A couple weeks ago, my mom was in Europe with her friends, traveling through many countries, enjoying local foods, buying some overpriced brands, and breathing fresh oxygen. I, who live in Germany, didn’t get a chance to meet my mom here, because well, Germany was not in her travel list. So, both of us decided to meet in Venice!

Day One: German Train, Italian Boat

I took about 8 hours with train to travel from Stuttgart to Venice. First, in Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof I took an ICE, one of the fastest train available in Germany, to München before I took an EC (EuroCity) train to Venice. It cost me about €80 to travel from Stuttgart to Venice. Not the cheapest price ticket I’ve ever heard though. But it was the cheapest and the fastest one when I searched for it. If you are looking for special offers from the Deutsche Bahn. Make sure to check their web: Up to 39 Euro to Italy

Prepare your camera to shoot the breathtaking view

You won’t get bored in the train, if it’s not crowded. You can sit conveniently while look out of the window, majestic views from the beginning to the end. Talking about crowded train, it’s crowded, you might find yourself sitting in the train corridor and need to stand up whenever people pass by. If you don’t want this to happen, you can always book a seat! It’s not free though.

Time to spend your cash in Rialto Market

I arrived around 6PM, the sun still shone. Thank God. Then I called my mom and told her that I finally here. I called her using German O2. It’s not that expensive to call outside Germany. She told me to take Alilaguna boat a.k.a. the public transportation in Venice. It cost me 7 Euro from the central station to Rialto. After I got on the boat, I finally had the chance to enjoy the Great Canal. First impression: Where’s the blue water though? The water was green. Yeah seems like they used VSCOCam filter all this time. Nevertheless it’s still beautiful tho. On your left and right side many beautiful buildings can be see from the boat. I was standing outside, I could feel the wind in my face. Such a good place.

It took about 15 minutes to reach Rialto from the main station. When you get out of the boat, you just need to walk a couple of steps to enter the Rialto Market. There you can buy many things from fruits to handcrafts. I waved to my mom when I saw her in the distance. It’s been about 7 months since the last time I saw her in Indonesia. I miss her a lot. We then went to the apartment that my mom’s friend has booked. It was a nice apartment with 2 bed rooms, one kitchen, and one bathroom. There are 9 people who stay there. Four beds are available. One in the kitchen, and one in the living room. Well it’s more like a sofa bed though.

So here’s the recap for today:
– Train Ticket from Stuttgart to Venice: 80€
– Boat Ticket to Rialto from the main station: 7€
– Total: 87€

So that’s how you spend almost 100€ to travel. But believe me it’s all worth it. Later this week I’ll post the day two recap!