This is part of a story, blog, travelogue... whatever... I once write.
It is completely true!

My first visit to Venice was completely unplanned.

I was only 15 years old when I first set out on an international journey alone. I'm not sure it was even legal, but for sure it was extremely unusual at that time (1990's). By then, I had wandered couple times without a plan and goal through the former Yugoslavia, discovering mostly places on the Adriatic coast.

This time I went a little further. The goal was France and magical Paris. On that glorious journey, I reached the… French border. The customs officer looked at me, looked at my passport, once again at me, mentioned a certain guy called Merde that the French really like to mention (merde is shit on French), and decided that I will become someone else's problem by showing me which way I could return to home.

What I could do, he was armed... So, I boarded the first train to Belgrade, intensely hating the French customs officers. At least I thought the train was going to Belgrade ... I had one of those EuroTrain tickets that allows unlimited number of rides, so I noticed the mistake when the train stopped on an unknown platform after only a few hours.

An Italian conductor in a uniform that looked like a James Bond suit peeked into the compartment and with a million-dollar smile delivered a sentence that I will laugh at every time I remember it in the years to come,:

– Ultima Stazione, Venezia!

– Ultima Stazione?? Last station?!?? Did you say Venice ??? What the ?!??

– Dove vai Ragazzo?? Belgrado!!! … Porca miseria! …. Vieni, Vieni!

---- to be continued...

#photography #nightphotography #longexposure #travel #italy #photo #venice