set off, using the map I cut from my guidebook, to find the Irish pub they had listed.

We managed to get almost all the way there only asking for directions once. Venice is the kind of place where regardless of your map you're bound to get confused by the poorly marked streets, especially at night. However, getting from the church that we had used as a reference to the actual pub turned out to be an adventure where we picked up two more people. We ran into a guy from Washington first who had just arrived and was wandering around. Then, Yoorana decided to ask for directions and the guy she picked turned out to be another American, this time a soldier stationed in Italy. He of course had no clue where the place was, but the five of us set off to find it. After asking directions a couple more times, and finally orienting ourselves properly I managed to find the place down a short alley.

We were excited about the prospects of an irish pub, but when we saw the drink prices our enthusiasm was pretty well squashed. Guinness was 5 euros a pint, which is pretty outrageous. After spending 45 minutes trying to find the place, I wasn't leaving without a pint, though, so Stephanie and I both got Guinness while the other three just hung around.

After finishing the Guinness we decided to go in search of some cheap(er) beer. We actually managed to get back to the hostel without getting lost. It was like 9pm, but of course none of the grocery stores were open, so we started going into the little cafes along the street that all had coolers of beer for sale. Expecting to pay 2 euros at the most for a beer I almost burst out laughing at the first place that wanted 4 euros for a 12 oz bottle of becks. I wasn't laughing for long, though, as place after place wanted between 4 and 5. We finally found one that was selling them for the bargain-basement price of 3 euros and so we grabbed a couple.

We spent the next couple hours wandering around the city enjoying the cool atmosphere of Venice at night. Around 12 we headed back to the hostel and called it a night.

The next morning we awoke to some rather dreary weather, but we got going eventually and headed to the train station. Stephanie and Yoorana got tickets to go to Florence the next morning. I decided I was going to leave later the next day and so I'd wait to get my reservation.

Next, we headed over to San Marco square, which is the giant tourist attraction in Venice. It was, admittedly, quite impressive and filled with gorgeous architecture. It was also filled with pigeons and tourists many of whom were feeding the pigeons. Vendors were selling little bags of pellets, and as soon as someone had a bag in their hand the pigeons would descend on them. They were especially fond of landing on peoples' heads, although for what reason I don't know since they couldn't get at the food from there. Regardless it made for a funny sight. I decided I didn't want flying rats landing on me, but I was happy to take pictures of Yoorana and Stephanie with the little buggers crawling all over them.

After our fun with the pigeons we wandered along the waterfront for a ways. We ate some sort of fried dough covered in sugar as a snack, although it turned out to be a mistake. Ten minutes after eating it, none of us were feeling great, and Yoorana was actually feeling ill. So, we decided to walk back to the hostel to recuperate.

After we got back we hung out for a while and I did some desperately-needed luandry. The weather also went from dreary, to miserable as it started to rain. Eventually we went to find a restaurant for dinner, and we settled on a place with a tourist menu. It looked like a good deal -- 3 courses for 11 euros. It turned out to be crap. The food tasted ok, but even a small child would have still been hungry after those three courses. Disappointed, we headed back to the hostel and called it a night pretty early since none of us wanted to head out into the cold rain again.

The next morning, Stephanie and Yoorana left early and I slept in a bit. I was hoping the weather would improve and I'd get to do some sightseeing, but it was actually pouring with no sign of letting up so I decided to just leave.

Stay tuned for Rome.

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Photos

Fedex
No cars in Venice, so even Fedex has to use boats

Leaning tower of....Venice
I wonder if it's going to fall over at some point.

San Marco Square
Complete with pigeons and tourists.

Comments

[deleted_23747]

"Stephanie and Yoorana, who are cousins, albeit from different continents" What countries, continents, family relationship?

[where to]

The family relationship seems somewhat sketchy, but Stephanie is from the US and Yoorana is from Tasmania, but they both have relatives in Switzerland!