12/4/04

When we got to the santa lucia train station last night we didnt have a place to stay reserved. many of the campsites were closed and the HI hostel costs 17.50 a night per person and it has seprate dorms for girls and guys(a lot of hostels have been that way in italy) plus a 7€ eash way on a vaporette(water bus). A guy at the train station was advertising a private, king sized bed froom for 40€ a night. so we dedided to go with him because it was dark and we were hungry and tired. he even walked us there. the room was pretty nice for being a 1 star hotel. the nicest hotel\hostel room thus far. it even had venetian glass chandelier! and berautiful food armire. no one was staying in the room next to us so we basiclly had a pri9vate bath\shower right outside our door! we douped our stuff and went to find food and to wander the city of venice. and boy we did wander. We found a place to have some italian pasta. ang had carbonara and caleb had lasagna. the food was good, but this guy with flowers (roses) was going from table to table tryinjg to get people to buy his roses. he wouldn`t take no for an answer. I was getting frustrated. finally the guy was how upset i was getting and just gave us a rose. i felt stupi9d for getting so upselt. somttimes the differences in culture becomes very overwhelming after a while. the level of customer service in italy is far below that of the us. I will truly aoppreciate that now. after that we began to walk venice-WITHOUT A MAP: we dont recommend this unless you want to become hopelessly lost. Which we did with ignorant vigor. one good thing about us being lost and wandering is that we saw a lot of sites on our to do list without even trying. we saw the torre dell orologio, the basilica san marco and piazza san marco, the realto bridge, the grand canal, chiesa di santa maria della salute, ponte die sospri palazzo decale. all without a map. at around 9 pm we decided to head back to our hotel. HAHA! once we had seen the same restraints and sites about thre times we knew we were screwed. it turns out the venice is a giant maze. we are not kidding. we felt like we were in a loop like in the movies. it feels like you are walking in the same direction and you just end up back at the same place. we both got a bit concerned. everyone we asked for directions would tell us an oppisite way to go. finally we find this really nice security guard that gaqve us his deltailed venice map for free! thank goodness for him or i fear that we would still be wondering the alleys and britges of venice. we finally found our way back to our hotel. Then we both dumped our or packs and decided what we were not using and could ship home to lighten our load. we both got a really good nights sleep. as an aside many toilets have no lid or seat, but when you really have to go no seat and a toilet is better then no toilet at all. I have become queen of squatting a peeing. I would wager my aim capabliities have improved 100%-hehe.
this morning we made reservations at camping de venezia and checked out of the hotel.We went stright to the italian post office and bought a shipping box(3€!) and set our stuff home by ship(27€!) The stuff may arrive before we do. ha
Then we had pizza and an itialian pastry for breakfast. we went to see the frari first. much easier with a map and compass. we walked there as stright as possible in venice. when we got to the frari pazza a gondola driver offered us a 45 minute tour for 90€! yikes, a bit steep for us. we said thanks but it was to expencive for our budget. we in advertantly talked him down to 35€ for a 30 minute ride tour, private by the way so we did it. and we are both glad we did. It was beautiful. The only way to truly see venice in my poinion. we boated past moarco polo´s home, cassanova´s homje and the rialto bridge. it was very romantic. the goldola drive dropped us off in from of the fari so we win in there and looked around. then I got the best gelatti I have had in my life! 5 flavors in a huge waffle cone for only 3€! it was amazing. we wondered a bit longer then went to get some playing cards(to replace our stolen ones) and went to the hotel to get our bags. we caught the #5 land bus to the campsite near the airport. only 19€ for the both of us to stay there. tomorrow barcelona spain!