VENICE!

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Wow, so it feels so weird to be writing about Venice, while i'm in England working, and my eurotrip has finished..likkkeee....almost 2 weeks ago!
but, ahh well! you guys can still enjoy!

Here's the Venice section...
We arrive in Mestre, which is one of the mainlands close to Venice. We look around us and all we see are construction sites, metal yards and run down houses. Not impressive.

We get to our hostel, where we are sharing a room with one other person, and we chat with her a bit before going into counting sheep land.

The next day, we wake up and we much down our breakfast, and i consume a coffee, with what i presumed to be milk, but was in fact a hell of a lot of cream. My stomach begins to churn uncomfortably.
We catch the bus to the island of Venice and i realize that the Italian transport system all relies on the honour system!
Esp. the bus! You buy a ticket at a ticket booth before you enter the bus, then when you get on the bus, you enter through any of the bus doors (even the ones in the back, far away from the driver), so essentially, when you get on a bus, you don't show your ticket to anyone.
Once you're on, you're supposed to get out your ticket and get it stamped by a machine at the back, but the thing is, the bus driver NEVER checks to see if you have a ticket.

SO, since Ruby and I aren't exactly model citizens, and we'd much rather have a gelato over pay a useless bus fare, we (not proudly though....really!) take slight advantage of this honour system...

We then use this system to make our way into the island, venice.
And yah, it's everything you see in pictures, it's an island where cars are non-existent, and all public transport is done by foot, or by water.
Our first leg of the venice journey was to take a water bus along the Grand Canal (largest canal on the island). We figured that this would be a great way to see teh island. Well, we were right, BUT, we didnt' take into account the following factors...
1) it was packed! Therefore no sitting space, and a lot of sweaty tourists pushing up against you. Luckily we managed to get a spot towards teh end of the boat, standing on the side..

2) it stops @ a waterbus stop pretty much every 30 seconds, so we'd be on a roll, sailing along the canal, then you hear a loud CRRuuuSsshhhHKKEeeeeRrrrrAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (yea, exactly like that.), and the boat would brake and in a jerky fashion slam its way into the bus stop, where it paused to let ppl in and out. This is followed by another loud CRRuuuSsshhhHkKKeeeEEeRrraaa, when it started up again. Yea. so it got annoying.

3) it's a boat. on water. therefore, comes the unpreventable seasickness. With the constant starting and stopping of the boat, the hot weather, crowded surroundings, and churning cream in my stomach, i definitely was ready to hurl out all my stomach's contents into the Grand Canal. So it was difficult for me to fully appreciate the sites while trying to keep full control over my regurgitation reflex.

When we could finally take no more, we had survived roughly 20 stops. We headed to St. Mark's Square, the most popular area in Venice. And yea, it was FILLED with pigeons.
Ruby cowarded in fear, but i love it! It was hilarious! because there were tons of stands selling corn kernals for a euro, and ppl would buy them and feed the pigeons. But yea, these aren't any docile pigeons, but they're vicious! once you had some kernals in your hand, they'd swoop at you to get to the kernals.
I found it funny, because parents would let their tiny 4 year old kids have these seeds, and the pigeons would FLOCK around the little kid. Let's just say that i saw many a little kid crying in fear after their pigeon feeding.

at St Mark's square, we took in the major cathedral and bell tower. it was cool, but after seeing it so many times in pics, it just sort of comes as nothing new...
there we met up wtih 2 of our friends that we met in Barcelona, Lisa and Elaine. We then all went for lunch " what we first thought was an inexpensive pizza restaurant, but after getting drinks (non-alcoholic), and seeing the bill - yea. we were pissed. Each drink (which was not even a cup of lemonade) came out to be 4 euros each (6 bucks.)
Also, the pizza was SO gross (dough was mega salty) so it made you neeeeed the drinks.
Sneaky italians.

Afterwards, we went to climb the campanile, which is the bell tower. We took an elevator up, and looked down below onto the island. It was pretty cool to see just how big the island is (not very), and it was neat to see the orange rooftops of the houses. So after a photo op, and a Venetian telling me how much he loves Canada, which, side note: i've noticed that everytime i meet someone, may it be another backpacker or native of the city we're in, when you say you're Cnadian, their face automatically lights us, and they say, "AHHhh, Canada! Good!!" or something along those lines of how much they love Canada or how their mom's nephew's cousin's daughter lives in Canada and loves it! It's really awesome to hear how Canada is held in such high regard in places in other parts of the world! really makes me proud to be one! =D

Anywhoo, after leaving the campanile, we went to do our very own pigeon feeding! Ruby, being scared of pigeons, takes the pics while the rest of us have our own fun! we began opening up our kernal filled hands, the pigeons started flocking. It was crazy! These birds didn't just stroll up courteously, no, they swooped down from all sides of us w/ a kernal-hungry thirst in their eyes! Lisa and Elaine quickly screamed and disappeared from sight, but of course, being the brave, daredevil type i am.......i closed my eyes, stuck my hand, protected my face, and prepared myself for the attack.
and surprisingly it wasn't that bad! it was a shock at first to have a full grown bird eating out of the palm of your hand, but after getting used to the scratching of its talons on your skin, it was pretty much smooth sailing afterwards. Lisa and Elaine, seeing that i survived the pigeon onslaught, soon followed suit.

We then hopped onto a boat to visit one of the islands near Venice, which was Murano. It is famous for its glass blowing. Every shop there was filled with beautiful glasswork sold at absorbantly high prices, but it was still great to look at. So after some shopping, we heading back to St. Mark's square. Which was lit up for the night. It was the perfect atmosphere!
It was comfortably cool at night, the square had a lively but not crowded atmosphere, and the square looked amazing lit up. Also, teh resturants in the square had commissioned live classy instrumental bands that played classical music so taht hte music would drift all across the square. it was sooo funnn!!

we then parted ways with our new friends, promised to post pics on facebook, and after some hugs, waterboated back to our hostel, where, besides the loud fan keeping me up slightly, i slept like a baby!

..phew,
okay, that's 3/4 countries down...one more left..PARIS.
nexxtt tiimmeeee!

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Photos

Yum.
Clearly I'm enjoying my mystery sandwich.

oooooo
Pigeons!

Pigeon feeding!
Clearly i'm enjoying the pigeon attack.

oooo part 2 (running out of creative image titles)
Look at the water level! towards the night, the water level rose, and it was splashing onto the sidewalk! was really cooool!

Comments

[gee]

lesk rules and ruby's cooo too :D
yaaay lesk!!! i love youuu! i love reading your rambles. keep it up. i'm in calgary right now and am sickly. ugh. stooopid traveling. so be healthy and take care of yourself! no more salty italian doughy pizza :) grab some PHO or something! mmm comfort food. okay, have fun! enjoy england! (teehee for double meanings) and love you! - gee

[Jdawg]

Wow awesome pics. That picture of the buildings running a long the river with the guy in the boat looks so kool. that's some professional photography. it's funny how you guys are in italy, and you decided to have Mcdonald's, makes me laugh. haha those pigeons just look disease infested, I think you should get yourself checked when you get back, cuz i don't wanna catch anything. alright see yah when I see yah, ps. you look dark. =D

[c.chan]

love your pictures
Beautiful pictures. Did you copy them from your postcards? just kidding. Waiting for your blog of Paris and London. Love you lots!