Sunday, August 13, 2017

Venice

The trip out of Paris was fairly easy, aside from a few brief moments of panic while I tried to figure out which train was the one that would take me to Orly on the platform. A good travel tip is to be extra cautious about the train you are about to get on and when in doubt, double check. I almost got on the wrong train but I felt like something was wrong and went back up to check again and realized I had been on the wrong platform. Moments like this can be stressful and make me yearn for an adult, but I remember that's me and take a deep breath and figure it out.

Once I got on the train however, it was an incredibly easy travel experience, the airport was easy to navigate and getting on the plane was easy. No passport control seems to happen between European cities which is nice and saves time, but sort of sucks because I don't get nifty passport stamps from France. I was very happy to see they had a Paul in the airport, which is a French chain that makes the most delicious sandwiches I've ever had. I also bought an apple tart and a salad knowing it might be a while until I ate again and I was happy to have them later on!

I decided to splurge on a ride from the airport to the Airbnb because by this point my body is aching everywhere and the whole navigating transit systems you don't know thing is getting a bit old. The buses in this area also don't run very frequently because it's not really a big city but more of a small town outside of Venice so when my host offered to pick me up at the airport for 30e I said yes. My hosts are a lovely married couple named Aurelio and Rosa, and Aurelio is a big, warm Italian man who was happy to take my bag and bring me to his car. He doesn't speak much English and I don't speak much Italian but we did our best talking to each other and his kindness was clear in spite of the language barrier.

We arrived at the house, which to be honest I was expecting to be the least nice of my Airbnbs because it was very cheap, but the house is big and beautiful and Rosa is so incredibly nice. They also have a little dog named Nala who is adorable and sweet! Rosa sat me down and showed me maps and explained in total detail all the buses and when the last one comes. She had bought me a ticket because the ticket office is closed for the August holiday and she marked out for me on the map of Venice where I could go for reasonable meals and nice things to see. I really appreciated this, and her helpful maps served me many times once I was actually on the island.

My mindfulness and meditation practice has been really helpful to me in this week, because there has been a lot of waiting and travelling on transit where I had no control over when I would get to places and knowing how to let go of the stress that doesn't serve a purpose has made this experience much easier to bear. The bus from the Airbnb to Venice takes quite a while, and I had to transfer onto a second bus. I was worrying at first because I was coming close to sunset, but I decided to relax and accept that I would get there when I did and that Venice would still be there no matter when I got there.

Arriving to the island it was a chaotic mess of tourists, but also a place of complete beauty. I took Rosa's advice and hopped on the vaporetto, water bus, which took me along the Grand Canal and to San Marco. This saved my feet a huge amount of walking that I didn't want to do, and also a whole lot of getting lost which is kind of the only possible result of walking in Venice.

I wandered around the square and looked at the incredible buildings, walked down streets and side streets and peeked down the many different alleys and canals that are strewn with lovely buildings and sites. Walking along the fruit market a man gave me a cup of cut up pineapple because they were closing for the night and I ate my bonus fruit and found a place to get some pasta for dinner. I thought about how I was taking myself for a romantic date and I enjoyed the peace of setting my own schedule and not being beholden to anyone else.

Worrying about missing the last bus, I hopped back onto the vaporetto and came back to the bus terminal. Unfortunately, I got on the slightly wrong bus and realized this once I was back in downtown Venezia, the mainland area and got off to find I had a 10 minute walk to the next bus stop that would get me home and that it would be the final bus of the night. This was a scary moment to be honest, because it was past 11 and I was alone and my phone battery was around 20% but as I started walking one of the first street names I saw was Via Olivia (my cat) and when I got to the bus stop there was graffiti that said "Olivia loves Cristina" and I was somehow comforted by the names of those I love and felt better. The bus arrived and I made it back to the house with the figure of a man walking just ahead of me, going to the same house.

The next morning I sat and had breakfast that Rosa had made and met the man who is also staying here, Bertrand. He's a nice Frenchman and we have eerily similar schedules. I took the bus again and spent a few hours wandering Venice by daylight, but by now I m so tired out from travel that I didn't really have the energy to spend on museums and tours I just wanted to see the pretty things and sit on a boat for a while. I had a nice lunch of seafood at a restaurant and decided to come back to the Airbnb and get some rest. And Bertrand was on the same bus again! We chatted a bit while walking back and he told me he's been living in the UK for the past 12 years. We both went to rest for a while, and I left again around 8 to find a place to eat.

I took the bus to a restaurant I found on Google, but once I got there they were closed for the holiday so I had to walk back towards the Airbnb until I found a place. Luckily, the restaurant I found was good and it was cheap. I accidentally ordered a bit more wine than I would usually drink, and a shrimp pizza and settled in to read a book and enjoy, but of course Bertrand walked in shortly after that and I invited him to sit with me.

We had a great conversation, talking about politics in Europe and nationalism and how Brexit will fuck him over because he's been working in England based on EU standards and will get kicked out eventually once they change. It was interesting to learn more about the political system in France as well and how many parties they have and how much they have to work towards compromise. We walked back to the Airbnb and said good night and I settled in to watch some Netflix.

Today is about killing time, I won't be picked up from the central train station until 6pm, so I slept in today and I'm dallying in my room. I am going to have a long shower, rearrange my luggage and then have breakfast. Then I'll go to the laundromat with my luggage and do a week's worth of washing and then probably find a restaurant to have a long meal in before I go over to the station. It will be nice to soon be in the hands of someone else and have an organization taking me where I need to go and feeding and housing me. I'm looking forward to the friends I will make with the people I'll be working with and this Airbnb has been a peek at the Italian hospitality that I'm sure I will experience in the homes that I stay at.

It's been  wonderful week filled with some of the most fantastic things you can see on this earth and I know I will remember it forever. Soon I start the next chapter of this trip which will be different but lovely in it's own ways as well.

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