Read about Day 6 here.

Day 7 of our Eurotrip was a free day where we could explore the sinking city that is Venice. We got a bit of a sleep in because breakfast was served at 8 and our bus that would take us to Venice wouldn’t leave until 8:30. We had a different driver and a different bus that day; I guess Matt too our regular coach for a check up or something.

We were dropped off at a train station where we rode a train for two stops and ended up in Venice! Lana took us for a short walking tour of the city and explained a little bit of the historical background and why laces and masks were such a big thing. Thankfully the weather had evened out at this point and while it was still cool, it wasn’t freezing. We then got taken to a local lace shop where the owner explained to us just how difficult it was to create a piece of lace.

Then we were taken to our gondola rides! At 20euros per head, I think it was a pretty good deal; we ended up riding the same gondola with B, A, M and M. I kid you not, a TON of photos were taken during this gondola ride.

Afterwards we socialized a little bit and went to a pizzeria with a bunch of our tour mates. A and I split up with the others after lunch though because I had to look for a leather bag and a wallet for my Papa. Thankfully I didn’t have to stray too far from St. Mark’s square before I found a shop that offered reasonable prices. Good news is that the prices were so good that I even got myself a little leather wallet and leather gloves. Bad news is that I had an extra bag, wallet and gloves that I had to carry around with me for the rest of my trip. Add that to the hoodie that I ordered from TopDeck and my luggage was quickly piling up; luckily I brought a Long Champ with me to stuff all of my souvenirs in but that also meant that I had now three bags to carry.

After our short shopping trip, A and I went inside St. Mark’s Basilica and roamed around the area some more. We actually got lost a couple of times but we managed to find our way back to the café in front of the Leonardo da Vinci museum. A and I had coffee while we people watched before we decided to look for the vaporetto that would take us back to the train station where the bus would pick us up at 6 pm. Unfortunately this small pharmacy on the side of the road waylaid me and I took too much time checking out the make up that wasn’t available in the Philippines that we ended up missing the bus by a few minutes. I didn’t panic too much because Lana had provided directions on how to get back to Camping Village Jolly by public transport. Also, Google Maps helped out. A LOT.

A and I hopped on bus number 6 and walked a couple of blocks to the camping ground. It wasn’t so bad and I actually felt pretty good about myself because I managed to navigate the Italian bus system which could not have been anymore different that the mess that we have here at home.

Dinner was served at eight in the evening at the TopDeck catering tent and this night A and I sat down with the girls from Mexico. There was a little bit of a language barrier but after we had the wine, the risotto, the herbed chicken and the tiramisu, it didn’t really matter.

There was supposed to be a mixer after dinner because another Topdeck tour group arrived that day. A didn’t feel like going because she needed to pack up her things so I hung out with M and M that night for the pre-game. It was pretty cool and I got pretty tipsy so I decided to call it a night by eleven (loserly, I know but I also had to pack up my things, which wasn’t easy considering I was very tipsy).

Stay tuned for Day 8.