Catching a 3pm train from the eastern side of Italy, I thought "this is a narrow country, surely it wont take long to get to Venice". I was in Venice at 9.30pm - not as short a trip as I had thought, and that's after I had to pay an augmentation to my ticket on the train. Arriving at night, I waited for a bus for an hour, and then found the timetable - the last bus had left at 9.20. It just wasn't my day. Anxious to meet Vicki, I grabbed a taxi. Taxis in Italy are expensive - I watched as the meter rose constantly, and shelled out 20 Euros for a 5 minute cab ride (ouch!). To my consternation, I found out that there was a different bus line that I had accidentally purchased a ticket for that ran to my destination. Oh well. To make the night better, I found a cheap bottle of wine at the campsite where we were staying in Venice and spoke to a nice Australian who was travelling for a few months. She gave me tips on going to Croatia and Hungary which were great, and a half an hour later my cousin walked in. It was so good to see a familiar face after more than a month meeting new people but no old ones.
Vicki took part in the drinking of the wine, while we had a quick dinner of cucumber, tomato, and focaccia bread. We talked late on into the night, catching up on all our latest thoughts on society, politics, philosophy, the whole deal - Vicki and I think so similarly that its great to compare notes on all our most recent thoughts. The next day we woke up at a reasonable hour, excited to see Venice. It has to be the best of the Italian cities; it has such charm in the narrow alleyways webbed throughout the city, and the canals interspersed with pathways. Getting lost is a must, and we did it as much as we could, not bothering with maps or anything. On my last day there, a call to my parents informed me that there were arrows on top of the buildings pointing to the main bridge, which would have been useful to know earlier on!
The next day, it was my birthday! My 22nd, and the first where I didnt get depressed for days before hand for being old. I figure there's no point now, as I definitely am old, so might as well just enjoy birthdays. After talking to my family and girlfriend, Vicki and I found a cute cafe, where we had cocktails - I tried a coffee kahlua something and a Vodka martini and Vicki had various fruity things. Vicki spilt the best part of both my drinks, so we decided to move on, and I decided to keep a close hold on my drinks. We found a wine bar later, where I had a couple of glasses of Pinot Grigio and we shared a cheese and olive and salami platter, which was far too big considering we were supposed to be having a two course meal for dinner. After looking around for a nice restaurant for a while, we found a place that looked decent and sat down. Vicki had camembert with walnuts and honey for primi piatti, and I the smoked ricotta and seafood Gnocci, and for secondi piatti, Vicki had a vegetable pizza loaded with vegies, while I had a platter loaded with seafood - far too much for my now shrunken stomach to hold! A great night, topped off with getting lost again. A friendly Russian-sounding family showed us the way to the bus station, and we got home very late and so full we both exploded and died.
Vicki took part in the drinking of the wine, while we had a quick dinner of cucumber, tomato, and focaccia bread. We talked late on into the night, catching up on all our latest thoughts on society, politics, philosophy, the whole deal - Vicki and I think so similarly that its great to compare notes on all our most recent thoughts. The next day we woke up at a reasonable hour, excited to see Venice. It has to be the best of the Italian cities; it has such charm in the narrow alleyways webbed throughout the city, and the canals interspersed with pathways. Getting lost is a must, and we did it as much as we could, not bothering with maps or anything. On my last day there, a call to my parents informed me that there were arrows on top of the buildings pointing to the main bridge, which would have been useful to know earlier on!
The next day, it was my birthday! My 22nd, and the first where I didnt get depressed for days before hand for being old. I figure there's no point now, as I definitely am old, so might as well just enjoy birthdays. After talking to my family and girlfriend, Vicki and I found a cute cafe, where we had cocktails - I tried a coffee kahlua something and a Vodka martini and Vicki had various fruity things. Vicki spilt the best part of both my drinks, so we decided to move on, and I decided to keep a close hold on my drinks. We found a wine bar later, where I had a couple of glasses of Pinot Grigio and we shared a cheese and olive and salami platter, which was far too big considering we were supposed to be having a two course meal for dinner. After looking around for a nice restaurant for a while, we found a place that looked decent and sat down. Vicki had camembert with walnuts and honey for primi piatti, and I the smoked ricotta and seafood Gnocci, and for secondi piatti, Vicki had a vegetable pizza loaded with vegies, while I had a platter loaded with seafood - far too much for my now shrunken stomach to hold! A great night, topped off with getting lost again. A friendly Russian-sounding family showed us the way to the bus station, and we got home very late and so full we both exploded and died.
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