We head to Austria, 2 hours away, and are seated next to 2 Australian girls also on a long European trip. We compared journeys with them and enjoy the beautiful mountainous views from the train. We notice that every town we pass has a large church in the middle, with the town built around it.
Due to a scheduling conflict, we only have 2 hours to spend in Innsbruck, instead of the desired 12 hours. We had arrive in Innsbruck at 11:30 am and had planned to take the night train at 11:15 pm that night to Venice, but it was all booked up, so we instead leave for Venice at 1:30 pm. Once we arrive in Innsbruck, we stow our luggage at the train station and head into town, admiring the views, but not able to do much or venture very far away. On our way back to the train, we come across a neat town square that is abuzz with people. We snap some pics and then head to the corner grocery for some snacks for the train, then grab a quick lunch. I get pizza and Laura opts for McDonalds. I ordered an "iced coffee" from the McDonalds, but got a weird foamy drink with no ice instead.
Once we arrive in Venice, we are instantly amazed at how crazy the city is. We stand in line for water bus tickets. Then we head to our hotel. Judging by the map, we need to get off the water bus, then head down the main street across the bridge and then right on the first main street that leads to our hotel. However after walking and walking, I finally go into a small store to ask for directions. The woman tries to give me directions, but I have trouble following, due to her broken English. The man standing next to her (who also worked there) said he knew exactly where it was and would lead us there. We assume we must be close since he offered to lead us. We follow him for close to 10 minutes down tiny alleys and across multiple tiny bridges. Eventually, he points toward the end of the alley we were walking down and said "your hotel". We thank him many times over for all of his help and he's on his way. Once he's gone, we find that neither of us see the hotel, so we assume it's around the corner. Nope - it was exactly where he had pointed, but it was just a single door in the corner with the small lettering of the name of our hotel name sketched across it. We head in to find an empty front desk for 5 minutes. Eventually, he comes and demands our passports and has the bellboy escort us to our room. He opens the door to our room, which only reveals another small staircase leading up to our room. When I reach the top, I realize that the ceiling is no more than 6 feet tall! I can't even stand up straight! The bellboy says "just a minute" to apparently go ask if we can have another room - nope, they're all full and this is the last room. In addition to only having a 6 foot ceiling, it is 33 degrees Celsius in our room. We have no clue how warm that is in Fahrenheit, but we both know it's hot! There is no A/C and no breeze either, so suffice to say - it was not a very comfortable room! In addition to all this, the front desk staff is extremely rude too - not a very good start to Venice!
We head to dinner and to stretch my neck. We find a cafe in a little piazza that looks nice. We have bad service, but great food. It was a perfect people watching spot from our outdoor table. We grab some gelato and head home for the night before we get lost again and have trouble finding our doll house room.
As it turns out the "main street" turn that we missed was no wider than most doorways. We quickly realized that "streets" in Venice could be quite narrow without having to accommodate cars. They are also very poorly labeled, if at all. It's going to be rough finding our way in Venice!
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