Bonjourno!

6/13/07
Train to Roma
2:55 PM

Well, Venice was certainly interesting - so weird to see a city completely intertwined with such water. I think I'll just start right into it, there's not a whole heck of a lot to tell, but enough for a post. We got to the station, and after figuring out which boat to take, and which one was actually showing up at the time we were there, we got to our island - we weren't staying on venice proper, but we stayed on an island called Lido. We got to the island, and the directions that the website had given us on how to get to the hotel (not hostel - it was a real hotel this time - no hostels available anymore when we booked), really were horrible - it said to "take the bus" so we got on a bus, but it was the wrong one. After aimlessly walking in "the directions we thought it was," it turned out we were right, and we kinda sorta just stumbled onto the place. Really lucky. We had a shower, cause we were really sweaty, and headed out to check out venice. We meandered around, got lost, found a place to eat, continued to get lost, got lost some more, and then finally later that night, found the grand canal and found our way out - being lost is indeed more fun than being found, according to the guidebook, because it was just neat to explore. Check out the pictures for what all the exploring showed us. We went back to the hotel later that night, posted an email and a blog entry and headed to bed. We woke up late the next day and walked out into the drizzling venice air. It wasn't a fantastic day because of the on again off again rain, but it was ok - and we did the same thing as the previous day - got lost, got something to eat, and then got more lost. San Marco square was indeed spectacular, which is where we always started our trips to get lost. We didn't see it really flood till the last night, where there was quite a bit of water in there - see the pictures for a bit more of an illustration. We spent just enough time in venice to see what it was all about, but I think that if I was going to come back, it would be with Claire, as it is obviously a very romantic city, and even then, only for a few days to see the sights, as it's very likely that we could see entirely different things on two occasions because of all the randomness in the walking. Anyway - venice was cool, and now on to Rome. We're on the train now - our hostel is actually a hostel and a campsite outside rome a bit with a regular shuttle into the vatican, which should be very convenient. we're staying there at least 3 days, maybe 4 if we feel there is too much to see and not enough time. I'll post this when we get there, and hopefully I'll have another one when we're there to tell you all about the hostel and how we're making out in Rome. I hope everything is going well - If you're in rochester, check out the jazz festival for me and tell me how it is! Catch ya later

Train to Roma,
Matt