A City On The Ocean

Day 5.
Well I felt 100% again and ready to continue our Italian adventure. Today I did something that I had never done before, I rode a train, that is right I had never ridden a train. We rode one for about four hours to get from Rome to Venice our next destination. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the train ride it was smooth and comfortable, I guess since Italians depend so much on this type of transportation they have gotten good at providing the service. The trains are on time and clean, the staff is courteous and helpful and they make the effort to communicate when they see that you are a tourist.

Arriving in Venice is an experience in itself, is like going from one world to another. Venice is a unique place, it's like no other place in the world. The first thing that struck me was the fact that there were no cars around, lots of people and lots of water. One myth was quickly debunked, no Venice does not smell bad and there is no nasty things floating on the canals, at least I didn't see any. What I did see was a lot of history. I also noticed that everything here is expensive they say that is because it has to be brought from the mainland, no matter, to me it kind of felt like a tourist trap. And trapped we were since we are surrounded by water. Another thing that I found totally outrageous was the prices for the gondola rides they are asking for 100 euros for a 45 minute ride. We went to the famous Piazza San Marcos and hung out there soaking the atmosphere and people watching, while ducking the pigeons that are there by the thousands. After that we had dinner at a pretty nice restaurant and then went to our hotel.