Venice

Got up at 4:30am on Monday 11th April to get our bus at 5:30am. We checked out of the hostel and got to the bus stop with plenty of time. We followed a load of people from the bus to the station. We were there before 6am so we waited for the shops to open then went and got breakfast - I wanted a berry muffin but ended up with an apple one, clearly my Italian wasn't up to scratch (I thought pointing would be okay). It was fine but then I was a bit annoyed because the others found cheaper muffins.

Eventually we could board the train and discovered that luckily our seats - 61, 62, 63 and 68 - were all together. Slept a bit on and off but even with my inflatable (and constantly deflating) neck pillow it was pretty uncomfortable. It was pretty cool when we drove over all the water separating Venice from the mainland, it seemed to go on forever. At the station we used the toilets (had to pay - should have gone on the train!) then bought 72 hour vaporetto (water bus) tickets and got some info from the tourist office. We found the vaporetti, caught one to San Toma' with our mouths pretty much open the whole time at how beautiful everything was and found our hostel with directions from the website. After ringing the doorbell a voice came from above and welcomed us, and the front door clicked open. We came into a sort of inside courtyard that led to a set of stairs which we followed. We paid and left our bags since we were before check-in time again. Oh and the hostel door opened right onto a little canal!

We had a bit of a walk around, took photos with little bridges which are everywhere just like the canals (there are more than 500 in the whole of Venice!). We found a supermarket and bought another healthy lunch to share - salad, cheese, rolls and apples - and ate at the top of a couple of steps which led right into one of the canals. Lots of gondolas went past, some of the gondoliers singing (apparently costs more) and a cute dog who was lying in the street came to say hello when we sat down (another earlier jumped up and licked my fingers, so sweet!). There were so many glass/bead/Carnevale mask shops/street stalls everywhere. The masks were amazing, I seriously wanted one but had no idea how I would get it through the rest of Italy, Turkey and back to High Wycombe. It was so easy to get lost because there are just narrow lanes, footbridges, canals and old, coloured buildings everywhere. We were trying to find our way to Piazza San Marco but failed majorly; we couldn't even find any nearby streets on the map! We found a fruit market and a long strip along the Grand Canal with lots of market stalls. We caught the vaporetto - sat out on the back deck with a really good view - to San Marco instead (first the wrong way, it's a bit hard when the start and end points of the route are both the same). We saw the Basilica and Doge's Palace (but Janet & I weren't appropriately dressed to go inside either of them) and some tall building which you can take a lift up and see over Venice. It was so much more crowded there than where the hostel is. We sat down at one end of the Piazza (square) near these stupid French kids who were throwing their bags at massive groups of pigeons before luring them back with bread and sending them flying again.

We headed back to the hostel to put our bags in our room, then got back on the vaporetto just to relax for while. We were trying to read about buildings as we went past but got on the wrong way again so that was confusing. We saw the open water which we'd come over on the train, the southern island with totally different buildings and a MASSIVE ship. We arrived back at San Marco then walked back to the hostel via raspberry gelati (cheaper than Milan). We got back about 7pm and dinner, which we'd paid for, wasn't till 8:30pm so we chatted with some of the girls in our room, mainly Americans. We also found out we were 2 beds short so one girl moved into another room and the guy working there just pulled out another bed from the cupboard and eventually got us linen. We were then told that dinner was going to be half an hour late but we didn't get our gorgonzola risotto until 9:15pm! It was reeeally good though. Then we got warm, crispy roll with bruschetta, and blueberry strudel thing for dessert. It was all very tasty and the atmosphere was really nice, chatting to all the Americans and another Aussie along a long table. Unfortunately we were too tired after dinner to explore the nightlife; we went to bed about midnight.

We left just after 9am on our second day in Venice, Tuesday 12th April. We got brekky from a bakery where we'd bought olive bread the day before, this morning a very nice chocolate croissant. We took the vaporetto to San Marco, saw just about the only park area with benches on the whole of the island, then bought joint entry tickets for the Doge's Palace, Museo Correr, Archaeological Museum & some library archive. We spent 3 hours at the Doge's Palace: first in the Museo d'ell Opera with its big columns and statues; then in the Doge's apartment with lots of rooms and chambers where the senate and other councils held meetings; also the 'Bridge of Sighs' which led prisoners to their cells. The rooms were all incredible - carved wooden ceilings, tiled floors, tapestried walls, portraits, chandeliers and cabinets - but unfortunately photography wasn't allowed inside. We completed the circuit set out by the palace, waited ages behind a school group to use the toilet then headed next door to the basilica, this time dressed appropriately. This was stunning too but, again, no photos. The floors were especially gorgeous, and some of the patterns of the marble tiles almost seemed modern. We all bought some postcards and, although we were getting really hungry, we checked out the prices for the Campanile (clock tower). We didn't end up doing it but I was kind of regretting it. I think Venice would have been amazing to see from above.

We took the vaporetto to Rialto which was near where the Post Office was meant to be, since Dad demanded I send a postcard home from there. We found where the map said it was but it was totally shut up so we got lunch - a €3,50 cheese, lettuce & tomato roll for me, the others got €4 slices of pizza but then we found bigger pieces for €2,50! We sat on the edge of the Grand Canal and wrote our postcards. We saw an ambulance boat whizz past, siren and all, and that was only the second time it hit me that there were no cars in Venice! Which I thought was actually really great.

