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We took a night train from Ljubljana to Venice (which was terrible) and arrived around 8am. We were all pretty excited that the only form of transportation in Venice is by water taxi, and our ride was about 40 minutes from the train station to the island of Lido, where our hotel was. The hotel was adorable and had a great staff. When we got up to our room, which we affectionately referred to as the penthouse (really just a log cabin attic), we found our first of many rooms adorned with a bidet. I swear we did not use it, though we did get a chuckle out of it. One of the many differences of European life I guess.
We were so tired after barely sleeping on the train that we thought a quick nap would be a good idea so we'd be ready to explore the city. 6 hours later we woke up... whoops. We got ready quickly and caught a boat to San Marco Square (Piazza San Marco), where we had some real Italian food and some gelatto. We decided to stroll through the area, and found a gondolier who was just finishing his own dinner. He shmoozed us into a trip around the inner circle of historic Venice, and I'm pretty sure we all had the best 40 minutes of our lives on this trip, as cliche as that may sound. Everything about that gondola ride was phenomenal. We saw the old apartments of Marco Polo, Napoleon, and Casanova, beautiful churches, and bridges. Our gondolier showed us where to go for the best raw fish in town, his son's future preschool, and the bridge where all the Venetians go to kiss during their weddings. I think we all fell in love with the city.
Unfortunately, the ride had to end, and so we walked down to the Piazza to explore, take pictures, and get our second dose of gelatto. We stayed here until dark soaking in all of the scenery and then took our boat back to Lido.
We were unsuccessful our second day in the city to find any kind of organized tour for Venice, so we spent the day just wandering around. This turned out to be a really great day, too. Starving, we sat down at the first cafe we could find, ordered 3 small coffees, and luckily were given the bill before we could order food. €30 later, we quickly got up and found a self-service stand for some sandwiches and pizzas. That was the best $50's of coffee we'll ever have, I think. Wandering around we found the expensive shopping district, and eventually ran into the Rialto Bridge - huge and beautiful. Being the tourists that we are, we shoved our way to the top and grabbed some pictures.
Satisfied that we had seen as much of the main island as we wanted, we decided to explore Lido a little more. I believe that Lido is the only of Venice's islands that actually has roads for people to drive on - but fortunately everything is close enough that we could just walk. After grabbing lunch and checking emails at an internet cafe, we walked to the water's edge for a little sun. We all found it a little amusing how all along the water there is a side walk with a 2 meter drop straight down but no guardrail. People in Europe must actually be held responsible for their actions more than they are at home in our lawsuit happy culture.
There is no way to really sum up our time in Venice except to say that it was absolutely breathtaking... the views, the experience, the atmosphere - all of it. Definitely my favorite place that we've seen so far.
Nicola
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