Day 50!

Woah! Ive been away for 50 days.. I guess it seems like it.. but at the same time it doesnt really.. I think of all the stuff Ive seen and done.. but then again It seems like yesterday I was at home too.

Anyhow today Katie and Pete had to get up earlyish to catch their train, so I got up too to have brekky with them and say goodbye. we swapped email addresses and stuff, and then said our farewells. I then went upstairs and had a shower, and packed up and checked out.

I caught a bus over to the train station, and after wandering around for a while trying to find a place to deposit my big bag.. and after shelling out 3.80 euro.. (ouch) I went back to St Marks square hoping to get into the church.. but the line was a few hours long already so I just had another look around. In the square there were some live chamber music groups playing so I sat down for a while and enjoyed the great music.. and then went on a shopping mission and picked up a few things here and there. I wanted to find the 3 wise men in Murano glass for mum and dad, but I spent hours and couldnt find anything which I was a bit gutted about. Oh! Next time I am here, Lord willing, I am so also going to the Island Murano, which is in the boat-bus routes. There you can do factory tours and go to big shops and stuff.. itd be amazing!

Anyhow after all the shopping and stuff I decided I would just wander a bit, and I saw lots more beautiful little streets, cools canals everywhere and some great convoys of gondolas with a guy playing accordian, and the gondola drivers all singing (well known songs like Volare and stuff)> This was really nice! I went into a church and read for a while and after grabbing some lunch and lots of gelato I walked my way all the way back to the train station. Here I picked up my bag and then having a few hours spare just went down to the water edge (which is like a few centimeters under the pavement really) and took off my shoes and just walked and paddled around for a good hour or so. It was great to just totally chill out on the grand canal and watch the ships and people passing by, andalso enjoy the nice music playing. After this I put on my shoes and searched for an internet cafe for the last little bit of time, but they were all stupidly expensive (12 euro an hour!!!!!) so I just explored a part of venice I hadnt been through then went back to the station. I was busting to go to the toilet but I wasnt gonna pay 1 euro in Venice to use the public toilets.. nor 70m cents at the station (im not paying 1.40 NZ-2 NZ just to go toilet!!!! Its the principle of it). So what I did was pull a snaeky and jump onto a train in the yards and use the toilet onboard. I should have looked at when it was departing though because just as I was washing my hands it started pulling off!!! ha ha ha ha! Well I dashed to the door, prised it open, gently threw my bags down and then did a jump to comando roll kinda thing off the train which thankfully worked well and I didnt get hurt (eat your heart out McGuiver ha ha). that was a bit of drama :) but soon my actual train was there and I was on my way to Milan again.

On the trip I listened to some sermons, read a bit, met an aussie girl (they are EVERYWHERE!) and chatted for a bit, and then arrived soon in Milan. I didnt know what to expect cozza all this terrorist stuff really.. and I had to dash around all over the place just to get a ticket to the airport. But finally I got one and set off on my way. I queued up for about an hour then finally got my stuff checked in (not allowed liquid in carry on luggage). I went and had a little dessert (one of those awesome icecream ball things.. tarufco maybe?) and watched some of a Juventus vs Intermilan game, which Juventus was winning (Kouji will be happy). The flight was delayed, and I got bag checked a few times, but at last we got on the plane and on oyur way to London.

I started off just listening to a sermon, and got out my bible to read it a bit. One of the two girls next to me asked if she could borrow it, so I was like yeah of course.. and a few minutes later my iPod died, so I just chatted to them for the rest of the flight really. They were both christians and really lovely. One was called Abimbola who was originally from Nigeria (oh man.. I hope I got that right.. what a shocker!) and she was studying pharmocology. The other was called Laura and she was studying Medicine. The day after Laura got back she was heading off to help lead a camp for a week :) hardcore!! Oh ha ha and they both loved food :) which if you know me you know I really appreciate it when a girl likes her food! :D

they gave me a bunch of useful tips about what to do see and eat in London and a few tips on how to save some money which was really great and useful. One we landed I walked with them for a bit, and once at customs said goodbye and lined up. To get my passport checked took like 1 hour.. And the customs lady was nasty as.. asked me a bunch of weird irrelevant questions and almost denied me entry coz I didnt have proof of a flight out (never needed anything like that before). She let me in tho, and after wandering around wondering where my luggage was I finally found it on some random belt with another flight displayed.. weird!

I had missed the last bus of the company I had already bought a ticket for (grrr), so I had to wander around and finally found some random bus stop and asked how I could get to where my hostel was. They put me on a bus to trafalger square, and then I had to walk a while and catch another bus.. then walk to the hostel.

While waiting for the first bus I met another kiwi who had just arrived and was trying to get to her brothers. She had started work as a solicitor and was checking out London coz she might move here to work a while (70 grand salary!! NICE!!). We cahtted for ages, and for the whole hour long bus trip into London and talked about all sorts of things.. and then she got off and I sat for a while before reaching Trafalgar Square. This was absolutely jumping! It was like 3 in the morning but people were EVERYWHERE! I had to shell out even more money and wait another 30 minutes but finally my bus came. I knew what stop I needed but no idea where it was. thankfully I met some semi drunk guy whith a super thick accent who was getting off at the same stop so I just followed him. I walked towards the hostel with him for a while having a chat, and then around 4ish I arrived at the hostel (5am Italy time...). Inside looked like a bomb had gone off.. glass everywhere.. stuff thrown onto the floor and a couple of chairs and tables and stuff suspended in a safety glass door. Dunno what happened but it was a shambles! I got my key and found someone in my bed.. so I went back down and they gave me a new room. I got up there, dropped my stuff and got into bed finally around 4.30 :S. I had to be up about 8 too as breakfast finished at 9 and I needed to finalise all the check in stuff too.. :S Oh well.. At least im in a country where they arent all nasty and I can speak their language!!

What a day!!
Cya :)