Janet and I bought expensive but amazingly delicious nougat and then headed to the Galleria Academia which some of the girls from the night before had told us was free because of Cultural Week (which you would have thought the tourist office might have mentioned). There were lots of rooms of paintings, some sculptures, lots of students sketching. It was nice, but tiring. The rooms had lovely ceilings and floors too, and there were even similar ceilings featured in some of the paintings.

We took the vaporetto back to San Marco to see if the other places our ticket got us entry to were open. The Museo Correr was and it turned out the archaeological museum and the library were adjoining. The rooms were breathtaking and again, photos weren't allowed. We saw paintings, maps, coins, busts and some great old photos of the canalside buildings.

We caught the vaporetto back to the hostel, found out dinner was going to be good so booked in for that again. The wifi kept going on and off which was a bit annoying. Dinner was almost as late as the night before but reeeeally good again - I ate way too much pesto pasta, arancini rice balls (same mix as the risotto) and fresh warm chocolate torte. I sat opposite a nice old Dutch guy and a young Russian girl (not together, don't worry). Again, we wanted to go out but we were too tired. Got to bed about midnight again.

We had an awesome last day - Wednesday 13th April - in Venice. We got up again at 8:30am and left about 9:15am, leaving our backpacks at the hostel. We tried to find the supermarket to get a healthier breakfast than the day before but we realised we'd kind of just come across it on Monday. I remembered a special pasty mentioned in one of my print-outs, so we found on the map that it wasn't too far from us and headed there. Contrary to what the article said, it wasn't crowded at all, so we all bought krapfen, cream filled donuts, for €1 - absolutely delicious!

We headed to San Marco on a vaporetto with a group of good-looking Italian guys and went to the open Post Office there to send our postcards. We then found the vaporetto which would take us to Murano, the glass-blowing island of Venice. It took a bit over half an hour, we saw a big park at the end of the main island and also went past the cemetery island. Once at Murano, we were directed to a free glass-blowing demonstration but it was almost finished when we got inside so it wasn't particularly exciting. We continued over to where they were selling things, from earrings to huge sculptures, cups, bowls and chandeliers. We all wanted everything. We kept walking around the island, along a canal, and saw so many more stalls and shops, a lot with similar stuff and often quite different prices - we discovered the first place was much more expensive than the rest. It was a bit cold and windy but still beautiful; the blue sky with its clouds looked as if it were painted. We got spinach and ricotta pastries for lunch then kept walking a bit more. Spent some money in a shop with lots of pendants. Crossed a little bridge across the canal, looked at some big blue glass star sculpture then walked back the way we came, on the opposite side of the canal. We checked if there was another glass-blowing demonstration as we had time till the vaporetto took us back but unfortunately we'd just missed the last one.

We sat on the edge of the island and tried to locate on the map the 'best Venetian gelati'. We were going to go straight to the Rialto station to find it, but we'd gotten quite cold by that stage so we went back to the hostel to get jackets and change into jeans. We found the supermarket somehow, stocked up on salad, rolls, cheeses and fruit for dinner, before going back to that morning's pastry shop for more. There was a lot less choice by this time but I got an apricot jam thing which was okay.

We took the vaporetto to the gelati place and I got nutella flavour - she first gave me coffee (I think because 'cup' sounds a bit like 'caffe') and then gave me 2 scoops when I only wanted one. Oh well, it was amazing of course.

We decided to chill in the Accademia gallery since it was free, they had free toilets (not like the public ones) and we could rest our feet and stay warm (we couldn't really stay at the hostel since we'd already checked out). We sat in a few different spots in front of paintings until about 7pm when they were closing. Then we got on a vaporetto to Lido (another island) after deciding to find the only stretch of 'free beach' in Venice. The trip was very fun, we sat out the front and had gorgeous views, watched most of the sunset, hair blowing everywhere, cold but not feeling it. Everything, again, looked like a painting!

When we arrived at the island, we saw buses, cars, roads! It was weird! We walked down probably the main street until we hit the beach, past lots of gelati shops but we'd already had today's. Trees too - there were hardly any on the main island! We were so excited to be on a beach for the first time since November... we took photos, touched the water, got cold so sat behind a platform a bit off the sand and ate our salad roll dinner (amazing smokey mozzarella-type cheese) and strawberries. It got dark eventually to we walked back to the vaparetto stop and caught one pretty quickly. We sat out the back and watched all the lights.

We went back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and smelt the yummy dinner they were having, and went back to the vaparetto to get to the station. We were there from about 10pm, got a bit worried because we couldn't see 'Roma' anywhere on the departures lists but that was only because it wasn't the train's last stop. I got an instant hot chocolate from a machine on the platform and we eventually boarded our train at 11:30pm. 'Couchettes for 4' are great, 6 seats are turned into 4 bunks and we actually all slept pretty well, although it was only for about 6 hours. The train actually stopped for ages only a little way into the journey; we assumed it was so the trip actually took 7 hours but we ended up arriving an hour late. There was a button for the tap in the bathroom which I couldn't work out for a good while. Some American guys studying in London - seriously, everyone seems to do that! - a couple of 'rooms' down were doing shots. We eventually got given blankets and slept about 12:30am.


Rome is coming soooon!