Oh the splendor of Venice... kinda

Italy seems to be the ideal of everyone's "where to go before you get busy in life." I'm at a loss why.

Upon arriving Venice via the Santa Lucia train station, I was immediately glad to be rid of the fiasco that was the sleeper car. I ended up on the top bunk of a six bed compartment that was anything but spacious. My worst fear was rolling off the bed at a sudden stop. That and the people we shared the beds with weren't my choice bedmates: the Japanese guy hardly spoke English, Italian, or German and had caused the aforementioned language complication fiasco wanting to lock his luggage to the ladder which was going to be used by a couple of people; the English guy who was nice enough. I think he was a doctor because we talked about healthcare reforms for about two hours this morning and he mentioned working for the NHS (or whatever the British healthcare system is called); and the two Italians. I'm not sure if all Italians are this strange or rude but one wanted the overhead light on the entire evening so she oculd read and, I found this out after the event, the man (who we assumed was married to the woman) tried multiple times to propostion my friend I'm traveling with, assuring her that she shouldn't be scared because it was going to be her "first time with an Italian." Upon hearing about this I laughed and then suddenly became serious saying, "You should have woken me up. I would have spat out the nastiest German I knew. Even 'Das ist die Katze.'"

So, we arrive and, our good luck, our hostel is fairly easy to find and close to the train station. The only bad part is we have to wait 3 hours to check in. So, we store our luggage at the train station and explore. We walked around and took a waterbus to the Rialto Bridge and shopped and ate in the "Heart of Venice" (at least that was what the sign said). I ate at "Pronto Pesce," some place that had been featured on a food show on the Travel Channel. Visiting the Mercato del Pesce was probably my favorite part of the day. In Regensburg, "Fischmarkt" is only a bus stop (although it used to be the fish market). Here, fish market meant just that: fresh seefood everywhere. I've seen open air markets before with cow body parts everywhere, but fish is more appealing to me.

At noon we check in and relaxed. I haven't been feeling well since yesterday and I'm a little worried to be honest. I'll have to go to the doctors when I get back to Regensburg. Either that or talk to the program director and see what he thinks.

After taking a break, we went out again and found San Marco Plaza with the bascilica and walked around. I ate gelatto and chastised myself for not bringing my camera. All the vendors had lights, so it would have made a nice picture.

Now, it's getting to be that time and soon we'll be off again. I haven't quite decided if I like Italy or not. The weather has been lousy and the place seems a bit more run down than my romantic ideals of the place would like me to believe. Actually, I have a friend who's inviting me to come along at the end of next May to Italy because his family owns a townhouse south of Venice. I haven't quite decided on what to do there. I'd like to come back when the weather is nicer and bring my nice camera and take photos because I won't have to worry about paying for the plane ticket or lodgings. We'll see what to do about that later. I'm more concerned about how my summer classes might play out.

So, that's it. My quick run through of Venice, Italy: the city on water. I can confirm it is defintiely on water.

Alright then. Cheers.