Tuesday 12th: Venice

[ pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/110144623598348247797/20110412?authkey=Gv1sRgCKvo1oDjnO3SZg#  ]

I woke up at 6:00, got dressed etc, and had breakfast. Then I walked to the train station. The weather today is really bad! The first day the weather is bad is the day that I am leaving. That is good.

On the train. Hooray! I had to change train three times. I was a bit worried about this. But each train was on time so it went very smoothly!

A field in Italy. Most of them are not dirt like this.

Almost at Venice. The train goes across the water for the last section, and stops right at Venice.

I stepped out of the train station and Venice is right there.

When I got off the train, there was an older man of age about 50. But he hadn't taken very good care of himself so he looked a little older. He had two suitcases and a few bags to carry. He asked me if I know where he can get someone to help him. I didn't, but eventually I offered to help him carry the stuff to somewhere where I thought he could better get some help, at the front of the station. He was talking about catching a taxi to take him to his hotel. I was fairly sure they don't exist in Venice but I was feeling tired so didn't really think about it. It's his plan. At the front of the station it seemed obvious that he would have some trouble carrying out his hope of getting help to carry it all the way to his hotel. There are no cars in Venice. And he wouldn't be able to carry it himself. He was asking me where helping people were and I said I didn't know. Then he said that "well then we'll need to ask somebody!" in a way that made it seem like his problem was also mine now. He also stated that it was good that I am Australian because that means I will speak good English. (I guess his logic is that he doesn't speak good english or italiano) I didn't like his implication that I will need to do this. I also thought it unlikely that help will exist and I don't really feel like wandering through the city carrying this man's stuff when I have my own hostel I want to get to. So I had to leave him there. It's unfortunate, but not everyone can be helped and he should have better checked his plan.

I used my scrappy map from the previous entry and found my way to the hostel. When I got to the general area, I was confused because I couldn't see the hostel. But then I realised that the hostel is marked by a plain brown door with very small words on the front listing its name. It's not very obvious.

The hostel entry stairway smells like sewerage. I'd been told by someone from rambling that Venice smells like this, but so far I hadn't experienced it. I found that this stairway reliably smells like this, and a few other isolated areas of Venice, but in general it was okay.

I got checked in. The guy checking me in seemed to have been a bit bothered by people checking in all day, but he was reasonable. He told me I was being very not calm, and that I just need to relax. I think that might have been because I pressed the door buzzer, from the street, twice. Because I wasn't sure the first time if I pushed it properly. When I was getting in, some others pushed the buzzer twice and that really annoyed him.

I got in to Venice at about 2:30 I think, so I was able to do some exploring of the city after checking in. It is impossible not to get lost in the streets. My aim was just to wander around the city to see what it is like. I didn't really have time to look at art galleries etc.Although I went into one building that had some kind of exhibition for the history of violin making in Venice. Some of the violins were very old. I think they are having some kind of general Vivaldi celebration.

Ferrari store and a guy selling handbags, supposedly made by slave labour.

All of the streets have shops selling a varied but repeating selection of junky stuff that looks a little fancy.

My hostel room. This is not a very good hostel, but it is reasonably cheap and I think that most of Venice is of similar quality since it is old and a strange place.

Some time during the day I bought a pizza from a restaurant. It was fairly average in quality. While eating the pizza, two people, an old lady and her son, were trying to decide whether they should eat from this restaurant. The lady was very concerned about how good the food would be. The waiter was assuring them that it is good, as he should. While the waiter was still with them, and before they'd decided to sit down, they asked me how my pizza is. I wanted to say that it's just average and that they should look somewhere else, but I can't really say that when the waiter is there. That would be very rude. So I shrugged and said "it's okay...". They didn't get my hint, so they sat down and ordered a meal.

I decided not to get any dinner. I was very tired after walking around and all the food in the city seems to be for tourists, and is therefore not very good.

When I got back to my hostel I used some internet. I talked with a guy from Brazil and a girl from Turkey. They were both really nice.