Venezia

Friday morning, up and at em quite early to get to the airport for my flight from Prague to Venice. the flight was probably the quickest and least crowded flight I've been on thus far in Europe, which was nice on both accounts. touch down in Venice, and the weather was gorgeous. Ninoska wasn't landing until about 4, and I couldn't check into our hostel until about 2, so I hung out in the outdoor restaurant connected to our hostel for a while watching a little Netflix, eating a little lunch. once I checked in, I was psyched to take a nap, but some guy sawing with a crazy loud saw just outside my window had other ideas for me. nap didn't happen, but when nini arrived we went into the city, because our place wasn't on the main Venice island. we bused in, and honestly just roamed for hours. there aren't a lot of "sites" necessarily in Venice, and roaming is definitely the way to go with how windy and small the streets are, and how often you realize you're totally landlocked due to the fact there's water in front of you but no bridge.

we popped in and out of a bunch of souvenir shops, people watched and just took in the views of water & gorgeously colorful buildings. we stopped for dinner, shared some pasta, wine and good conversation. after that we roamed some more, snagged some gelato for dessert and made our way back to the hostel. there's wifi available in the main building, so we showered and hung out in the lobby in our jams. we got our Netflix & social media fix, split a bottle of wine and snacked on some chips until the early hours of the morning. many giggles were involved, because for those of you who don't know Ninoska she is an absolute hoot and a half.

side note: learning quite quickly that french wine is the best wine for a lot of reasons. there are a ton of options, it's cheap, and it tastes pretty stinkin good. sure I've had a few bottles that aren't very tasty, but they would rival and beat what I've had in other countries both in taste and in price. living in the Loire valley has its perks in that department..

Saturday the weather was glorious. little breeze, sunshine and blue skies. we grabbed a little lunch once we arrived into the city, and then set out to roam. the streets were absolutely packed, as it was a Saturday and peak season is upon us. we would pop in out of shops, stop at pretty places for photos (which was frequent) and keep on moving. I grabbed some gelato & Ninoska snagged a beer. the warm weather warranted both..

we lingered around the gondola stops all day long, hoping to find some other young poor college students who wanted to share a ride. the gondolas are 80 euro per half hour, maximum six people in the boat at a time. we were looking to find two other bodies to bring down the cost of 40 euro a piece to 20 euro. we struck out asking people about two times each, rejection in full swing. as we were walking along, we saw two Asian girls stopped looking at a map and chatting together. I went in for my probably fifth attempt to sway someone to take a gondola ride with us, and after a little explanation they agreed. VICTORY! the four of us did introductions, and piled into the gondola. the ride was so stinkin cool, the waters were packed with boats of all sorts and we went down narrow canals and I'm impressed these gondola drivers don't ever hit each other or the walls of the buildings alongside the water. at one point, I wanted to move to get a photo. well this was a bad call because I almost sent our poor driver into the drink.. ha that would've been terribly unfortunate. slight movement really rocks the boat, and they stand essentially on the edge when they are rowing so it wouldn't be hard to fall in with a little rock of the boat. I honestly wonder how often they do fall in, and how the heck they would get back up. as karma would have it, I was leaning back to get a picture of nini and I just totally bit it backwards off the little stool I was sitting on so I spent the rest of the ride laying half on half off of this little stool in the gondola so I didn't shake or rock the boat again. typical eurojules

after our ride, we started the hunt to st. mark's square, really one of the few monuments or spots we wanted to see in the city. it was gorgeous - a huge basilica as well as a few other buildings that I'm totally unsure of their names or usage. I had a bit of a fright though because I lost Ninoska for about 5 minutes, and she forgot her phone at home and I was like a panicked mother like holy hell if I can't find her idk what I'm going to do because I can't contact her. she giggled when I found her and expressed my concern. "j to the kro I lost you!" YA I know woman.

after walking quite a bit, we realized both of our feet started to hurt and we were dreading the walk back to the top part of the island. we popped into some more shops and then we stopped for dinner at a pizzeria by a canal. we enjoyed some delicious 'za and we were both freaking out because we saw a couple get onto a gondola and they were dressed up, he looked nervous and he spoke to the driver sort of closely so nini and I thought he might be proposing. spoiler: no ring upon their return. I think I was more disappointed than she was. like dude, opportunity MISSED.

we stopped for gelato again on the way back to the bus station, Ninoska picked up a pair of shoes that she'd tried on Friday and regretted not purchasing, and then we hopped on the bus and made our way back to the hostel. Ninoska had picked up a few souvenirs and she was charged for an extra bag on the way to Venice (easy jet are stingy mother effers) so she wanted to fit her purse in the carry on suitcase as well. I showed her the art of a good roll, so she could roll all of her clothing. she did a great job packing it, and then came the moment of truth if it would zip or not. she was laying on it, and I was taking videos of the play by play because the commentary was too funny not to. she did it! success for barzey and the bag.

had a lovely time with my sassy Dominican pal in Venice. she's a real sweetheart, and I can say with confidence a life long friend. thanks for the laughs and all the pictures, I'll forever remember Venezia by your side!

cheers & ciao, jkro