venice....don't get your feet wet!!

so i made it to venice from prague (via vienna) on an overnight train. i slept...ummm, well...more or less. but the waking up in the middle of the night part was well worth it when i woke up at 4 in the morning, only to realize that it was snowing in (insert name of small town i was in here)!!! so of course, i put on my boots, grabbed my jacket, and ran outside like the awesome tourist i am and started snapping pictures of...my feet, the other trains, the snow in general, and tried to get some good self-portraits. i bet i looked even more awesome because not only was i acting like a total idiot all by myself, i was also having so much fun that i was laughing out loud...i caught the guy working at the station staring at me with his jaw dropped, and then saw him quickly close it up and turn away when i caught his eye. whatever...i finally got snow in Europe!!!!

the only downside to the snow, was that it meant rain for me in venice. that didn't really matter though...i got to venice and somehow managed to find my hostel in the winding little pathways that make up the city.

before i actually got there, i had no idea that venice is actually an island...on my "things to do in venice" list, i had *check out the canals, maybe take a ride* like it was an option. there ARE NO streets in venice...no cars, no scooters, none of that. just boats that take you through the canals and drop you off near(ish) to wherever you're going. pretty sweet. my hostel was right outside one of the little canals...tucked away in a random corner of the city.

so like i said before, it was raining a bit. not so bad that it wasn't manageable, but just enough to be a bit of a pain. but for venice that means that during high tide, there's an even greater chance of flooding...i.e. this city is literally sinking into the ocean. when i dropped my pack off in the luggage room, there was a sign that said "don't put your stuff on the floor, in case of high tide". pretty gnarly if you ask me...but it's common enough that when the water level gets too high, local businesses just pull out long wooden planks that they use to raise up walkways for people to get around. needless to say, my feet were pretty much soaked the whole time.

it's a gorgeous city, despite being water-logged. piazza san marco, the only piazza in venice is home to the basilica san marco and palazzo ducale (doge's palace) and a gazillion and one pigeons. you can pay for some bird seed and let the pigeons climb all over you to eat it...makes for a great photo-op, but i chose not to get myself all covered in pigeon poo. it was bad enough just walking around...with the combo of pigeon poo and flooded ground, your chances of eating it were pretty likely. don't worry though, i made it out ok.

like so many european cities, venice is a great one to just sort of wander around in. getting lost doesn't matter, 1. because it's an island and 2. because it's not all that big in the first place and 3. usually you end up finding something cool anyway. the endless canals and bridges everywhere make for a really romantic atmosphere. gondolas may be cliche and cheesy, but you can't help but be a little jealous if you're not one of those folks who gets to canoodling someone and share some wine and cheese on a ride around the canal.

all in all venice gets two thumbs up. i didn't stay too long, because there's really not all THAT much to do, but i'm still glad that i at least got a chance to explore the city. ok...next stop, florence!

ciao for now!!