June 7 Verona-Venice
Today was quite an action-packed day with many unwanted detours. We woke up in Verona to our free breakfast of bread and jam. We decided to hit the road as soon as we could. Little did we know that we would soon be lost in Verona. As we were walking to the train station we made a wrong turn and got ourselves all sorts of confused. However, the detour did have its purposes because we ended up seeing some more sights we had missed. We finally made it to the train station by following an unassuming local and hopped on a train to Padova where we stayed for the night. Finding the hostel was no problem, but getting back to the train station threw us for a loop again. We ended up standing on a street corner trying to get our bearings from all of our surroundings from the sun to the buildings, but the only thing that got us back on track was a kind Italian woman coming over and asking where we wanted to go. We could only converse with hand gestures, but she ended up leading us right where we needed to be. Finally, we hopped on to the long-awaited train to Venice-the city of water. Venice is like no other place in the world. We found houses with front porches that led directly into the water. Walkways so narrow that no traffic could fit, of course that is because automobiles can’t cross the canals and step bridges. People were walking everywhere and the scenery was breathtaking with buildings arising straight from the water and gondolas navigating the intricate canals. There were two things I wanted to do in Venice: eat at a ristorante by a canal and get a ride on the water. It turns out as much as we walked we could not find a restaurant by the water so we settled in at an outdoor restaurant and each ate a whole pizza. We did some sightseeing and then wanted to find out about the famous gondola rides. A gondola ride quickly turned into a water bus joyride when we found out that gondolas cost 80 euro for 45 minutes! So instead we took a one-way water bus to the center of the city. It was there that we jumped out and decided to “find our way back to the train station.” We walked for about an hour only to find ourselves either cutoff by water or back at the exact place we started. Finally, we decided to get on another water bus to the train station. We took a train back to Padova where we were staying, went grocery shopping, and finally got some rest at the hostel.
-Mo
When my parents went to Venice, they didn't like it. I can't remember if they said it was because it was dirty or because it was smelly. That pizza looks really good. I am glad ya'll are taking pictures of your food. I find that a very important part of any adventure. Did you hear about my Einstein Bagel adventure?
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