August 14, 2006
By our last day in Venice, all of the folks we had met in the hostel had left and we were feeling ready to go. Hiro and I were covered in mosquito bites from our foreheads down to our legs. During the previous two nights, we could have closed our windows to keep bugs from coming into our room, but then we would have had no cool air to relieve us from the heat that was trapped in our room from the summer day. We ended up sleeping in long-sleeved shirts, which kept them off of our arms, but didn't stop them from biting our foreheads. In addition to our insect bites, we were also getting tired of taking frantic cold showers while huddled in the bathtub, so we were considering leaving for Munich a day earlier than planned. However, we decided to stick it out and make it a point of pride that we would endure the mosquitoes and cold showers for one more night. Besides, the pizza was cheap and delicious.
We ended up just wandering around Venice, exploring its various streets and taking a couple of hours to check out the Peggy Guggenheim museum, which had a nice collection of modern art. At one point we found ourselves at the edge of the city looking across shimmering waters.
Once we were back in the square, Hiro went back to the hostel to pick up some money for food and I sat and waited on a bench. Three American girls–who looked like they belonged in a sorority–approached me and asked if I was from “around here.†I was confused as to how I could be mistaken as a native from Venice, seeing how I am Asian-American, and I said I was from Oregon while pointing to my U of O hat. The girls said they were from Portland (well, actually Beaverton) and we chatted for a minute before one of them got to the point by asking me if I knew where they could find some marijuana.
Maybe it was the U of O hat and the couple weeks worth of scruff on my face that made me appear to be fellow who would know where marijuana could be procured, but of course I had no idea. This wasn't Amsterdam. I told the girls I had no idea and they quickly bade me farewell, which was a bit of a relief. The whole interaction made me wish the Australians we had met the first night were still in town.
Anyway, as the evening wound down Hiro and I enjoyed some more pizza, relaxed, mentally prepared to endure one more night of mosquitoes and readied ourselves for an early morning train trip to Munich.