Last day in Venice

After a horrible night of sleep in the Bed and Breakfast due to the war with the evil mosquitos, I was hoping the weather would still be nice and venture out to Lido to go to the beach! I had my bikini laid out and was all set to go when, BOOOOM. Thunder storm outside and very chilly. There go my beach plans but on the up side I tried to sleep in and relax. I got up around 9am and decided to head out. My train ride was not til 9pm so I had the whole day of Venice. I decided I wouldnt let a little rain stop my trip to Lido. I get on the Vaporetto to the island Lido. It was cold but at least it stopped raining when I arrived. I walked through the town and made it to the other side of the island of it difficult to beat. The beach was not nice. There was trash all over, closed shops, and powerplants along the beach. I stayed for about ten minutes looking at shells then I was over it and wanted to head back to Venice. I took the hour vaporetta through Venice to get one last glimpse. I arrived at the train station in the afternoon just in time when the rain started up again. I counted 20 men walking around trying to sell umbrellas at the trainstation. Talk about ready on a moments notice to sell anything and everything. Which will bring me back to the San Diego Padres who were my good luck charm too. I was walking through the busy streets along the canal where you see lots of men grouped together selling knock off purses. I will not lie, I would take a peak seeing the fake Prada and Louis Vuitton. They would pass if only they learned how to spell the fashion designers name right and not have the LV's on the bag be VL. It was hilarious to watch them because they have a look out man and they have ear piece in their ear and they would all grab their purses and RUN! 1 minute later comes a police officer. So I was walking down the crowded sidewalk when I see a girl wearing a San Diego Padres hat! It was the second siting of a SD Padres hat so I decided I would turn around to stop and ask her. Once I turned around a man was one inch away from me with his eyes on my purse. We both became startled and he turned in a random direction toward the water. I was so startled I didnt chase the girl with SD hat and just gripped my purse a lot harder. Venice is known to have purse snatchers but I wore my money belt under my clothes that had my passport and money. Phew it was a close one. Now back to the train station...

I went next door to a Pizza cafe and ordered a mushroom pizza. The woman sitting next to me said loudly, "Are you American!". It's how all Americans I guess start a conversation in Europe. It was a husband and wife on vacation from Michigan. She was very friendly and I tried to give her some advice from my experience in Venice. For instance, waking up early to beat the crowds and the most amazing gelato I had there. After they left, I stayed and people watched while enjoying a cappichino. I walked back to the train station and had to get my fill of one more cone of gelato before I left. I saw they had Oreo flavor and how I miss Oreo's so I got Oreo and Chocolate...mmmm.

When I got back to the train station I met a young couple from Seattle Washington who were traveling through Europe. We were exchanging cultural differences we have experienced, our adventures, Venice, and news back home. They were on their way to Budapest then going to Prague. We exchanged emails and we are meeting up this weekend and I'll show them around Prague.

I really enjoyed my experience in Venice and proud that I could do it all by myself. I wasn't sure how traveling by yourself was but it is actually quite nice. I can do what I want when I want. I can enjoy the scenery. I start to notice you are more friendly and reach out to people more. So I learned that I can travel alone and know how to plan. Venice is absolutely a place you should see in your lifetime and don't think the Venetian in Las Vegas will cut it. To see Italian culture, beautiful Italian buildings floating on water, Gondolas, and the food of course, Venice is just an incredible place to see.