I arrived in Venice on Sunday morning around 5.30am not so refreshed after my overnight train from Rome (went back to Rome for a couple of days after Tuscany). I'm a little sad at having left two good friends and fun girls behind, and at being back on my own, but also bouyed up knowing that it is actually possible to met and befriend people whilst travelling (you hear about it but don't really believe it will happen to you until it does).

So anyway, it's far too early to check in to the campground I'm planning to stay at (I'd much rather stay in Venice, on one of the canals, but prices are astronomical in the city) so I put my backpack in storage at the train station and sit on the steps watching the sun rise over the Grand Canal. Later I wander around in search of breakfast, without too much luck as apparently not much opens early on a Sunday. I find a small cafe finally and pay the premium prices for a brioche (pastry) and a small pot of tea. By 10am I'm flagging, wanting just to check in and sit down for a while to plan the next few days. So even though it's early, I retrieve my bag at set off for Piazzalo Roma where all the buses head out of the city from. You may be disappointed to hear I never went on a boat ride down Venice's canals during my stay, but the cost was too high and it's even better and much more atmospheric to wander lost through the tiny little back canals then to cruise along the busy Grand Canal squished into a ferry.

At Piazzalo Roma I overhear two girls puzzling over how to get to their campground since they'd lost their directions. Not the same campground I'm going to, but as I have directions and they don't, they decide it's easier all round to just come with me. The girls names are Liz and Mia, and I spend the next couple of days in Venice and a day in Verona with them. They're also from Aus (Melbournites) and have been travelling Europe for nearly 2 months already.

Mondy the weather has turned for the worse and we end up walking in the driving rain. Venice is still beautiful but it's hard to appreciate when you're freezing cold and sopping wet. Fortunately I had my raincoat with me but my jeans and sneakers were soaked through. However, the highlight of that afternoon was that I bought myself a large Venitian Carneval mask to hang on my (fictional and future house's) wall. Part of what I want to get out of this travelling around are lasting real momentos that I can display around my future home, so I got really excited at my first purchase with this goal in mind. Venice is first and foremost a shopping destination and it has really whet my appetite for Morocco, where I am heading on the 4th June.