Day 47: Friday, March 4, 2011

Today I woke up extra early.  One, because I couldn't sleep because I was so excited, and two, because Kevin's flight landed in Milan at 8:00am.  I left my house around 6:00am (unnecessarily early) and headed to the airport.  It was a long journey...I really couldn't have been more excited.  When I got there, I paced in front of his gate, just waiting...and waiting...and waiting for him to come out!  And finally he did :)  And we hugged.  And we kissed.  For the first time in 47 days.  And it was amazing :)

Kevin eating his first Italian meal

We went outside to catch the bus home, and of course we missed it by 30 seconds, so we had to wait 20 minutes for the next one to leave.  That seemed to be a reoccurring problem the entire trip...happened almost every time.  When it finally left, the traffic back to Centrale was terrible.  It took almost an hour and a 1/2 to get there!  After we finally got off the bus, onto the metro, and up the metro stairs, we were almost home!  Kevin was obviously hungry, tried, and exhausted from traveling, so while he was in the shower, I ran across the street and grabbed him some pizza.  I thought it would be an appropriate first meal in Italy.  He devoured it* then fell asleep like a little baby. We both napped for about an hour, then got ready to leave for Venice.  We hurriedly walked back to the metro, took the metro back to Centrale, and got on the train to Venice, Italy.

Because we didn't want to spend the entire day on the train, we payed for the fast train to Venice.  The slow train takes almost 4 hours and costs 14E each way; the fast train takes 2 and 1/2 and costs 31E.  So its a little bit more than double, but I figured just this once it would be worth it.

 

Kevin and I on the train to Venice :)

We spent the train ride talking, catching up, and planning for the next 10 days.  I could tell he was sleepy, but he was just as excited as I was to be there, so he was a champ about it :)  We arrived right on time, and when we got there, the city was absolutely beautiful from the second we stepped off the train.  Kevin was adorable.  This trip was the farthest he had ever traveled, and he was in awe the entire time.  I loved to look at him while he looked at all the sights in amazement; he was so happy to be there.

Kevin on the water taxi

After we got off the train, we had to take a water taxi to our hostel.  We had been told by other people to NOT pay for them, because no one is ever there checking tickets and they are really expensive.  So we had every intention of sneaking onto the water taxi, however, when we found our boat, there was someone checking the tickets.  So we spent the 13E for the tickets and went to board our boat, only to find out that we were looking at the wrong boat when we bought the tickets.  There was in fact, no one checking the tickets on the boat we actually needed to board.  So, the first 13E Kevin ever spent was a total waste.  We rode the water taxi to our stop, looking at all the beautiful sights along the way.  We actually got there right at sunset, so it was spectacular.

 

One of the sketchy signs we followed to San Marco

Shockingly, we found our hostel incredibly easy.  Usually we walk around the cities aimlessly trying to find them, fail, then give up and wave down a taxi.  But we actually had no problem whatsoever finding it.  Which is a good thing, because in Venice you don't have the luxury of giving up and calling a cab.  There are no cabs.  So you really have no choice but to find it.  We checked in, put our stuff down, and headed out!  We grabbed some dinner on the go, and walked around while we ate it.  The city was super crowded because it was Carnival; but everything was still amazingly cool.  There were people dressed in outrageous costumes everywhere, little concerts taking place in piazza's, vendors everywhere selling masks, and people stretching to every end of the island.  We grabbed a bottle of wine (each) and walked around the rest of the night!  We danced to some live music, saw the Rialto Bridge, walked to San Marco square and saw it all lit up.  It was really odd though...you would think that one of the most touristy placed in the city would be a little better "advertised," especially in a city so confusing.  We were following sketchy spray painted signs through back allies and over random bridges.  BUT, we made it (after much confusion and passing the same Burger King three times).

Kevin and I at the Rialto Bridge

Venice, Italy. 2011 <3

Some characters in Venice putting on a show :)

After walking around for awhile, and mostly just because we finished our bottles of wine, we decided to go to some bars.  We met up with some of the other people from our program, and we all walked together.  The only problem was, no one knew where they were going.  We were all walking aimlessly around, taking turn after turn, without ever really taking notice of street names.  However, we did finally find the bar area.  And, we were pleasantly surprised by the prices of the drinks.  Jagerbombs were only 2.5E, which was especially awesome because there were 95% Jager.  Actually, I take that back.  A double shot of 95% Jager is cool in theory, but in actuality, its disgusting.  Drinking 1/2 a cup of Jager is not yummy, its thick and it taste like syrup.  Kevin loved it.  I decided to move on from those.  So I asked the bartender for a Lemon Drop, but they had never heard of it!  So, we introduced it to them, taught them how to make it, then they all took one with us :)  And for some reason, we didn't diverge from that shot for the rest of the night.  So about 1/2 hour later, I was completely sick of Lemon Drops, seeing as I don't even like them that much to begin with.  After all, it's pretty much just straight lemon vodka...also not that yummy.

Jagerbombs in Venice :)

When the bars closed, we attempted to make head ways back.  And we couldn't have failed any more miserably.  We got so incredibly, epically lost.  Which was funny for awhile.  Walking around Venice, being lost, seemed so typical and entertaining.  But after an hour and 1/2, it wasn't that funny anymore.  The streets we were on were off the map.  And of course all the little side streets aren't even on the map...which makes it VERY difficult to navigate.  But, after an eternity of walking around in circles, we finally made it back, and went to sleep*

Today, was a fantastic day :)