Gettin' My Gelato On

Previously on “I Miei Viaggi”:
-Got on some planes
-Babies screamed
-Got to Venice
-Ate some delicious food

Day two of my trip started a little later than I had planned. Still getting over the jet lag, I woke up around 10:30AM, missing my hotel’s breakfast. Once I did finally wake up, I got ready and headed into town. I explored for a few hours, trying to get lost again. Around 12, I grabbed lunch at a small café-esque restaurant and ordered this pizza pie topped with spinach, two kinds of mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese, and more -- very, very delicious. The man who took my order looked like he was straight out of "Lady and the Tramp;" goatee, black hair pulled into a ponytail, slightly overweight, singing and whistling while he made the food. I was so happy. Immediately after, I treated myself to some tiramisu gelato, and carried my cone around with me while I walked around and took pictures (these two pictures were taken with my iPhone's camera, but the rest were taken by my actual camera).

When I arrived yesterday evening, I thought the city was pretty busy already…today was completely different. There were people everywhere, from locals to tacky tourists (the former usually giving the stink-eye to the latter). Some places were completely congested, making it hard to move around, but these areas were usually near the docks and the market. I took some side passages, attempting to bypass the crowds and ended up finding lots of really beautiful and interesting places. Unfortunately, the theatre I found was closed, so I was stuck peering into the windows. It looks like there might me one or two shows going on when I come back to Venice in two weeks with my friend, Chip Harrison (who is studying abroad in Greece this summer).

Looking around some more, I saw some Italian kids playing soccer in front of some old buildings. Nearby, another little boy was holding some bread, while the local birds executed an all-out assault onto his hands and arms. I quickly found that children are so much cuter when they are speaking a language I can't understand.

After walking around for a few hours, I stopped by my hotel to take a quick nap. This quick nap turned into a three-hour nap, but I definitely felt better. I satisfied my grumpy stomach with an enormous slice of margarita pizza, followed by another scoop of gelato (this time, hazelnut). Since I will be leaving Venice for Paderno del Grappa tomorrow morning, I left the hotel again and went to the water bus station to ask the best way to get to the train station. I was originally under the impression that the train was very close to my hotel, but it turns out that it is over an hour walk -- glad I asked. Looks like I will instead be taking a ten minute water bus to the station. Once I’m there, the plan is to get a train ticket to Bassano del Grappa, and then a bus ticket to Paderno del Grappa, where I will start my summer classes on Tuesday.

Well, it’s past 10PM here, so I’m feeling a late dinner. Maybe some more gelato….definitely some more gelato. Be afraid, Connor’s bidet, be very afraid.

Tomorrow will be my travel day, so hopefully there will be a lot to talk about. See you then.