Venice

Our next destination? The city knee-deep in love and water. 

I was eight years old when I first went to Venice. My parents took me for a Gondola ride that took us around Venice for a whopping-dollar-whipping five minutes and I remember, as much as finding the whole thing rather pleasant, I was disappointed with it. So first things first - don't make gondola your number one to-do list in Venice, especially for the poor student traveller. My travel companion and I only had some seven waking hours in Venice, during which we substituted riding the Gondola for the following activities -

...looking for Ironman's mask...

...waving to the policeman in a speed-boat...

...tickling the bottom of our feet on a bridge...

...and searching for the Vampires of Venice.

The luxury of water taxis are available to help you get from A to B but if you wear a designer belt called "Rope" like me then allow yourself to wander a bit and find your way. Also don't expect the information points to know where every single hotel is placed (there are about 500).

Mmm.

Ok, so the real reason we didn't do the Gondola was because of this. On the first night we went into a restaurant and accepted every single food and drink the waiter had to offer (we were blinded by his charm), which led us to a cold and dark place called Broke Before Hitting London.

The Venetian morning is very calm, and very nice to walk in, especially in winter. It is a slightly different atmosphere to the glamourous hubbub in summer. January, the month where seemingly little happens, it is perhaps as close as to domestic Venice as you can get.

I kinda wish I went on that Gondola now. Perhaps next time.