Entschuldigung, err I mean scusi!

Post for July 27th.
The weekend in Venice was surreal. I feel like I say that about everything but it really was. A group of us left Friday evening from Vienna around 8:30 pm and arrived in Venice around 8:30 am on Saturday. The train ride was interesting. We were able to reserve beds for the night train, which allowed us to time travel since we went to sleep on one day in one country and woke up the next day in another. Just stepping out of the train station and seeing the "city on water," as Roger put it, was breathtaking. I could not believe that we were actually taking a water bus to get to the island where our hotel was. And by hotel I mean Marco's house. Marco basically let us stay in the rooms of his home, gave us breakfast each morning, and let us use his personal office and computer for internet access for 25 euro a night. I appreciated the welcoming, homey feel to it all especially after traveling in and out of hotels and hostels for two weeks straight. It was funny because we kept trying to speak in german, which did not work at all. But we eventually got the hang of it because italian and spanish are so similar.

Our first day started with an early lunch and shopping at St. Mark's Square. There was so much to see and do but it was all expensive so, we walked around and enjoyed our time sightseeing. A group of us were able to take a tour on a gondola ride for about 13 euro a piece, which was definitely worth it. I could not get enough of the typical Venice activities no matter how touristy or stereotypical they may have been. We were excited simply because the gondola men were wearing striped shirts! Then, in the evening we went to a rock beach, which was dangerous and creepy but somehow still fun.

On Sunday morning we decided to rent bicycles and ride around Lido island for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing. We made a stop at one of the beaches to collect sea shells and walk in the water. After returning the bicycles, we decided we would make a day at the beach and, of course, this could not happen without the appropriate european attire. So, three of the boys in the group wore speedos despite their very white thighs and lack of confidence at first. It was pretty hilarious. The weather, much like the entire day, was just perfect. We all got sunburned even though we used sunscreen but it was worth it. Venice is definitely my favorite city so far. And I say so far because it changes every week.

Our trip back was long. We left Venice on Monday at 1:20 pm and arrived in Munich for a two hour layover around 8:30 pm. We had dinner and got on another train at 10:45 pm to get to Bonn at 5:45 am on Tuesday morning. Just in time to get back to our host homes to take showers and get ready to be at the AIB at 8:00 am this morning. Let's just say we're amazing and so was the weekend.

Ciao,

Brittany