Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

My sister Monique went to Germany for a nerdoscience conference, and then bought a Eurail pass and went to Italy for the first time. She spent a year in college studying in Paris, and is not new to traveling alone or in Europe. So after her conference, she traveled through Milan and into Venice, where she stayed at a hostel. I hadn't heard from her in a few days, and was starting to worry... then received a note that she was alive. With some interesting notes about Venice, if you ever plan to travel there.

She said it was okay for me to post her email message, so here you go.

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So here is the skinny, my dear sister.

As you know, I wouldn't have believed it if you had told me I would feel this way, but Venice is RIGHT UP THERE with my list of least favorite cities. Next to ... I dunno... Sacremento, which was totally dead when I was there briefly with <ex-boyfriend>.

I checked out of my hostel after about 3 hours total of sleep, took the early train at 10:30am from Venice to Milano Centrale... and it was delayed an hour and a half.  So it's a good thing I didn't pick a later train or something because of how often I have heard that this kind of thing happens... at least I was sitting in the train (air conditioned, with a FREE toilet) on the tracks while we were delayed for this hour and a half. The train station would have driven me nuts. And as you know I never figured out how to work the phones with my phone card... still haven't... so here I am, paying 9,90 euro for internet for 24 hours at the airport so I can feel connected.

The story from last night which I didn't have the time or energy to tell you was that I almost got into a fist fight at a pizzeria last night with a waiter who told me AFTER I finished eating my 14,50 euro meal that there was a 25 euro minimum for credit cards. There was a big American Express sign on the wall and no mention of a minimum... so I argued. Got nowhere, but luckily I had a 20 euro bill... The waiter was like "i have to work, and the card company takes a percentage" or something like that. !!! I had a major adrenaline rush and was fighting off tears as I was rushing through Venice in no particular direction.. at 8pm... with nothing to do.

Then I went into the only food store I found there, which understandably was ridiculously busy. I didn't have an alarm clock so I was looking for one and thought I'd ask a cute clerk who was loading shelves. No such luck... he was cold as ice. I swear, they were even nicer in freakin' Paris, which is known for being rude!

Yeah... so I'm tired. And it's 5:10pm and boarding for my flight for Amsterdam isn't another 3 hours. I can't even TELL YOU how relieved I am to be on the internet....

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I spent a year as an exchange student in Norway many years ago (when I was 17) and at the end of the year, traveled with a bunch of the Rotary Club exchange students living in Norway around Europe (a chaperoned trip). We spent a day in Venice, and I remember the mega-touristy feel of the city and how stinky the water was. And that I probably wouldn't put it on the top of my list of places where I'd like to again. So keep all this in mind if you feel like you want to see Venice. Go to Norway instead. It's beautiful!