please VENICE to me

It was dark and air is cold. We arrived late after being left by a plane in Amsterdam.

The bus came to a complete stop. A woman’s voice on a speaker spoke Italian as if it was music.

“what? Is this the stop?” I asked. Then a friend said, “it must be.”

I have read earlier on, that Venice has this vehicle control system. The number of cars and buses are very limited and you have to take boats to places.

“This must be it!” I thought to myself.

We pulled our luggage where everyone were heading to and found out that we arrived in a water taxi terminal. Language was a bit of a barrier since not everyone can speak in English. And so we figured how to buy tickets for the boat from observing people as they come and go.

We were waiting for the boat and the terminal is lightly packed. We had time to look around and at first glance, I knew Venice is everything I imagined it to be.

With moonlight reflecting in the canals, it was a sight to behold. The gentle waves of the waters underneath the bridges and the light emanating from the fluorescent bulbs across the bridges were wonderful, or yes, magical, to say the least.

While on the boat, we noticed a woman speaking casually to her friend in Italian. Some words we did get like the words “Airbnb”, “Jeremy”. We sat there and looked amongst ourselves, “is she the one who will meet us?” however, it would be rude to just barge in their conversation and ask if she was waiting for us.

Earlier that morning, We had an unfortunate event in Amsterdam where we had to book a new flight since the airport that we went to was totally different from what we were supposed to go. (Ignorance is bliss. lol) We should have arrive in Venice a little over lunch but because of this mishap, we informed that we will be arriving past midnight. Our Airbnb host informed that he will have someone meet us at a certain terminal in Venice. So we thought, this lady could be the one.

When the boat reached our stop, the same lady said goodbye to her friend. Our guess grew stronger as she was asking around guys for the name “Jeremy” and yes, it’s my friend’s name! (who's a girl actually! lol) We approached her and asked if she was the one sent to meet us and she was relieved as we were!

We settled the night having to be guided to our Airbnb house.

It was a rough day in Amsterdam and the Venetian air got through us, somehow.

After rummaging the cupboards, checking the bathroom and inspecting the beds, we hurried to tuck into bed and decide to sort our activities the following morning.

Good night Venice!

(For Part 2.)