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Breakfast
Compared to the cookie shops of Rome and Venice, there are some actual decent bread stores in Venice. However, prices for even the smallest things can vary greatly. We got a great strudel yesterday for about one dollar, whereas today we paid double for something that tasted half as good. Then there are bananas. I am not accustomed to looking at prices for such things, so I don't even know what "normal" is. However, I do know that some shops are selling bananas at 8000lira per kilogram versus 2000 elsewhere. Now that I am a little low on money, I vowed to be more careful.
Fairwell to Josh
It's been great having Josh around for the week. I still haven't decided whether I like to travel alone or with a good friend, but I suppose some combination is the best. Josh has to be back at work in
Chicago on Monday, so he headed back to Rome today. He had bought a ticket with the intention of getting on the 9:50am train. We found out, though, that the automatic machine had its times wrong. That train leaves the mainland at 9:50 but leaves Venice at 9:30. Josh was not happy. He complained to the already overworked staff at the window who were happy to sell him a supplement for the 12:30 Eurostar special. Luckily he already has a reservation back in Rome, so arrived at 5pm shouldn't be a problem. We passed the extra time writing postcards and wandering around. They say the postal system here is terribly slow, so we made sure to post our letters in the special blue international express boxes.
With less than a day left in Italy myself, I decided to impose a budget. I set aside the money for my two nights in the hostel and
found that I had about 15000lira (US8) for the rest of the day. That means bypassing all of the museums and walking tours, and just living on bread and water. Like Florence, this town has enough atmosphere to make it fun with or without big attractions.
Water Culture
I did splurge a little to buy a ticket for a water taxi which took me through the whole grand canal. The best thing about this town is that there are no cars and noisy scooters. It is possible to walk everywhere on narrow roads and bridges, but water is the main mode of transportation. We saw boats carrying refrigerators and furniture to people's houses. We saw one crane fixed to a boat of workmen. We saw the Cokes and fruits for the markets, all delivered by boat.
Out on the bay near San Marco many boats were gathering around. Today is Saturday and a holiday. Every fisherman, sailor, and boat owner is out in the bay near San Marco hoping for a good view of the fireworks.
There is even a huge cruise ship called the Grand Princess which just happened to arrive today. That thing must hold a few thousand people. Anyway, everyone is here to see the great fireworks display which started at 11:30pm. That was also the curfew time for this hostel, so I had to settle for watching from the rooftop a bit. I am preparing to sleep now, but I imagine the town will be awake all night.
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