Venice is probably the most incredible place I have been thus far. I spent two days there with some friends- and despite the rain and cold… and major flooding, I had the most amazing time. Not only is the city beautiful, but it has this small town feel that totally contradicts its true immensity in terms of the thousands of little streets there are to get lost down. I became the shopoholac that I never thought I would be- going in almost every glass store we passed by and allowing my frugality to emerge only so often in my decision making process. The hostel was easy enough to find as it was on the “main street” and there was literally a bridge leading to its front door. It is called the Venice Fish and despite some flooding on the lower level, it was a really nice place with big rooms and high ceilings. There was a ridiculous array of wanderers there- from a kid who started traveling 8 months ago around Europe as a final hoorah before he starts college, to a guy who has been studying physics in Budapest for last couple of months and just got accepted into the number one rated school for science in China. We ate a pretty bad free dinner at the hostel instead of spending money on another fancy meal like we had earlier- but it was worth the stomach pain that ensued after because I met some really interesting people in the eating process. It’s surprising how people can bond over a bad plate of pasta and some spicy sauce.

While we didn’t go on any gondola rides (because of the frigidity), I took a lot of pictures of them:

As well as a few pictures of the rivers that run through Venice in general: