Belated Venice

So, I was going through my posts to check for comments (which you lazy bums haven't been providing), and just realized I never had a post for Venice. Without further ado, here it is.

Thank goodness for inattentive conductors. My ticket was for Venice Mestre back on the mainland, but the directions to my hostel were from Venice Santa Lucia out on the island... so I definitely stayed on for an extra stop. Assuming I even could have figured out the right bus to take, getting off at Mestre probably would have cost me an extra 20-30 minutes worth of bus ride and who knows how many euro. From the main station out on the island there it was only about a five minute walk to my hostel reception; apparently they rent out properties around the island, but I got lucky and ended up above the main office with a view of the Grand Canal. My room had a slope to it, but I figured since the building hadn't collapsed yet I was probably okay.

Just did a bit of exploring that evening; even with a map, Venice is a maze. Next morning I got up and had a breakfast of "toast" (more like a couple of packaged crackers) with jam, then set out for Saint Mark's. I ended up taking the scenic route (again with the maze thing) and made it there just in time for high tide to start flooding the square. It wasn't so bad when I first got there, but after an hour or so there was just a small area in the middle that was dry, with the rest of the square being 3-6" under water. I had been warned about the smell in Venice, but it wasn't actually bad until that point. Travel tip: if you're in Venice, make sure to avoid high tide.

I stood in line for a bit to get into the church and found out it was closed til noon for "religious purposes," so I made my way over to the Campanile and paid 8 euro to go to the top of that. It was a ripoff, but at least it provided some nice views. Still had some time to burn when I got back down, so I snagged lunch (pizza and a hot dog) from some cafe down one of the zillions of tiny streets and made my way back to St. Mark's to eat it. They've got platforms set up in some places so you can avoid the flood, but I would have had to walk several blocks around to get back to them as well as wading through crowds of people who didn't seem to know what they were doing, so I decided to cut through the giant puddle. It might have been okay if it were a short walk, but I probably had to go about 50 or 60 yards before I got back to dry land; it was at this point that I discovered my shoes were more water resistant than water proof. I'm not sure if they were always that way and I was overestimating them, or if they're just old and beat up enough that the water got through. Either way, not a pleasant experience... I'm not sure my poor shoes will ever smell the same.

After lunch I got back in line for the church and stood there for about half an hour before finding out that they won't let you in with a backpack. Not just "We're going to check your backpack to make sure you don't have anything dangerous," but "You can't come in." I didn't really feel like walking across the island to my hostel to drop it off, then back to St. Mark's, then back again after, so I said "screw it" and moved on. I was also hoping to visit the Doge's palace but there was an entry fee for that, so I contented myself with a few pictures of the outside. Back to the hostel to work on postcards, out to some cafe for dinner (spaghetti carbonara)--I swear I must have the worst luck when it comes to picking Italian places, because I prefer Olive Garden to pretty much anything I got over here--and then reading before bed.