I love Venice!

I got to Venice exhausted and starving. I had been excited to take a boat from the airport, but when I was actually riding on the boar, I could not stay awake. I slept through what I can only imagine are some of the best views of Venice. By the time I transferred from the Alilaguna boat from the airport to the city traghettos, I was pretty annoyed. (Keep in mind that I was still carrying my heavy backpack) But when I got to the correct stop, the boat attendant touched my elbow and gently guided me out of the boat so I wouldn't fall, and I fell in love with Venice. Where else in the world would someone make sure you don't stumble as you get off public transportation? In most of the cities I've lived in, the public transportation goes out of its way to drive through puddles and drench unsuspecting passers-by. In Venice, they make sure you don't fall on your face. Plus, the guy was wearing gloves, which I thought for a minute was to make it more polite as he hands people out of the boat, but then I realized he was wearing gloves to protect his hands while he handles the ropes all day. Yes, that's right, the waterbuses use ropes to tie up to the stops so people can disembark. And yet they have rfid chips you touch to the readers to validate before your trip. The combination of the boats, which are ancient technology, and the rfid chip readers, which are too fancy for Cleveland and Columbus, is pretty weird. That's Venice for you, though. The ancient right next to the modern. That's probably all of Italy, but I'll let you know in a couple of days.

The view out the window of my hostel room