Venice is one of those places you can read about in many different guides or websites, hear stories from the people who have been there already and browse photo galleries, but nothing compares to actually going to Venice by train, get off at the Santa Lucia train station and start strolling around the narrow streets, crossing bridges until you get lost or, if you are lucky, find by chance the Rialto bridge. I found a connection flight back to Dublin passing by Venice and I got the chance to spend a couple of days in the Italian former city state.