Venice 1|6

Hey and welcome back!
I hope you've all been well while I was away for vacation.

My sudden trip was actually due to my friend Jasmin's mom getting sick (don't worry, it's nothing serious). Jasmin and her mom had originally planned a week long trip for the two of them to Venice but when her mom suddenly got sick, Jasmin invited me to go instead of her mom.
I originally declined since the departure date was the day that my sister graduated (WUUUUH!!) but in the end we figured things out and I left for Italy two days after Jasmin.

Now that that is out of the way, let me share the story of my first day in Venice with you!

The trip started out slightly chaotic.
Thursday, on June 27th, after work, I went straight to the station to take the train to Copenhagen airport. My mom and Dichael saw me off.

I was supposed to ride 3 different trains but 2/3 of them were late. This is why I usually stay in Copenhagen the night before a final or going abroad.

When my last train kept getting delayed, I took these pictures to document my travel. Now while looking through my pictures, I was going to delete these until I saw the little girl posing. Look how cute she is!

With my exceptional planning skills (or pure luck, who knows?), I made it to the airport in time for my flight anyways. Woop woop.
See you flat Denmark -

 ..and hello mountains!

 I was sitting pretty comfortably in the plane and almost fell asleep when suddenly tHE SPEAKERS WENT OFF AND THE PILOT EXCITEDLY TOLD US THAT WE WERE NOW FLYING OVER THE ALPS. I swear, in my sleep drunken state, I was absolutely convinced that we were going to crash.

But alas! We survived!
And about 2 hours after leaving Copenhagen, I arrived at Marco Polo airport (VCE). It was seven in the evening but still bright outside and SO SO humid.

At the airport I bought a return ticket for the Alilaguna water bus, which would bring me from the airport to Venice. According to our host, this was the best and easiest way to get there. The return ticket cost me 27€ (as opposed to two single tickets for 15€ each) and was valid for 30 days.

 And off I went to find the boat! It was very easy.

Once I arrived at the dock floor, I was greeted by a young worker, who helped me find the right line - the orange one.

While waiting for our boat (it took a while), I ended up chit-chatting with the two ladies in front of me, who were also Danish. We discussed what to see and swapped numbers and e-mails in case some of us found a good restaurant or must-see places. They actually ended up messaging me once about a boat trip that Jasmin and I ended up going on.

Below is a picture of the boat we took!

 Big luggage was placed upstairs while we were led 'downstairs.'

 The view was pretty great from my side and I was lucky enough to sit in front of a window. I took these pictures while enjoying a warm but much needed breeze.

The weather was a big ... foggy? that day but the rest of my time in Venice, the sky was clear. It did make for some cool pictures, though.

 Here you see my new acquaintances, Vivi (L) and Vita (R). They told me how they were former colleagues of 13 years (or so) but had stayed in contact. This was the 4th time they'd gone on a friendship-trip and they shared many stories about the last time they went somewhere together. This time they'd be spending a couple of days in Venice before getting on a cruise ship.

They were sweet enough to share some of their licorice with me before I got off the boat.

When we came to my stop, Guglio, I greeted the women and stepped back onto land where Jasmin was enthusiastically waiting for me. A lady standing beside her cracked a smile at our reaction to seeing each other again.

Here she is on our way to the airbnb.

The place we stayed was legit right outside the bus stop so we quickly dropped off my bags and had some water before heading out again. 

For dinner, Jasmin recommended the place called L'Angolo della Pizza not far from our place.

It's a great place for picking up pizza and going on your way, especially if you don't like eating out alone like Jasmin.

A blurry picture of my delicious pizza roll. I had severely underestimated the goodness of mozarella until I tasted this. I'm super hooked now.

 Outside the pizza place was a small stand selling t-shirts, hats, and other touristy things.

We noticed this ugly dabbing Mona Lisa shirt and had a laugh.

After eating, we turned around to go back to the pier. On the way we spotted a crucified stick man on one of the bridges. Do you see him?

When I told my friends I was going to Venice, many of them called it a romantic place. Jasmin and I already have a running joke that we're a couple (complete with a couple ring and all) so we figured we'd play along with the romantic sentiment and take cute couple pictures. The following pictures were our takes on the typical vacation pictures that Instagram personalities make their boyfriends snap of them.

Here I am romantically eating my pizza wrap.

Jasmin's turned out really cute.

We won't spare you the strange behind the scenes pictures either! Jasmin though my picture-taking position was weird and decided to take a picture of me the moment I took one of her.

 Getting that perfect angle was hard work that could only be achieved with the perfect squat.
I just happened to squat down a bit more than Jasmin and ended up looking like a frog. But her pictures came out nice so I think it's a win!

We stayed a little longer and watched the sunset (like the romantic fake couple we are) before heading home.

It was so hot that we had to shower at least twice a day. And in order to not melt during the night, Jasmin had made a fancy set up of no less than 3 fans to constantly blow on us throughout the night.
Good job Jasmin.

That's it for my first day in Venice!
I'll share much more pictures soon from the remaining days there.

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