I arrived in Venice around 7 in the morning and hung out for a few hours until Carson's train arrived and suddenly there he was! It was so great seeing a familiar face and we immediately started swapping stories from our time in Europe (he had spent the past month in the south of France at his roommate's house, surfing every day). We caught a bus from in front of the station to the campsite we would call home for the next 3 nights. The heart of Venice, the place we all see pictures of (with the canals and gondolas), is situated on a group of islands some distance away so our first view of Venice was that of a rather normal city. We were checking in at the campsite when we ran into Sophie, the Aussie I met back in Amsterdam! Carson and I checked out our private cabin (with AC and our own bathroom!), dropped our bags off and then met up with Sophie again to go to the main part of Venice. A 20 minute ride on the city bus later and we were there! We walked a short ways past the central train station and suddenly the Grand Canal was right in front of us, snaking its way through beautiful old buildings. Boats and gondolas glided by as swarms of tourists packed the streets and around every corner there was another picturesque scene to be captured. We followed along with the crowds through the maze of narrow streets until our stomachs led us to a restaurant nestled next to one of the canals where we tasted our first Italian pizza! We continued on past shops and restaurants until we finally crossed over the marble Rialto Bridge, built in 1592, which gave us breathtaking views over the Grand Canal. Eventually we reached the main tourist attraction in Venice, Campo San Marco, a giant square dominated by the beautiful Basilica San Marco and the Belfry. We rode a traghetto across the Grand Canal, which is basically a gondola ride for budget travelers since the 90 second ride costs only 50 cents compared to €90 for the real thing. We visited the beautiful Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute, a 17th century church guarding the entrance to the Grand Canal, before crossing a bridge back to the area called San Marco. We explored all over until we were exhausted and then we started heading back to the square where the city buses drop you off. Along the way Carson and I grabbed a piece of pizza from a little shop which was probably the most delicious pizza I've ever had! A half hour later we reached the bus stop and caught it back to our campsite. The weather had been hot and sunny all day so we went for a swim in the pool until they closed it down. We grabbed pizzas from the campsite restaurant (I know, three pizzas the first day in Italy is a little excessive) and spent the rest of the night hanging out in our cabin, eating and drinking a €1 bottle of wine Carson had brought from France. The first day of my travels with Carson was fantastic and I know we're going to have a blast together. Can't wait to see what else Venice has in store for us!