Venice 11th 13th May 2010

The train to Venice was uncomfortable and it took me 45 mins to find the hostel as the guide book map again wasn’t accurate enough for the Venetian street layout. When I did get there found out they had messed up my reservation and instead of being in a room of three beds they put an extra bed in a 7 person dorm. However it was cheaper and was next to a nice private garden area (rare) and a basketball court ( unheard of). Headed straight to shoot some hoops and met an American guy who was on leave from the air force. He was travelling with two other guys from officer training. They seemed cool enough so said I’d tag along with them for a beer that evening.

On the way out we met 4 pretty Israeli girls staying in the dorm opposite who were also in the military. We invited them for a drink but they said the were going to ( name ) to get a free meal. Jokingly they invited us along and we called their bluff and agreed. So 30 mins later I was in a full Jewish restaurant, wearing a scull cap and trying to pass as a Jew with 3 US military men who were looking as sheepish as me and about it all. During the rabbi’s prayer it became apparent that the game was up when half of the women in there stated laughing at us. However despite this they were totally cool about us being there and gave us a 3 course meal totally free and then asked why we were leaving so early when we said thank you after staying for an hour and a half eating. Totally cool interesting culture and free food 2 of my favourite things in life. Set off with the US and Israeli military people then to find a bar. This took another hour of wandering the winding side streets. It became apparent that Venice wasn’t a party town. We did finally find an Irish bar ( theres one in every town) and got rather drunk. Surprising when we left was the most sober and assumed map duty. Strange the pacifist artist type leading 7 army types round a foreign town. I managed to get us rather lost but eventually we found our way back to the hostel. I was informed, though, by one of the girls that he friends had had a few choice words I n Hebrew to say about my orienteering skills…hmm I don’t think they would have done better as they were so drunk they could hardly walk in a straight line…..

Didn’t get a lot of sleep that night and woke up early to explore the town on my own it was really impressive. Especially the view across the bay from near saint Marco marks square. The only downside to Venice was the amount of tourists that were wandering the streets at times. Certain areas felt like a cultural Glastonbury. Once you were away from the crowds you could take in the ambience of the town a lot better pretty unique I don’t think my photos can do it justice….

BY afternoon I was flagging in the heat bought some cheap beer and food in a supermarket and went back to the hostel to chill out in the garden. Met guy from Mexico and one from England and then later a couple from America who liked football ( or socher as they call it ). We went to a local bar to watch the England USA game and met a few other brits. The TV screen was on the outside wall of the pub and we had a canal right behind where we were sitting , the strangest place I’ve watched a match by far…..the game was predictably dull as all England group games are but they did have 9% beer on tap so it wasn’t all bad.

Hooked up with the Israeli girls again later and went to bed late next day woke up with a hangover and got on train to Rome feeling like the Bad Lieutenant again

Venice was cool but I def spent to much money on beer with Rome in mind and the world cup being on it was going to be hard to buck the trend….will see what happens in Rome