Venice/Innsbruck

We stopped in Venice for a super short visit, more just to see it and say we´ve been there. I must say, though, that it is super cool. However, the number of tourists crammed onto that island is quite amazing. Stepping out of the trainstation is the Grand Canal right in front of you. There are no cars, so instead of buses, boats ferrz people around the city. While walking in the streets (usually just small lanes, some only a few feet across, there are canals every 50 meters or so. Usually there are the typical gondolas filled with tourists moving by. We decided that the price (80-100E) and the fact that it would be two guys riding together was too much of a barrier for us to try it out. The central tourist square is pretty much wall to wall people during the day. Where there aren´t people, thousands of pigeons fill the space. Rumor has it that the birdseed sold to the tourists has a birth control substance added, but Ross and I figure that poison would be alot more effective.

From Venice we took a train to Innsbruck where we planned to do some sweet hiking in the Alps. It is a holiday here today, so you would think it to be a perfect day to head up into the mountains, right? Wrong. It has rained all day so far, and the
cloud cover is really low so we can barely see any of the mountains. So today hasn´t been the most productive of days. It hasn´t been too bad, though. We have walked around alot, figured out our next train ride, been to the tourist info place twice, eaten a good lunch, and now get an internet fix. Kind of nice to take a break for a day and just relax.

Ross and I have been noticing how we are pretty cheap travellers. Alot of the museums here are free, but have many opportunities for giving donations, none of which we have obliged. We carry around old pop bottles and fill them up with tap water from the bathroom instead of buying water (although we did each buy a coke for 3.80E for lunch, ouch)Panhandlers get nothing from us. I enjoy the buskers along the street, but again, no money for them. haha. It has been fun.

From Innsbruck we head to Salzburg, home of the Sound of Music. The plan from there is to spend some time on the Rhine River, Berlin, then visit a friend near Hamburg, and then visit relatives in Holland.

Have a great day,

Nolan