Paolo Does Europe - Sept. 14

I'm at the Venice train station about to head to Lake Como.

Venice is very expensive. I managed to get into a single room at a hostel for only $25E, but food and drink costs are terribly inflated. $4E for a cappucino? No thanks.

Still, this is a beautiful, romantic city. The canals really add to the ambiance. It's just too touristy to get totally immersed in. Too much spoken English. Too many visitors. It's a tough city to navigate. I walked around the city a couple times and only got the hang of the layout coming back from dinner earlier this evening. I swear, no street here goes straight for two consecutive blocks.

Some people say I'm too picky with women, but here in Venice, and over the course of my travels, I've come to the conclusion that I am not too picky, it's more that I live in a place with an abnormally low saturation of women I'm attracted to. Here, they're everywhere. I'm swimming through beautiful women on every street. No life preservers needed.

I was a little nervous about my hostel situation for the rest of my trip after barely getting into my hostel, a converted monastery, here in Venice. Internet costs $5E for 30 minutes so instead of hopping online I called Scott to have him get the phone number for the hostel in Lake Como, "La Primula at Menaggio."

Looking back, I would have spent an extra night in Interlaken or Napoli, but it's hard to gauge timing on the go, especially early in the trip. Scott said this hostel at Lake Como looks nice and I'm hoping it is because I really need some rest and relaxation in good weather before I have to head back up to Zurich.

Editor's note: Paolo took so many pictures in Venice that we're splitting them into two albums. This is 'Venice by Day':