the train we got from ljubljana to venice was the most uncomfortable weve ever been on and after like 2 hours sleep we arrived in venice at 7.30 in the morning. there are two train stops in venice mestre and sant lucia or something like that and loads of backpackers got off at the mestre which is the wrong one as that is still on the mainland and the other is on proper venice. we luckily got off at the right one but decided not to buy a map because i had a small one in my europe book and dan had took a picture of the google maps route for us to take to the hostel. this was probably the worst mistake we have made this whole trip! we got unbelievably lost! the hotel was about three km away from the train station but it took us four hours to find the hotel!!!! and it was early morning so hardly anything was open! dan does not like to get lost at all and having no sleep on the train did not help at all. all we wanted was a taxi but in venice its really strage becasue of the narrow streets most our just a persons width across and because the bridges have statirs either side there is no traffic what so ever on the roads. no cars no bikes, if your in a wheel chair its not the best place to go either. and the watertaxi and water buses only are on the main stretches until you give them a destination. weve never wanted a taxi so much in our lives! luckily after four hours of wondering aimlessly i took the lead and realised the 6 districts that venice is split into each house is numbered one to however many there our eg 5000. ours was number 3541 and we were just able to count our way there we then realised we had passed it not long ago but where the sign was i pointed out a dog with a big lump on its side so we werent looking for hotel signs! when we got in wem were given a private room for no extra charge. i had read before that if your a couple and you book the 4 bed dorm they give you a private and we were so happy and the room was lovely!! we had a nap for like 4 or 5 hours as soon as we got in becasue we were so tired from getting now sleep and then our massive trek across half of venice. we left the hotelat about 5 and went to the main square where st marks basilica is but it had shut at half four. it was pretty quiet all around and we went into the palazza ducale which had no queue and was able to purchase a ticket to see all the museums in the square for 6.50 we thought this was pretty cheap and seeing as we hadnt been into a muesum yet we4 decided to buy it. ttçhe ticket lasts for 3 months so we were able to go in the palazza then and save the rest for tomorrow. it was very grand inside and very ornate and we went across the bridge of sighs and into the prisions where people had graffittied when they had been imprisoned. next we decided ot get the water taxi across to the polo side as we couldnt afford a gondola as there like 80 euros! the water bus was not very nice you were squished in so much! and we only got one way which was silly as there are only 3 bridges over the grande canal on the whole of venice and where we got off had no place to buy a ticket to get back to the polo side. we saw a church and then walked to the nearest bridge which was by the accedamia it wasnt included in our ticket so we didnt go in but we later discovered thats where the leonardo sketch of the man with loads of arms and legs is so now we wished we had gone in! we managed to find our way back to the hotel pretty easily seeing as we had seen all of venice in the morning and bought a takeaway lasagna and ate it in bed!! we started watching batman begins but fell asleep before it finshed. the next day we got up around 10 and went to go to the muesums on the main square that we had the ticket for. venice was totally different today then last night it was packed!! all the cruise ships had come in and it was just so crowded everyone was feeding the pigeons in st mark square which was awful because they werent scared of humans anymore and there were just hundreds of them! the palazza we went to last night had a giant queue as did the church which we didnt manage to see but the queue was so long i took a photo of it! we went into the two muesums and they were ok they had really old maps of europe and we tried to find leeds on them but they were on any! yorch (york) hult (hull) and halifax were though but thats the most we could find! after this we decided to buy a map! they dont do free ones in venice becasue they know how vital they are! we managed to find one for 2.50 that came with a little guide book which was really useful. we then hunted down the bridge dan wanted to see ( theone in the picture) it was quite far away and pont rialto is one of the three bridges to cross the grande canal. we sat and ate lunch just beside it and put our feet in the river because it was so hot and the water looked nice! the bridge was so crowded off and in the water. in venice they even have police and ambulance boats rather then vehicles. one of the ambulances managed to zoom past us whilst we were sat there and a million cameras flashed like it was going past the finish line at a race. it was going so fast that a gondola nearly got overturned! on our giant walk yesterday we saw a shop that was closed that looked really cheap so we decided to hunt down that. we past a market just by the bridge and got a big glass of melon and pineapple and dan got a strawberry smoothie which were so good! as we then trekked back to this shop we saw another really cheap shop but decided to carry on wiht our journey. it was so hot and when we got to this shop we were very disappointedbut at least the magnets were cheap so we bought some and then headed back ot shop we saw on the way to that shop! me and dan both wanted a venitian mask but i spotted the exact one i wanted and when we got ot this shop it wasnt there but dan managed to et a really good boys one for only 15 euros when they were 25 on the street! it was just gone four now so we decided to go back to st marks basilica and see what the queue was like it was about 5 times as small as before so we decided to queue. it moved pretty quickly but when we go tot the front it had a sign saying if you had a backpack or a large bag you had to leave the queue and put it in the cloakroom at the other side of the church! dan had his backpack but id brought my mickey mouse bag that day so we decided to put his backpack in that bagand try and risk getting in as it was so close to closing. we were so lucky just as we got to the front two venetians went into the express queue ( they dont have to queue and everything is free forthem) and flashed there cards and the girl had to go past our queue to have cloth put around her shoulders to cover them so we went past as this was happening and then the man spotted a couple behind us with a big a third of the size of mine and told them to leave and put it in the cloakroom we ran in beforewe could be seen! inside was sooooo not worth the giant queue at the middle of the day. but that may be because we have seen so many churches we cant remember. it was very big but it was like the many churches we have been into only thisone you cant take photos there. afterwards we went to buy me a mask and i did pay 25 euros for it but its lovely and it has an authenticity stamp on it! we went back to the hostel to drop our stuff off and decided to go get tea a night time so we could see venice at night. night time was dead because all the cruise ships were gone. they come so close to st marks square you can see all the people on the boat which is weird and there taller than the houses! we decided to buy a rolled up pizza as we couldnt afford to eat in a restaurant because food is very expensive in venice! we went back to the market by pont rialto again but it was all shut so we found a place and just bought one there and ate it just off st marks square where the gondolas park up for the night. some hotels have special doors leadinbg straight to the river so you can get a gondola to the door of your hotel but ours didnt as it was only a one star! and it was like 3 flights of stairs up! we watched the end of batman and went to sleep. or actually i went to sleep and dan jumped out of bed every five mins turned on all the lights and bounded around on the bed trying to swat mosquitos it didnt help though as i got bitten 7 times just on one knee! dan said in the morning it kept buzzing round his ear then disappearing like it was teasing him. we had an early start in the morning because although our train was at 9.30 we had our 3km walk to do with our huge backpacks on so it took some time we stopped for pastry but dan ended up ordering two mini pizzas for his breakfast!