another bright and early morning for us, waking up to about 6 mosquito bites. i do not like this hostel at all. in addition, it is a good thing we got our things out of the "safe" with the front desk last night, because noone was around til we were leaving.
not sure how the drive to venice (mestre to be exact) was as i slept thru most of it. room is ok only because it is a smoking room so kinda smelt gross, but housekeeping managed to somehow (i think at least) remove the smell.
pak, nusbaum and christine somehow managed to get 3 single beds! (editor 2010 - until now, pak, steve and i have NEVER been able to get three single beds when we stayed in a hotel)
after a rest, and figuring out the bus system in venice, we were on our way. i bought a map upon arrival which was important because the roads, streets, rivers, canals are crazy! similiar to amsterdam with network of canals and bridges, but different because of architecture, age and dilapidated buildings that are bending all weird due to the poor foundations. there are these bolts or wedge systems visible on the sides of affected buildings to keep the building under compression, and hence stronger.
after lunch where we subjected poor christine to more of our immature mannerisms, behaviour and jokes, we wandered around just soaking in the beautiful sites.at SS apostoli, nusbaum and i contemplated how the clock on the tower worked. we threw the challenge to pak and christine and then decided to see how many people we could get to look up at the sky with us pointing and focusing on the clock. we actually got quite a few takers!
then at somepoint teams of pak and christine and the steve's raced to see who could make it to ponte dell'accademia first. we won and started drinking beers to appear as though we had been there a while. the losers joined us with a beverage and then soon thereafter we witnessed a short chase between hawkers and some kind of unarmed law enforcement. merchandise was dropped and destroyed by authorities, and apparently one guy was in a headlock before being released. one of the escapees bumped into nusbaum and he dropped his beer, with a much deflated and audible, "awwwww..."
we then followed the confiscated merchandise to see if more stuff would go down, and one of the hawkers returned to exchange words (w/yelling). nusbaum asked two nearby gondola guys to translate what just happened but with no luck due to lack of english. when christine referred to "gondola" guys, apparently they perked up, thinking she wanted a ride.
made it to the impressive st. mark's square and decided to return tomorrow. managed to book it back to bus terminal with deft navigational skills courtesy of team steve.
once andree arrived, we decided to go into venice to make the most of our trip, and arrived at 11:20p, mainly for dinner. coming back, it started to rain with lightning and thunder, and it was just starting to come down in torrents when we arrived back at the hotel. thanks to pak for lending me his jacket. we watched the storm for a while from the room window which was awesome.
other:
- bruce nauman "topological gardens" art exhibit. best time yet at a modern art museum/exhibition due to photo-taking (a la ferris bueller's day off)- nusbaum's attempt to jump backwards into a tiny statue alcove
- giraffe-cannon or something art exhibit: crap
- after missing venice bus with andree, we decided to get gelato... limone!
- origin of "catfish" term. wow.
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