Fin Italia

I was sad to see Italy go. Or maybe Italy was sad to see me go. Either way, I'm going to miss it.

My train to Venice was crap. It was a night train with compartments, six people sitting face to face in a very, very cramped space. And nobody spoke English but me. There were a cool, young couple beside me who spoke brokenly and it provided for a good enough conversation, but it was still a bit strained. So I sat through ten hours of hell. And a few more at the end of the trip. The train was supposed to go to Venice SL, the station on the island. However, we stopped at Mestre (the landside station) and the train began going the other way! I ran like hell out of my compartment to find a conductor and was told to get off at the next stop, where I could take a train into Venice SL.

I got into SL at seven in the morning and dropped off my things at the Fish, the hostel I had stayed at previously, and took a walk around town. Venice in the early morning is much different than the rest of the day. The streets and squares are empty and quiet. It's a very peaceful place. I came back at one to make sure I had a place to stay, then grabbed my book and found a secluded, canal-side dead end to sit and read for a few hours. It was needed after that train ride from Napoli, I hadn't slept at all.

The night at the Fish was just as it was last time. I met great people around the dinner table and one of the staff members took us walking around at ten. I think we finally crashed at two, but it was a great night.

My last day in Italy was one of the best. In the morning, I went with two people I had met last night – Freddy and Allison – to St. Mark's and actually went inside the basilica. We arrived back to the hostel just after noon and Allison, Esther (another girl at the Fish) and I wandered the city for the rest of the day. It's always great to have a relaxed day with good people. I said my goodbyes to the Fish crew, Allison walked me to the train station and I boarded a train to Vienna, Austria at nine.