Advertisement
Venice! SO COOL! Did you know that Venice is made up of 117 islands? It makes sense, doesn't it, that a city famous for its nurmerous canals that those canals carve up the land into islands? But I hadn't ever thought of it that way. So, every bridge Jan and I walked across was fun because we were crossing over to another island by just walking over a bridge! The canals do make Venice a special place, and the buildings which loom over them are enchanting. The city itself is surprisingly dead, in that there are more tourists than there are Venetians now. More and more of the old buildings quickly fall into disrepair, and charming old back streets become errie. It is sad to see it now, for what it once was, especially at night. But it hasn't lost all of its life, and to say that it wasn't charming would be a lie. But, I am getting ahead of myself. Jan and I had a rather long journey getting to our Hostel in Venice, before we were able to appreciate Venice and it's beauty.
So the 30th started off ok. We got onto our train to Venice no problem and rode the train for 2 hours until we finally saw water. We were very excited, and as we neared the city we took a look at our directions to the hostel. We were staying at another camping site, but we had decided to pay the extra two euros for a little cabin rather than live in the tents. Unfortunately, as we soon discovered, the directions were not very clear. Rather than relate all the twists and turns of the day let me sum it up by saying that what should have been a 45 minute trip to the campground took us 3 hours. We finally figured it out, but by the time we got there we were starving, tired, and drentched in the sweat of carrying around our packs for 3 hours. Good work out though, although we didn't think so at the time. When we got our keys to our room we walked up thinking good a clean place to put our bags and rest for a while, but to our great surprise we got much more than that. For 18 euro a night (staying outside of Venice is cheaper, but not cheap...still this was a fantastic deal for Venice) we got a cabin to ourselves with a bathroom, a fridge, and AIR CONDITIONING!!!! It was like a gift from the gods! After resting, swimming (did I mention there was a pool at this site) and eatting lunch we went into Venice around 8pm to see a little of the sinking city at night. Much to my delight, we happened upon a Gelati store which sold gelati in the biggest cones for the cheapest price. I got the biggest one with three flavors in it - it was seriously the size of my head! I had trouble eatting it....but in the end, I managed some how. 😊
Jan is getting restless so he will tell you about Padua.... July 1st, first of all happy belated Canada day! Any who, we decided to go out to Padua for a day trip. I was a little sceptical but Danielle persisted. So for any of those who are going to Venice, Padua is a worth while day trip, only a 40 min train ride. We got there and the train station was a ten minute walk to the city centre. Like Bologna, Padua is a university city which has throngs of young people milling about doing stuff, which just adds to the atmosphere of the place. We strolled through its meandering streets and looked at the sights, the most impressive we saw was the chuch which held St Anthony. Twas a cool church, had some very neat architecture, however, Danielle and I had no idea who St. Anthony was, or why there were people crying at his tomb.... In any event, it was a neat experience and we can now say that we saw St. Anthony's tomb. Of course that night we went back for more gelati, from the same place of course. This time I got one as well and once again Danielle somehow managed to eat hers.
July 2nd was the day that we takled Venice. We got up early and took in the bus to catch a boat to St. Marc's square. Now in Venice there are taxi boats, 'bus' boats and even police boats! Of course along with gondala's which we saw many. Now we were going to get a ride on one, but they cost 100 euros, but to be fair in Venice a single bus tickett costs 6.50 euros!! Because transit was so expensive, we bought a 'rolling Venice card'. It was 18 euros but it lasted for 3 days and covered any trip by bus or boat - it was a steal compared to 6.50 per ride! At St. Marc piazza there was hordes of tourits along with an equal number of pidgeons (we were thinking of you Joey). It was a nice square that was lined with absurdly expensive and fancy coffee shops. Danielle saw the church, because I neglected to bring proper church wear (my shoulders were showing), which according to her was very nice inside. After that square we marched down to the navel museum where we arrived to find out that we only had half an hour to see the musuem! Well I had to see it, and it was our last day, so with Danielle in tow, I ran from exhibit to exhibit, nattering away about how this canon was this, or this map was of this. Alas we could not see it all, and had to cut it short. That day was especially hot, and I got particularly sunburnt so we headed back to the campsite to nurse my wounds in the precious air conditioning. I am passing the torch to Danielle again now..
Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Venice (and our AC) and make the trek to Trent, or as it is called here Trento (Jan and I can't help saying JETO and SPIKE in poor Japenese accents everytime we say Trento.... Chad, Carling, you understand right?) Any who, the train rides were pleasant as they took us into the Italian Alps. It was a breathtaking change of scenery, although it did not provide any really change in temperature. The only thing that was a bit annoying was the fact that we had to wait until the afternoon to catch the trains. When we arrived in Trent it was, consequently, much later than we would have liked. But we were in time to shower and eat before exploring the city at night. Being a university town also we thought that there would be many things to do, but unfortunatley both of us were not taken with the city. So, we made plans to go explore Verona, which is exactly what we did today.
Verona was a pretty city, and has been heralded as the Rome of the North (in Italy). But it was certainly small enough to walk to an fro all the major sites, of which we saw most. The highlights were going to "Juliette's house" and seeing her balcony, going to "Romeo's house", and seeing the worlds 3rd largest Roman arena. We were hoping to see an opera there (they perform them year round there) but the lateness of the show would have ment missing the train to come back to where our beds were for the night. All in all the day was very relaxing, just strolling the streets and seeing the sites. We are now ready for a dinner which is calling to us.....
As for our immediate travels we are heading to Genoa tomorrow (birth place of Christopher Columbus). From there we hope to see Milan too.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0554s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Courtney
non-member comment
Wow
You guys sure have been getting around and seeing a lot in a very short time, and eating a LOT of gelato! I can't wait to hear about Milano!!!! So extremely jelous, if you happen to find it can you please take a picture of the Prada shop for me?! I miss you terribly and it just isn't the same sitting outside with a bottle of wine without you two. I can't wait to hear about your next adventure!