Milano and Venezia- from Horrible to Amazing in 24 Hours

So far my time in Italy has been a rollercoaster, but as it turns out that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

From my all too brief time in Marseille, I headed for one more long train journey into Milan. This was definitely the most miserable day of my trip and perhaps the most miserable of my life. The first two trains I took weren't bad, although the second one was incredibly late and I almost missed the third train, which in hind sight probably would have been a blessing. My last train ride was over 4 hours long and all of the seats were in little cabins (like in Harry Potter) which at first I thought was cool. That was until I realized I was sharing the cabin with a group of Italian kids (does 18 count as a kid?) who were completely horrible. They kept locking themselves in the bathroom to smoke and had the most epic fight the entire train ride. It actually came to blows at one point and the boy in the group physically dragged one of the girls out of the cabin. He also did that thing crazy people do where they keep hitting themselves in the head out of frustration, and he felt the need to sit not in the cabin, but in the hallway blocking the door. I was seated next to the window so I was basically trapped the entire time. Add onto that the constant disregard for personal space, my feet were trampled frequently and I actually got smacked in the face at one point, all of which went unacknowledged.





After that epic journey I was dying to get off the train and into my hostel. In the metro station of the Milan train station a guy snatched about 10 euro from me while I was buying my ticket, and then I got completely lost once I go off at my stop. The hostel was the worst I have ever seen, but luckily I only stayed one night there and then the horrible day was over.

After that I stayed in a nice little hotel and had about two days to see Milan, which I can say with confidence was plenty of time for me. In my opinion Milan just does not have that much to offer someone who is traveling for an extended period of time. The Duomo is incredible, one of the largest churches I have ever seen, and there is some beautiful architecture in the city center. The disappointing thing is that most of the wonderful buildings and squares are dedicated almost entirely to shopping, and that is all anyone seemed to do there. Not really what I came to Europe for, but to each their own. Needless to say I don't have any incredible stories from Milan.

From my hotel, which was a little out of the center, I did have a wonderful balcony and it was really nice to just sit out there and enjoy watching life go by for all of the locals. The balcony was on a courtyard that was shared by a bunch of locals and at night you could see little old ladies caring for their potted plants and smell delicious Italian food cooking. That was amazing.

After a quick stay in Milan I went for an even quicker stay in Venice! Just the train ride alone was amazing, but Venice was one of those places that you half expect to let you down and instead it is better than you could ever imagine. Being there is like walking through a fairy tale, all of the canals, bridges, and buildings are absolutely perfect- there is no place I would rather get lost. And you definitely do get lost in Venice, all the time. But it is a nice kind of lost, where you just get the chance to see and experience more of a really beautiful place. After getting off the train I spent the rest of the day just wandering and admiring everything, and eating pizza.

The next day I went out with two girls I met at my hostel and we had an amazing time, definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip so far. We did our fair share of wandering, and it was just as enjoyable getting lost the second day. Every time I went out I saw something new and interesting, and every corner has it's own distinct character. I especially loved how the buildings emerged from the water, with doors floating right above the surface where boaters could enter. Locals would drive their boats around the city and stop at people's windows to chat. Venice has no cars, which is absolutely wonderful in my eyes.

We also ate a lot, of course, and there really is nothing better than gelato on a sunny day.

One of our main goals of the day was to take a gondola ride, which seemed hopeless after checking a few out and finding that they all cost around 80-100 euros, just a little too rich for our blood. But, as fate would have it, just as we were heading back to our hostel a gondolier casually asked if we were students. Of course we said yes, and he gave us a discount that we couldn't pass up. Please, if you go to Venice, take a gondola ride- you will not regret it. Seeing the city from the canals is such a magical experience there are no words to describe how it feels.

After enjoying the city all day we headed back to the hostel for an amazing poor man's picnic (hello bread and cheese) and drank a lot of red wine out of a lot of tiny cups. We drunkenly put our feet in the water, and had a great night.

And just like that I was off to Cinque Terre.