beneath blankets by the canal

6/3/2006
Venezia, Italy to Trieste, Italy

God what an incredible place!! Venezia (Venice) is everything I've dreamed & far, far more! No words can adequately describe the complete joy I felt immediately upon setting foot outside the train station last night. Water & people were everything. The sea was thick in the breeze, music & laughter could be heard echoing from various alleys, & there was nothing but pure happiness in the air. How does a city arrive at such a blissful state?

While we arrived at 22:00, it wasn't until around 01:00 or 01:30 that we truly became homeless. That was the time we finally realized that what the innkeepers had repeatedly been telling us was true: due to a national holiday, EVERYTHING in the city was booked solid. So we got ourselves unlost from our little (big) walking tour & made it back to the train station...which of course was closed. On the plus side, there was a veritable hotel in front of it, inhabited by many in a situation similar to our own! So we casually waved our hellos, got comfortable & popped open a bottle of wine. We drank, played some cards, talked, & drank some more. The bottle did not last long. Fortunately the night was such that we did not need it to keep warm; it was perfect weather.

So much was merrily discussed that it would be impossible for me to cover it all here (or even remember it), but suffice to say topics ranged from corkscrews to origins (our own) to boobs to warnings from strangers about local marauding bands of knife-wielding Moroccan thieves. THEN things got interesting.

The three of us ended up side by side under a blanket (courtesy Air India...thank you Chris); it had gotten chillier. As wonders never seem to cease, Rosanne & I ended the night & carried on into the morning playing handsy: the hand version of footsy. Did not see that one coming.

And now, since nothing is open (hotel-wise), we are on a 3-hour train to Trieste, right smack on the Slovenian border. We will be spending tonight there, as it's cheaper & will have less crowds, & tomorrow we have reservations for two nights at a nice hostel back in Venezia. I can't wait to go back!

But first, a nap...