Arrived in Venice w/ cramps in just about every inch of my body from trying to find positions that might let me fall asleep! To no avail. Boo! Spent a while walking around the area near the train station trying to find a room in a hostel somewhere. If were smart we'd phone from the station to find out which have rooms available before starting to trek around a city we don't know ... but some of these countries don't take change in their payphones, only cards. And I didn't wanna buy a phone card for just a couple of calls. And I honestly don't mind walking around to find a hostel ... Geo neither as far as she tells me ... our packs aren't bad to haul around at all. I felt bad for Suzana tho, b/c she had planned to stay and work in Nice for a couple of months ... so her luggage is not quite fitted to the backpacking lifestyle, so now that she wants to travel around a bit she has a hard time of rolling her suitcase along w/ her. We basically spent the day walking around Venice. Checking out shops ... stopped in at one of the many mask shops to ask about the history behind them ... cuz these masks are everywhere in Venice and I wasn't really sure about the significance of the masks and their link to Venice. The shop owner was sooo nice - he told us all about the masks in theatres in the past & the different characters & when I started asking him about how long they take him (b/c he actually makes the ones he sells) he brought the 3 of us back into his workshop to show us how he makes the molds & then the masks, etc. It was really neat! Had dinner at the local Italian fast food joint; Brek. They do pastas & stuff. Ran into the 2 girls from the train & chatted w/ them for awhile. In the evening the 3 of us went to Bar Santa Lucia (more of a pub/cafe than a bar) and had a glass of wine together while watching the France Brazil football (ie. soccer) game (since Suzana is from Brazil). It was fun ... the waiter sat down w/ us for a bit to watch the game ... felt very European since everyone here is football crazy! 
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