Hello From Venice

Setbacks are bound to happen while on vacation. They never fail. Although we’ve had a few close calls, we’ve always been able to work with the snafus that have threatened to ruin our day. We almost got stranded in the middle of nowhere Germany one night, but after a mad dash, we hopped our train right at the last second.

We were stuck on the train for a few extra hours on our way to Switzerland, but truth be told, we had no idea. We slept through the whole thing. The delay caused us to miss our connecting train, but in the end, things ended up working to our benefit.

Yesterday we were stuck in Northern Italy, in a town we couldn’t even pronounce. We expected to spend our afternoon in Venice, but instead, it took the whole day just to make it there.

After an hour of walking through the rain, having no luck finding an internet cafe, I felt utterly overwhelmed and defeated. Wandering into in a restaurant, I sat and cried.

I knew something like this could happen, and I tried my best to mentally prepare myself before we even left the states. It’s one thing to say that you’ll handle these situations with poise and grace, but when forced to deal with them, it’s usually a different story.

In the grand scheme of things, it was really nothing. Just a small delay, and an unexpected expense. I didn’t feel that way then, of course, and now I see how silly I must have looked. Oh what that old man at the table next to us must have thought…

Finally, we are in Venice, soaking up views like these, exploring vacant alleyways, and munching on Venetian treats. Though things didn’t go exactly as planned, I am still grateful. It’s all part of the journey, I guess. The important thing is that we made it. We are in a country that I’ve long desired to visit, and though our time was short here, we made the best of it. We’ve got two weeks to go in Italy, and I fully intend to appreciate every minute of it.