Venice

Bonjourno!

My new favorite phrase... "Parle anglais?"

Surprisingly enough, I'm finding more Italians speak English than Germans did. I thought it would be the other way around. I am finding it challenging to change languages as I keep wanting to answer in German and have to consciously think about it.

Well, I finally left Grunau! It was painful but I was able to tear myself away...aside from the fact that it was hard to leave the hostel, Austria itself was hard to get out of! There aren't really any high speed train lines in or out...so the train ride from Grunau to Venice was a 12 hour ordeal with 4 train changes. Nathan, one of the guys that worked at the Treehouse Hostel was looking up train schedules on the internet for me and he just kept saying "fuck it...just stay" and I almost did...but alas, I have places to go and things to see with only three weeks left.

Since Grunau was so small and there was no reservation office to book a couchette for the final portion of the night train (12:16am-7:16am) we had to show up for the train hoping beds would be available....which there weren't. We had a second class train car with seats that pulled out almost flat but not entirely...we tried to sleep but that NOT was  sleep. It was horrible... the conductors came in 3am to demand our passports, then at 4am to demand tickets. It was loud with lots of starts and stops and people getting on and off. By the time we arrived in Venice I walked right off the train and to the ticket counter to book myself a bed for my next night train to Rome. I then slept until 2:30pm at the hotel.... which completely defeats the purpose of taking a night train.

Venice Hotel Room

What a difference last night though!!! I showed up on the night train to Rome and was politely escorted to my bed, which was big and fluffy. I crawled under the covers and was lulled to sleep by the trains gentle rocking. It was quiet and I slept great! The conductor came in at 6:30am to give me a cappuccino and wake me up. I was impressed.

So me and Jason spent two days in Venice....Wow, what a cool city!! It was everything I expected. It looked almost surreal, two dimensional in a way like I was looking at an oil painting. It was the definition of a romantic city. I kept walking over canal bridges looking at candle lit dinners on the side of the canals and wished I wasn't there single! I did get some great pictures though and had brought a small tripod so was able to take a bunch of night photos as well. I could walk around for hours taking it all in without getting bored.

In St Marco's square, there are thousands of pigeons...you can buy a bag of seeds for 1euro to feed them. As soon as you hold some seeds in your hand 10-15 fat pigeons will land anywhere on your body they can hoping to get a bite of food. I was originally mocking the other tourists for participating in such a stupid thing but after a few minutes of watching I just couldn't resist...well, I must say, that what the best euro I spent yet in Europe! You haven't lived until you have been covered head to toe in pigeons!!!

This morning I arrived in Rome and am in a great hostel...very cool place close to all the sites on a quiet street with free internet, a kitchen, TV with English movies and nice clean rooms for $20/night.

I am staying for 5 nights and make it a base to explore Pisa and Pompei. I have to go to the train station today to investigate train times. I also have to find a grocery store so I can cook some real meals! It's amazing the things which I never thought about at home but are now real luxuries...like a home cooked meal, TV and clean laundry.

I am off to go explore Rome! Caio!