Venice Beautiful Venice!

Before I knew it, the infamous day had arrived. I’m officially 25!
However, I don’t appear to be having a quarter life crisis yet, so I guess ‘so far so good’.

I woke up early on Friday (like 5.30am! - perhaps something to do with all the chocolate from the night before) and waited for my family phone call from NZ to wish me happy birthday.
I spent the morning opening my cards and presents from various corners of the world, each thing delight to receive. It’s nice to know at least some people haven’t forgotten your existence! :)

I made my way to work with all my baked goodies, and of course went to The Bell for our Friday Thai intake.
I left work early to meet Leah at Victoria Train Station to catch the Gatwick Express to the airport. The next thing we knew, we were touching down at Marco Polo Airport in Venice!

We caught the ATVO bus from the airport to Piazza Roma and as soon as we got off the bus, Leah and I were at the height of excitement! After only a short walk from Piazza Roma we were surrounded by a series of canals and cute bridges all partially lit by small lights dotted along the edge of the canals and pathways.

We started the impossible journey of navigating our way through the narrow winding pathways to our B&B, crossing many bridges and canals along the way.
We finally found our hotel and were greeted by a cute little Italy lady. Gina, who showed us our room, the kitchen (and where every piece of breakfast food etc is kept), the dining room, and the bathroom etc. However, she didn’t speak a word of English and we didn’t speak a word of Italian! - so it was all a little confusing!
But with various gestures we managed to get through most things.

Our room, which was more like the honeymoon suite, was beautifully decorated and had windows, complete with shutters that opened over the ‘Rio di Meloni’ canal below and little ledges for us to sit on and watch the boats go by!

After looking around our generously sized apartment that we appeared had all to ourselves we went to bed ready for a day of exploring tomorrow, but not before having a couple of pieces of yummy Italian toast!

We woke up on Saturday to a nice big breakfast of cereal and some more toast that we liked so much the night before, while sitting on our own private ledge over looking our canal watching the boats go past.

They say that you an not go to Venice without getting lost, and I think it would be fair to say that over our few days here, this would also come true for us - at least a few times.

We wandered through the maze of walkways towards to Canal Grande and were drawn into shop after shop of colourful jewellery made of Murano glass.

We found out way to the Rialto Bridge to get a breathtaking vista over the busy Canal Grande. Gondola’s, commercial boat and ferry’s alike passed up and down the canal, which was lined with walkways and restaurants, and old colourful buildings.
We really felt like we were in the heart of Venice!

We found the statue of Carlo Goldoni (1707 - 1793), one of Italy’s most famous authors and play-writer, plus the Ferrari shop.
We continued our way through narrow pathways, turning a corner after corner to find we have stumbled across a canal weaving its way between the buildings. We finally made our way to Piazza San Marco and were overwhelmed by the breathtaking size of the square that it took us a couple of minutes to notice the amazing cathedral, the Basilica di San Marco at centre stage.

The Piazza was full of bustling tourists and pigeons whose cooing noise filled the air. The remaining buildings surrounding the square were amazing in their own right, with big stone archways and detailed architecture so typical of Italy, which made every side of the piazza feel impressive. Dominating the skyline was the campanile (bell tower) over looking the whole square - we plan to get to the top before we leave here.

We walked to the coast on the other side of the square and sat amongst the gondolas for lunch, over looking the neighbouring Islands, each with their own ancient buildings to marvel at.

Leah and I had a look through the Basilica di San Marco, an incredible cathedral. Its inside was inconceivably massive, with ceilings that towered above us topped with a 5 domed roof. All the walls were covered in detailed mosaics, in-filled with hundreds of thousands gold mosaic pieces - each about the size of a 5cent piece - it must have taken ages! However, the effect was magnificent, they each looked like detailed paints until we were close enough to realise they were mosaics!

The cathedral itself was filled with various treasures dotted around the corners and coves of the church. Leah and I paid to have a look through the treasury, which contained a number of ancient treasures and also to have a look at the museum area upstairs, which also allowed us access to the balcony.

The upper level not only gave you an impressive birds eye view back across the cathedral, but once outside it also gives an uninterrupted view across the Pizza San Marco and in the other direction, past the pillars, to the coast.

We wandered back through the narrow pathways, stumbling across hidden churches tucked away in amongst tall houses. So hidden, you could walk past without knowing, but once inside, the churches are vast in size, so much so, it feels like you have stepped it another world from the narrow alleyways outside.

Each church is decorated quite differently; no two churches seem the same. We kept wandering around trying to find somewhere not too touristy to eat, but after walking around in a circle past the same church three times, we gave up and had lunch by way of two large pizzas.

We headed back to our B&B for a bit and went down to a nearby restaurant for dinner. We both had pasta and assumed the two small plates on the table were our bread plates. Turns out they were for wine! Opps - what tourists!

We had a bit of a wander down to the Canal Grande to take some night photos of the Rialto Bridge. Wow! What a first day of Venice - I think Leah and I have already fallen in love with the place :)

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