Spring Break: Venice

Once we got on the train, my stomach got really upset so I tried to sleep it off. However, when we arrived around dinner time, my stomach was still upset. I tried to make it to the hostel, but after getting lost a bunch of times, I knew it was going to be a while before we got there. I headed into the closest shop I could find and begged to use the bathroom using the few Italian phrases I knew, even offering a few euros. However, the owner did not take me seriously and told me to wait. I ended up just grabbing his garbage can, which the owner obviously was not too appreciative of. Steve came in to help me, so as soon as he walked in I decided to just run to the bathroom. When I got out the owner was screaming "Bafangula! Bafangula!" (I'll let you use your imagination to translate that one). We finally got to the hostel with the help of an old woman who witnessed my little episode in the shop. I slept for the rest of the night.

The next day, I was still feeling pretty lousy, but I couldn't let that stop me from enjoying my short time in Venice. So I stopped at a drug store to pick up some medicine and we headed out. Luckily, Venice is a very chill city. We mostly just walked around, stopping at various cafes for spritzas (their native orange drink), capachinos, and in my case, a little gelato. It was very relaxing, walking along the canals, enjoying the nice weather and each others company. We made our way to St. Mark's Square. We bought a piece of bread to feed the pigeons. The boys told me I had to do it, so I held out my hand so the pigeons could eat it. It ended up being a really funny experience, as you can see from the picture.

We decided to grab (more) gelato and find a gondola ride. It was pretty expensive (twenty euros each for a half hour ride) but it was one of the few things you couldn't go to Venice and not experience. It was cool to get a ride around the city in a gondola. Our driver would stop to point a few major places along the way as well.

After we got off, we headed back to our hostel to wash up for dinner. We went to this little pub for some paninis and a futbol match. Manchester United (a UK favorite of ours) was actually playing. We stayed for the whole game, chatting with some random people that were also watching the game. One of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting new people and hearing all the crazy stories and different experiences everyone has. After the game, it was pretty late so we headed back to our hostel and went to bed.

The next day, we didn't leave for Germany until around 4, so we woke up around 11, packed up and headed out. We found a great little cafe along the Grand Canal. Once again, we all sat in amazement on our incredible fortune to be lounging in Venice along the Grand Canal waiting for our flight to Germany. There were a lot of dogs along the canal so we played with them for a while. We took a water taxi to the bus station which is outside of the city. It was cool to end our visit to Venice with a water taxi. We made our way to the airport for our flight to Cologne, Germany.