Casa Biondo to Venice Day 1 (8/22/19)

A long day of travel and adventure! Birgit drove me to the train station early this morning to catch my 7am train to Venice. It was my first time riding a high-speed train that required a reservation. Its fast, but not especially fancy, which was fine since the trip was only 3 hours long. I’m staying a the Wombat Hostel just outside of Venice proper, but I couldn’t check in until 2pm so I snagged a quick 10 minute train into Venice to kill some time.

Man Venice is such a beautiful city! The canals, twisting alleys, hidden squares, everything is so chaotic and organic and just beautiful! I legit just wandered around for 4 hours, taking in the sights. Once my check in time rolled around I returned to the hostel, scoped out the kitchen, and took an hour nap. Kitchen is pretty decked out so I will definitely try to make some friends and do some cooking to save a few bucks.

I rolled out of bed around 7pm and met some of my new roommates: Will and Tamsin from Britain, they are both 18 and I can’t tell if they are a couple or friends who maintain an extremely high level of sexual tension at all times. Its was real uncomfortable to be around them so I bailed and went out for Indian food. Found a place called Bombay Spice about 20 minutes by foot from Wombats that seems pretty fancy pants, but mostly it just smells divine and I was starving.

I was offered wine the moment I sat down so I get the feeling that it is definitely fancy. I ordered biryani and a spicy yellow dal which were both delicious. Solid biryani, but the dal was superb! It was served boiling hot and had a great aroma, plus it went great with the biryani. (tho I couldn’t handle the metal spoon for serving the dal for more than a few seconds since it was also boiling hot lol)

A few thoughts: I noticed a lot more kids around Venice compared to Rome, which I think makes for a different (and I would say better) atmosphere. Here there are less grumpy folks that love to argue with their travel partners. Instead its more friendly and there are lots of cafes and gelato stands that people sit down at. I’m definitely going to capitalize on those stands tomorrow! I’ve held back the gelato monster long enough!