Venezia

So our trip to Venice got off to a rough start. We went to get on the bus leaving from the train station, and the driver would not let us on because we only had a ticket and not a seat reservation. However, when we had purchased the tickets, we specifically requested seat reservations because I had already gone through this once on the train to Prague and I did not want to make the same mistake twice. But the lady who sold us the tickets had assured us repeatedly that a seat reservation for the bus was unnecessary. She was wrong. So we missed our bus and had to go back to the counter and figure out a way to get to Klagenfurt so that we might still be able to catch our connecting bus to Venice. After negotiating for about 30 minute, they finally ut us on a bus to Villach, where we could still catch our bus to Venice and they even called the bus driver and asked him to hold the bus for us if for some reason the train was delayed. So thankfully, after all of that, we made it to Venice!

On the ferry on the way to our hostel!

The view of the bridge to the mainland at night

My friend Emma’s mom happened to be in Venice for a conference and so we met up with her on Friday night and had dinner with her.

Our first dinner in Venice (spaghetti of course :o)

We stayed in a hostel off of the main island because it was less expensive. However, the ferry to cross the channel was 6 Euros one way! Everything in Venice was sooo expensive, from food to souvenirs to different sights. Saturday we woke up to some rain, but thankfully after lunch it started to clear off.

So this was the view when I walked out the front door of our hostel

I split off from the group for a bit and went through an art museum and saw an exhibit about the architecture and design of Venice.

We then stopped in a café for lunch and then walk to the famous bridge. From there we decided to take a gondola ride. I was a little hesitant at first because of the price, but since there were 5 of us, once we split it up, it was not so bad.

I'm on a Gondola!

Afterward, we just continued to wander around and enjoy the sights and beautiful canals. We even did a little shopping. I bought a carnival mask. It seems as though everyone in Venice is selling them. We even stopped in one shop where you could watch them making the masks, It seems like a very delicate and detailed process.

The bus ride to and from Venice was beautiful driving through the Alps. The mountains are not only huge, but amazing to look at.

To see more photos go to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023549&id=81901665&l=664cbc9ba5