Bonjourno!

Day 24/90

I am now is Venice and it is an amazing city!!! It was a crazy idea to build a city in the middle of the water, but the Italians made it work. Venice is a cool place becasue it's so old, nothing is every torn down and built up, what is here is what has been here for ages. It is a bit toristy, but that is part of its charm. You just have to take the initiative to go down a side street and get lost or hit a canal with no bridge.

Manic and I are haveing a great time together! We always seem to be laughing at something, whether it's another drunk englishman or another stupid american or kicking a pidgeon across Piazza San Marcos, he's great company and I'm glad I have someone to travel with.

The warm weather is great as well!!! It's about 30 degrees celcius (Farhenhiet ??). Manic and I went to the beach yesterday and swam around in the Adreatic Sea, before taking the ferry to Lido and having some authentic pizza for dinner. We then went into Venezia to have some beer and watch the football, but we were both so ehusted from the sleepless train ride the night before, in which the Italian guard asked for our passports at three in the morning! WTF...I thought border control didn't exhist in Western Europe anymore...it was quite annoying, especially when he turned on the lights...I was about ready to jump the bastrad, but was detered by the gun he was carrying.

Back tracking...the train from Prague to Munich to catch the night train from Munich to Venice was rather boring, but I spent a good hour or so enjoying the cool breeze and the beautiful senery of Bohemia by sticking my head out the window. There were a couple of german on the train talking shit about me an manic in spanish saying that we were stupid and ignorant. Manic showed him...when we were just about to get off we were moving our stuff to the door and Manic said ''Exuse me please, can I come past'' in Spanish. The German went white as a ghost and was dumbstruck becasue he just realized the error of his ways. The same thing happened in a French resturant we went to, this bitch of a French woman was staring us down our entire meal, like we had no right to be there, even though Manic and I ordered and conversed with the wait staff in French the entire time. I hate the attitute Europeans have against English/Americans. I can see why it exsists, but I hate to be at fault becasue of a stereotype...especially one I don't think I play into.

Anyways, stepping off the soap box...Once we got to Munich we literally had to run across the train station to catch the night train to Venice, which we had trouble finding. First we were told the wrong platform...Manic nearly got on the train to Budapest...now that could have been interesting, especially since we were trying to leave eastern europe. We then saw a train heading to Florence and asked were the Venice train was. Turns out is was the same train, it was just spliting in Verona, so we had to go to the first three cars. Never has a train felt so long, especially when you're sprinting down the platform with a forty pound pack and a bag of groceries. But we made it from platfrom 11 to platform 27 with minutes to spare, one problem...we didn't have a reservation becasue there was no way to make one from Prague. So Manic, with his schleck Deustch and non exsistant Italiano we to talk to the person in charge. Luckliy, the bloke spoke french, Manic's specialty. Ohh...in case I didn't mention it before, Manic majored in French and Spanish, hence the irony of the situation with the Hilterite on the train before and the thrill of the situation on the night train. Turns out we just had to find an empty couchette, which we did. It was quickly claimed by six Yanks, who pissed me off by putting another tally mark on the running count of why europeans hate us. No worries, we found more space in a couchette containing two Mexicans. Got no sleep and arrived in Venice at 8am where we hiked the 40 minutes to Piazza San Marcos to catch the ferry to out island. That was a work out, we were being conservative and didn't want to pay for a Taxi, which we will glady be doing on the way back, when we leave.

Our days in Prague were alright. Way more touristy then I expeceted. It felt like Disneyland Eastern Europe. The castle was pretty and I would have loved to walk around at night, but Manic and I kept forgetting becasue were would start to drink pivo (beer) and Manic got some nasty blisters on his feet.

We are now staying at a camp ground on some island that is a 40 minute ferry ride from Venice. The seculsion and change of pace is extremely nice from all the cities we've been staying in. Not sure if we're leaving tomorrow or the next day, but the next stop is Pisa, and then on to Corsica. That's all for now! I'm still having trouble finding the time to upload my pictures, but I haven't forgotten and most importantly I haven't stoped taking pictures. Got to run, internet is pricy. Ciao!