Venezia!

Our train was every bit as painfully early as expected. Due to a certain amount of paranoia about missing it, we reached the station some time before it left and tea and hot chocolate didn't entirely wake us up. Still, the train ride itself was fine. We were in a compartment with four others (one of whom was definitely on the scatty side) and there was lots of beautiful scenery as we crossed the Alps into Italy. We had lunch on the train in the restaurant which was a new experience and quite tasty. We arrived in Venice at 2 and were greeted by a wave of heat. There's a noticeable difference now we're further south.

Venice itself is mad. Crammed full of people, bridges, narrow streets, gondolas, souvenir shops... We've been taking it slowly because of the heat and doing a lot of sitting around watching the world go by from the shade. However, we've made it to Murano and the glass museum there, and to St Mark's Square as well as Rialto and been on several water buses (vaporetto).

We're staying on the mainland in Mestre (it's cheaper) and are getting a bus in every day from just outside our hotel which is very handy. It's also very crowded as everyone else does exactly the same thing so we've had several sardine-esque situations!

Benjamin's Italian is proving its worth though fortunately, for the more complex things in life, most people speak some English so we're getting by just fine. Tomorrow we leave for Rome, which is slightly cheaper than we thought as there doesn't seem to be a huge supplement to pay. It is a slower train but that means we spend the hot part of the day on it rather than out in the sun!