Venice, Padua, and Oktoberfest (Munich)

This weekend we went to Italy!!! It was awesome to be there again, and I had so much fun.
We left Thursday night; we had to run the whole way from the dorm to the train station (over a mile) because some people were late. We caught the train, but just barely. What a way to start a trip, right?

Several trains and 18ish hours later, we arrived in Venice. We checked into our camp ground hotel and then went to see the city. We saw San Marcos square and then went in search of a gondola. In the process we lost half of our group, and looked for them to no avail. After a time, we figured they knew what they were doing, so we wandered through Venice and some people got on the gondola, while some of us just waited on church steps, talking and people watching. We had problems on the bus home as well, but made it back, finding the people we had lost in the process. So we all had gelato to celebrate.

Saturday we went to Padua to see the university, one of the oldest in Europe. We stopped by a market before returning to Venice to shop at their market and wander the city. I bought several souvenirs, rode in a gondola, and ate more gelato.

We caught a train that night that took us to Munich, where we spent Sunday at Oktober fest. I wandered around for a while with one group, before we met another group, who were waiting in line to get into one of the places they serve alcohol. So I switched groups and joined them. I got in line around 8:40, and we waited there until 10, when the doors opened. The mob pushed us inside, where we found a table. Between the five of us, we split two liters of beer and a half liter of wine. It was not bad, but not good enough that I could chug any of it. I tried, split some, and the German guys next to me told me not to waste the beer. We had a great time, and didn't get too drunk, though I'm never drinking before noon again. Being tipsy + crazy bright sun + cheap, broken sunglasses= pain.

We left Munich, endured more train mishaps and group separations, but arrived home Sunday night (an hour later than we meant, but not a big deal considering we took the wrong train to Cologne).

I would post pictures, but I need to pack for Vienna; we leave in a few hours and still have class to go to...