After pretty much a full day either on or changing trains, or in train station waiting rooms, we arrived in Venice late in the afternoon, with one sick little girl. Poor Hayley spent most of the train journeys being sick and blamed the gorgonzola cheese ("I throw cheese out when it has mould growing on it." she said) which she accidentally ate on the pear, walnut and gorgonzola pizza we (mainly me) had last night. She's not a big fan of too much cheese at the best of times so perhaps it was just the cheese on the margarita pizza or maybe the very sweet dried kiwi fruit and mango we bought at the market in Cambucia, who knows.

We checked into our hostel in Zitelle and Hayley hit the bed for a more comfortable sleep than a seat on a train can provide. We were on the top floor of the hostel...no lifts just lots of stairs, I felt like I was back in Cinque Terre again. I'm not sure whether the hostel had previously been a warehouse but we didn't have a ceiling in our room, just exposed beams, hopefully you can see what I mean from my photos. I set off to find a store to get some dry biscuits for when Hayley felt like eating again and to explore outside our hostel. It was amazing to see all the boats on the Canal Grande - the ferries instead of buses transporting people, water taxis, barges with cranes on them, garbage boats and boats collecting/delivering linen from the hotels.

It was difficult to tell what buildings were except for the occasional church or pharmacy, as their facades were all very similar, but after crossing a couple of canals by bridge I happened upon a supermarket. I bought some Cruskit type biscuits, a block of chocolate, a pack each of lemon iced tea for me (my new favourite drink) and peach iced tea for Hayley...and also helped a very short Italian lady get a bottle of olive oil from a shelf that was too high for her.

I sat on one of the few seats I found on the way back to the hostel to watch darkness fall over the city, turning it into a fairyland with the lights of the building reflecting in the canal...it was so pretty. I could see flashes across the canal and thought it must be lighting effects but after a while decided they might have been camera flashes.

Hayley wasn't feeling much better, though she had stopped being sick which was a good thing, hopefully she'd be well enough to do some exploring of this beautiful city tomorrow.