Ahhh, Venice...

We had to wake up at the crack of 8:30 this morning to get all of our things together in time to check out of our hostel at 10am. It was rough after sleeping in the previous morning, but we made it. We didn’t have to return our rental car until noon, so we drove down to the touristy area of Lugano for breakfast. We headed to Hertz to return the car around 11:30 and remembered that the train we wanted to take to Milan left at 11:48, so we hightailed it up the hill to the train station and made it just in time! We didn’t realize, however, that we should have had a reservation for this train. Luckily, it only cost 8 Euro apiece on board so we paid the ticket guy and settled in. The ride to Milan was only a little over an hour so we’d barely gotten comfortable when they announced that we were arriving. We were both really tired and wishing we’d taken advantage of that train ride and napped. It was raining in Milan and neither of us could really get excited about walking around the city for awhile before grabbing our next train so we walked around the block and then hopped on a train to Venice. Turns out we also needed a reservation for that train and it ended up costing us 18 Euro apiece. That train ride was about three hours but it was packed so neither of us could really sleep on that one either. When we finally got to Venice, we had no clue how to get to our hotel but we knew it was near St. Mark’s Square. So, we hopped on a water taxi that took us to a stop right outside the square.

We kinda turned the wrong way and took the scenic route, but we eventually found the square and realized what a sweet location out hotel is in. It’s only 2 blocks from St. Mark’s Square! We got really lucky with this place!

We have a “dorm” room with one other roommate (Hey, Nina!) who is only here for one night. After we dropped our bags off in our room, we went out to find some food. We wandered around a bit and found several little restaurants with similar kinds of pasta and pizza dishes. They were each a little too pricey for what we were willing to pay for a little dinner when off in the distance, shining like a beacon - the BK Lounge. We both looked at each other and decided that Whoppers were exactly what we needed. It’s funny, neither of us really eat McDonald’s or Burger King while back home but it seems to be our comfort food of choice while abroad. After dining on our delicious Whoppers, we headed off to the ATMs to get some more Euros (all we had left on us at this point were Czech Krowns and Swiss Francs). While there, Katie spotted a cool store in the little square that was having a sweet sale. We headed over there and each got some cool Venetian glass wine stoppers. We then went window shopping for a bit around all the cute little shops lining the streets. Rachael was excited to see commedia masks lining the walls of every store! We then continued to walk around some more and made our way to the Rialto Bridge.

Katie said that the real one looked cooler than the one in Vegas. We then made our way back through Saint Mark’s Square. It was super foggy and misty. The way the light was bouncing off everything made it look so mystical.

What’s so cool about Venice is that it’s like a maze! You can wind all around these little alleyways and streets and then all of a sudden you come to a bridge and there’s water and a little gondola sailing by. It’s really cool. We’re excited to see it all tomorrow in the daylight.

XOXO K&R