1st stop...Venice...

So to start off...we took an "overnight" train to Venice from Salzburg which lasted about 6 hours. We left at 2 in the morning and arrived around 8am. Let's just say I didn't get much sleep...ha. We finally figured out the bus system and then found our hostel. It was hard to miss...considering it was pink! haha.

Our hostel!

We checked in (the lady only spoke Italian) so we tried to figure out what was going on. She wanted us to come back in an hour when she was done cleaning. We just walked around and found a little bakery. (Our hostel was probably like a 20-25 minute bus ride from the city "center"). It was really cool though because we saw more of what Venice was like and where other people lived besides the main town.

That afternoon we went into the main city and didn't really have a plan. We just wandered all the streets through all the canals which was awesome to see. I learned that there are over 400 bridges and 120 islands composing/in Venice.

Here is me eating my first gelato in ITALIA!

When we were walking around, there were tons of little stores selling Murano glass (which is the famous Venetian glass) as well as other souvenir things. At this one store (pic above) he was melting the glass and creating the plates, animals, etc. right in his store! I got a family of blue elephants for only 1.90!

We made our way to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) to see the awesome building, tower, and of course the pidgeons. Unfortunately, it was late and the pigeons were basically full. haha.

The Square

We then walked around some more, but were still really tired from our train ride. We went home and ordered some pizza from down the street and basically passed out from exhaustion.

The next day we left around 10 and didn't have a plan again. We just walked through the city again but on a different route! (which was easy...considering our guide book said that even locals sometimes get lost). We wanted to go back to the Square to see more pigeons, and we definitely got what we wanted....haha. We bought some seed/corn from a vendor and started making them come toward us. It was a lot of fun - but kind of gross if you think about it...oh well!

Me holding some pidgeons

Me looking at Caitlin in a funny way because one was on her head. I had one on my head after that too. haha.

The girls sitting on the rail

On a bridge in Venice

My spinach and ricotta calzone....YUM (and the entire trip I obsessively took pictures of all the food I ate....haha)

Me in front of the Rialto Bridge!! There were shops all along it on the inside. I wasn't expecting it be like that at all, but it was still awesome!

Venice at night!


Another picture of Venice - and the gondolas!

So overall we had an amazing time in Venice, and I actually liked it a LOT more than what I was thinking. It was good that I got to see it too, because if nothing else is done to help stabilize the islands, they will be underwater in 50-100 years. (Even though that probably won't happen in my lifetime). So yeah...then we got to the train station to head to our next destination...Florence.