la venezia

the train ride from cinque terre to venice was a long one- but again, harry potter made the best of it. we are sucked in. but it was so nice to finally arrive at our hotel:

it looks a little dumpy, but we actually really liked this place. located about 15 minutes from the heart of venice, our hostel/campground called 'plusted' (perhaps a play on the english accent of the word plastered, which everyone at plusted was) offered a shuttle service to and from venice every thirty minutes and ended up saving us loads. plusted was soo much cheaper than anywhere in the city. our little cabin had two twin beds with awful mattresses- but we weren't there too often, so it was great!
i had been scouring 'let's go europe on a budget' for all sorts of travel tips and sights in venice and we had heard from people some fun things to do- but when it all came down to it, we decided to spend the whole day in venice with no agenda.... no plans, no place to be, no time limit. it turned out to be perfect.
we took the bus into town, got off and started winding our way through the narrow little streets which often just led us to the canals.

the canals were so cool because they were just like italian job. everyone seems to have their own little boat and instead of cars, everyone just takes a boat to eat or to see their friends. if you look in the picture above you will see little doors with steps that lead right into the water. venice truly is a beautiful city. how on earth did they manage to build it?!?
no, we did not take a gondola ride- and i am not afraid to admit why... we are not japanese/billionaires. they were charging soo much money and seeing the same things cade and i were seeing on foot- so we opted out and took the much cheaper water taxi. i loved the water taxi. it is like a city bus that has stops and everything. we just bought a ticket and rode around to see the city from the canals. we had to stay on the big canals, but it was great weather and the city is so fun just to look at.
they were cool to see, but we left the gondolas open for all the rich asians.




we enjoyed our freedom as we stopped in little outdoor markets or to sit on the stairs somewhere and listen to a street performer play the guitar. our appetite for gelato only became more insatiable and i think we downed like 4 cones.



again, just asking for cade's opinion on venice, he summed up our experience quite well: 'very romantic,' he says. i agree. it is a charming city and we can't wait to go back.