Jamie’s Travels

Our train to Venice was delayed which fortunately timed our arrival very well for meeting with Tom and James. We only waited about 10 minutes for them to arrive from Rome. It was very nice to have gotten my Linton friends to come and visit me in Europe. They also seemed to have had a great time in Rome as well.

We headed to our Airbnb – a small room with two double beds and not much more. But what else do you need really? We changed into our fancy fits and headed to the island of Venice. It was very exciting seeing the floating city – I was very impressed. We had a wonder and found somewhere to have some dinner. I especially appreciated having another vegan with me for the first time this trip. The food was nice and they served beer by the 3.5 litre!

Coincidentally me and Lawrence’s friends from Sheffield were in Venice too. We found Ted and Josie at a nice, small and cheap bar. It was great to see them again since Amsterdam and hear their horror story of flooding tents and angry farmers from the previous evening. They headed off fairly early (understandably) but it was still nice to see them and have my friends meet more of my uni people.

We stayed at the bar for a bit longer and then headed back to Mestre where we were staying. We found a bar there too but by this point I was pretty ready to pass out so we left fairly soon after.

The next morning (in typical James fashion) started fairly late. Although to be fair – I think we were all a bit in need of a lye in. Eventually we made it to the city where we wondered around the tourist sites like the Rialto and St Marks Square. They were very crowded but pretty. We found a bit of food and then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a drink. The other three dipped into their life savings to buy the most expensive cocktails I’ve ever seen. I stuck with the €2 coffee. A nice memory at least though.

We then headed over the Jewish Ghetto for a walking tour. This is the least touristy part of Venice and was very interesting. We learned what made the Venetians settle the islands and about how they were a very early Republic. We also learned about the Jewish history. The term Ghetto actually comes from the island given to Jews in Venice. To this day it’s called the Ghetto even though internationally it is considered a negative word. The way the Venetians treated the Jews was very interesting – when the Nazis invaded they were helped out and very few Jews in Venice died.

After our tour we went to find some dinner. We found a nice vegan restaurant on the side of the canal. I’d be lying if I said the food was great. A very nice salad but the falafel was dry and it didn’t fill me up at all. Truthfully I may as well have not eaten. At least it wasn’t that expensive, especially for Venice.

After this we headed over Santa Margarita square. This was to meet a friend of mine I knew in America, who I realised as well I hadn’t seen in over eight years. Funnily enough the only reason we had reconnected was because he jokingly sent me a condolence message about the Queen. Through this we realised we were both in Venice at the same time (he’s doing a semester abroad). The maddest coincidence but I’m glad it happened. He showed up with his flat mates who were all really nice and from around the world. We all drank together for a bit but then they left. Luke stayed out with us though. Real champion. We moved to another bar and drank there till it shut. Then we grabbed a beer and headed to the Rialto. On the way we met two random Belgian guys. I don’t know their names but they’re immortalised in my photos now. It wound up being a very funny evening and probably one of my best from the whole trip. I didn’t make it home till about 4am but it was worth it. We weren’t even that drunk, just chatting a lot. Probably got about four hours of sleep – I better keep the espresso flowing.

This morning we made our way out of the flat and headed to the station. James and Tom waited with us and then headed to the island again. We had our emotional good byes and headed off to Verona.