Blogs from Venice, Veneto, Italy, Europe - page 132

Ulm - Munich - Verona - Venice (Train) 20 July 2006 With the idea of maximising our Eurail Ticket, we decide to head to Venice, Italy for a couple of days, before we meet up with our friends Linton and Clare in France. Venice is one of those cities that most people dream of going to; beautiful old buildings built on and reflected in canals, meandering cobblestone alleys where the sound of church bells echo off the walls calling you towards piazzas full of beautiful people, men in striped t-shirts pushing gondolas while singing Dean Martin songs….. ahhh, oh so romantic. Its just a shame that it is so revered because in summer it’s so full of tourists and so hot that I think it’s lost a bit of it’s charm (that could explain why most ... read more

Ciao again family and friends This is the continuation of 'The Italian Blog' dating back to early May 2006. After farewelling Dawn, Allan and Kim on the western side of Italy (Mediterranean Sea) it was back onto the train for a journey across the country to the north-eastern coast (Adriatic Sea). My destination this time: Venice! (I'm actually writing this from St. Petersburg or "Venice of the North" in Russia and it's now July, better late than never!). Unfortunately I had started to come down with a virus about now (within a few days I was to completely lose my voice) so I decided to treat myself to a hotel (instead of the usual hostel) and found one very close to the railway station in Mestre so I could walk there easily and have my own ... read more

O.K., it's been a while, but we're back! And there's a lot to recap, so I will start and soon, Jesse will finish. Picking up from Amsterdam...Not the best story, but here goes. Night 1: We were lugging our huge bags around all day because we were planning on staying at a campsite outside the main part of the city and could not find any lockers to store our luggage. So, we wondered with a lot of weight being carried around, and decided that since it was my birthday, and we were in Amsterdam, we would try a brownie...sorry, Abba. We finished the brownie and headed to the campsite. Now, neither of us smoke, but we thought we'd be fine...When Jesse's face started to turn ashy white and her lips and eyes became blue and cold ... read more

Venice was absolutely beautiful and definitely the most unique place we visited. We stayed 3 nights in a small bed and breakfast right near the theater. The view from our window? A meandering canal. If the windows were open, we could hear the Gondoliers singing ¨Santa Lucia¨ Every morning began with a nice cup of coffee and breakfast. The first day in Venice we visited the tourist hotspot, St Marks Square, the cathedral, the Dogas Palace, the Rialto bridge and took a tour of the grand canal. We also had the pleasure of seeing a small production of Verdi´s ¨La Traviata.¨ The opera was held in a venetian palace where each act took place in a different room. Other highlights of Venice included lots of public displays of affection, four dollar bottles of water and going ... read more

So I have arrived in Athens safely! After the worst ferry ride of my life, with no sleep, I arrived in Patras and caught the three hour bus to Athens. Once here I found that my hostel was overbooked so they sent me elsewhere, which was also over booked, so finally got a bed at about 7pm last night. As you can imgaine I was in a GREAT mood! Met Jane and Anita in town last night and went for a fabulous meal. Early night as I have a ferry tonight (AGAIN!!!) to Santorini! Cant wait, and I am sure the ferry will be more tolerable with other passengers! Also my mate Lucy from Rome is going to be on the FERRY....yay! I have just booked my flight back to London which is a little depressing....oh ... read more