The one where we got lost in Venice

Phase Italy began at 4:30 on the morning of December 27th. Originally we were supposed to take an overnight train, but the train schedules changed at the beginning of December, so we headed out first thing instead. Also, there are no direct trains from Innsbruck to Venice, so we had to go to Brenner and some P-town first. Also from Innsbruck we couldn't purchase the Brenner train tickets, and there were only 6 minutes between the two trains. Luckily it seemed that everyone on our train was in the same position, so we just followed them onto the next train, wading through the snow across the train tracks. Then we just bought tickets on the train. So we finally make it to Venice, but the line for tourist information is super long. We decide to just wing it and wander in the general direction of our hotel. Wrong decision. We didn't make it too far over the cobblestone before our feet/bodies protested, and we went into the bus information center for help. After that, we smoothly checked into our hotel and were even able to access our room which was nice.

Lunch and sites drew us back out. we stopped at a cafe for cappuccinos and panini, which were quite good. Unfortunately , I hadn't quite got myself oriented to the map, so we did just as much circling around as progressing towards St Mark's Square and basilica. We were okay with it, seeing as number one for each of us was walking the streets of Venice, and we definitely did that! The square was neat to see, and we also enjoyed walking through the music museum. My favorite thing about going to a new place is trying to get a feel for a city, by walking through it, eating in local-y restaurants, shopping in their grocery stores. We walked FORVER! And we were so wiped out by the time we took a pre-dinner break.

For dinner, we found a restaurant in a nearby piazza (Italian for plaza or square). We both ordered from the menu of the day, which lets you get several courses at a reasonable price. I had spaghetti, chicken, and French fries, and Katie had lasagna bolognese, a salad, and fish. We both also had a glass of wine. It was really good, but not going to lie, I was stressing about how expensive it was going to be. It did end up being our most expensive meal in Italy, but that is Venice for you. It was a good first real meal anyways! On the way back we stopped and picked up some little pastries, which were delicious. To end the night, as we did every night, we browsed the Internet and planned the next day's events.