Pigeon blood and other unforeseen adventures ...

I'm in Venice right now. Just stopped into an Internet cafe because we had some extra time before dinner in San Marco Piazza. I still feel like I'm swaying back and forth from the water taxis that you take down the Grand Canal to get around the city ... but it's a nice feeling. We arrived in Venice yesterday morning, all bleary-eyed from the night train. If you're ever considering a night train somewhere, RETHINK the idea. Unless you know everyone else in your little coach, and even then, it's a pretty bizarre and icky experience. In a tiny coach, they fit SIX beds, three bunked on each side, with maybe a 1x3 foot extra space in the middle. It's really tight quarters, and a few of my friends and I were stuck with a sick family with a small infant who was also sick. We stayed in the "lounge car" for as long as we could stand up. It was like a violently swaying snack bar - a gross one. But we met other French people heading to Italy, and other Americans from different colleges. Overall, it was interesting ... but a bumpy ride and difficult to sleep.

At any rate, we got into Venice, checked into our hotel, and then went right to Venice. We rode in a water taxi all the way down the Grand Canal, a snake-like canal that goes all the way through the middle of the city. We got off at San Marco Piazza, where there's a famous basilica, and thousands and thousands of pigeons. You can feed them and they just jump into your hands. So, of course I was game to do that - but one of the guys in our group decided it would be a really fun idea to take off his shirt, lay down in the middle of the piazza, and have us pour bird seed all over him. It was a sight to behold and we laughed like crazy. However, after that some of us noticed that because the pigeons are fighting each other for the food we give them, they are bleeding in places. A few pigeons flew into my hands and got blood all over my arm! That was one of the weirdest substances I've ever had on my body ... I paid a euro to use a bathroom to clean off.

The pay-bathroom in San Marco Square was another experience in and of itself ... we saw that it cost a euro to get in, so we paid it to a man standing right outside. However, once we walked up the stairs to the bathroom, we saw that you had to pay THERE, to an actual official attendant ... so the guy outside taking our money was a total con artist. My friend and I RAN back down the stairs and found him just about to leave, and we got our euro back. Not so for some of the other tourists though. I thought it was extremely funny, though, as I'd never come into contact with such a con artist before.

Also, the food here is better than it was in France. I was losing a lot of weight in France because I didn't really like much of the food there - it's very fatty or just bland or the bread was really hard. But here, everyone makes cappuccinos all the time and it's just amazing. Also, the gelato is delicious, and the paninis are to die for ... I could get very fat staying here much longer. It's like my appetite's finally come back - I haven't seen it for awhile!

Today is a national holiday in Italy, so we're hoping for something interesting to happen in the square tonight ... we'll probably be here late after dinner. A gondola ride is planned for tomorrow ... so romantic, so beautiful, so ancient.

Time to go find some gelato, eat something cheesy and delicious and pasta-y ... and wait to see Venice at night.

Grazie - Bonjourno - Prego!

Jennie