Gelato, bridges, and more gelato

Our trip from Budapest to Venice was our second night train. To make a long story short, it was much better. A Newer train with nice beds, good AC and good company. We were joined on our trip by young couple from Holland and a British guy. The British guy told us a very inappropriate story, we all watched a movie on my laptop, and we all slept much better than we did from Prague to Budapest.
If I can use another car analogy, Venice was like a rare, classic car-in disrepair. Venice was old, dirty and beautiful. Also similar to this car (in my head I imagine a 289-cubic inch, 1966 Mustang GT decomposing in Miami), Venice is expensive and impractical. I’ll admit to you, Venice was not my favorite city. Ronak liked it but he refuses to write so you’ll have to get my best, objective try.
Ronak and I stepped off the train and got a little taste of home. Venice was hot. Really hot. The heat, it turns out, was a pleasant side effect of the amazing sunshine. A perfect, unblemished, blue sky hung over our heads and painted the perfect tan on all of Venice’s guests and inhabitants. If Easter Europeans looked like supermodels, Venetians looked like movie stars. It was as if that perfect sunshine also drizzled D&G sunglasses and Louis Vuitton purses onto every body. Yes, the men there carry purses too. I believe they prefer to call it a “murse,” or, “European Carry-All.” The canals of Venice were a filthy green color, but if you didn’t look too hard they were pretty and charming. The immediate novelty of the city was fun. Cars are boats and the streets are made of water. Also, there were many, many bridges. The bridges are charming and they make great pictures. Bridges are not, however, efficient. You march up and stumble down. You do it again and then repeat 100 times. By the time we got to our hotel we were sweaty and tired. There was no receptionist. There was a cleaning lady who told us to go away. Since we had no room, no map, and 50 lbs draped around us, Ronak and I did the most logical thing: we sat on a bench. We sat and watched for any activity in our hotel. Eventually a nice, but undeniably creepy, American man started talking to us. We sat some more while avoiding conversation and watching our wallets. Finally two other backpackers went into the hotel and failed equally. Logically, they came to the bench and also sat. I was too tired and sweaty to socialize so I went and checked on the reception again and a silver-haired Italian man greeted me and gave us our key. With this key came some of the most elaborate room directions I have ever seen. Please see the map he drew us on the spot. Remarkably we made it to the room on our first try. Then we napped.
Showered and rested we decided to give Venice another try. Later in the day it was hotter than when we first arrived and still as beautiful. We had pizza for lunch that was OK, not as good as Prague. Ronak had eaten one or two serving of Gelato by this time (just so you know). Piazza di San Marco is the big hot spot so we headed in that direction. San Marco was very impressive. An enormous, pretty, old building butting up against an enormous, pretty, old Cathedral. Dying to use some of his Indian skills, Ronak decided to buy a hat. Please, let me recap: The guy wants 12 euro’s for the hat. Ronak says no, I’ll give you 5 euro’s. Man says 10 euro’s. Ronak says no, 6 euro’s. Man says 8 euro’s and Ronak says yes. Ronak is the proud owner of a bargained hat. Eventually, we see the same hat on sale for 6 euro’s. It’s about the principle of the thing, right? Anyways, San Marco is very impressive. The water on this side of the city, I believe opening to the Adriatic Sea, is gorgeous.
Ronak and I spend the end of the day walking aimlessly around the city. Every street is an alleyway and getting lost is easy and fun here because as long as you keep walking you will end up at a bridge or a watery dead end with a gelato shop close by. Like I mentioned earlier, the pizza, and food in general, was disappointing. The streets were full of youthful travelers and locals at night. We joined our two roommates for a glass of wine and some conversation, just to feel social, and then went to bed early. You see, to me, Venice was just a pretty face, and we had a train to catch to Florence.