Venedig - Venice
I don't know how many of you know this, but train companies have this really cool option called "Night Trains". Pretty self-explanatory. You ride a train...at night...makes sense, right? Well, there's more. These night trains have sleeping compartments, with beds, and they also serve you breakfast in the morning, with coffee. Happy Day! So Anna and I met at the train station around midnight and then after waiting an hour or so, got situated on our train in our beds. Now, I normally sleep pretty well in vehicles because of the movement and the bumps, but add a bed to the equation, and I'm a happy camper. In the morning (around 6:00 am) they woke us up and asked whether we wanted coffee or tea with our breakfast and then brought each of us our food and drinks. Approximately two hours later, we arrived in Venedig (Venice) and got off the train. Our first mission: find a bathroom. We found a bathroom. Second mission: Find the exact change needed to get INTO said bathroom and USE it...I love Europe, but that is one thing I will not miss - having to pay to use the restrooms. After freshening up a bit, we walked out of the train station to find an absolutely breathtaking site. Down the stairs to what I guess you would call a street, you see the river/canal in front of you, with boats and people and buildings. Something similar to the picture.We stayed in Venice for only one day and had a train ride at 6:00 am the next morning that was to shuttle us off to Zürich, so we planned on walking around the city, hopefully taking a gondola ride, simply enjoying the city and the sites, and then waiting around at the train station until the next morning (in my head, it made no sense to try and find a hostel to go to bed at 11:00 pm, and wake up at 4:00 am to get ready and catch the train...so we stayed up all night, maybe not the smartest decision, but it worked). We encountered some interesting people throughout the day, some who were very pleasant, and others who were not..so..pleasant... For those of you who have been following along, you may recall an incident in Salzburg when a guy asked me a ton of questions, wanted my phone number and started to follow me on his bike and I might have lied and told him I had family in Salzburg and that I didn't have a phone or facebook? Well, that scenario pretty much repeated itself in Venice, only this time, I was from Austria, my travel buddy was my sister, and neither of us spoke very much English. The things you'll learn about yourself....
Needless to say, Venice is gorgeous. The city is a winding maze of confusing streets crowded with people and canals crowded with boats and gondolas. Every corner turned presents a new breathtaking, unexpected surprise. The buildings are old and mysterious and there are so many little shops nestled into any little space available. Then, take into consideration that the buildings are hugged right against the canals which are crossed by quaint little bridges. I actually got to go on a gondola ride through many of those little canals. It was wonderful! The drivers are amazing too. They steer those boats like it's nobody's business! Now so far, I've painted a picture for you that's quite pretty and nice...but I feel it only fair that I paint the other side for you as well. Venice is crowded, smells like dingy water and old cigarette smoke mixed with old alcohol, and the streets are so confusing as there is no grid formation. Now I admit that since I had started getting sick that day and walking around with a heavy backpack isn't a super duper pleasant experience, my opinion of the city might have been negatively affected. The city is beautiful, and if any of you ever get a chance to see it, I would recommend it, but as for me, one day was enough.
Well, after a lot of walking, some shopping, eating, and more walking, 6:00 am eventually rolled around and we got on the train (we got to sit first class by the way), and headed off to our next destination. Auf Wiedersehen Italien! Hallo der Schweiz! (Goodbye Italy, Hello Switzerland!)
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