http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Italy , Veneto , Venice en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:46:54 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:46:54 UTC After having left the French Rivera we made our way across to our third country of the tour Italy. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos because I left my camera on the bus and my memory as I knew it would is slowly starting to fade but I am very sure that it was during this trip that we stopped over in Verona the setting of some book called Romeo and Juliet I think is sold like a million cop http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-350012.html Being subscribed to a fabulous thing called httpwww.travelmole.com I get to hear about the inside track on many stories relating to the worlds most unique city Venice and the travel industry in general. So by the time you lot are picking it out of the weekend supplements or blogs it is often already two weeks old.Anyhow back to my current rant the current mayor Salvador somethingorother http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-348780.html be curious http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-348092.html We've made it to Venice. We can cross another 'mustsee' city off our list.We booked a hotel room in the city of Mestre as cheap accommodation in the city can be hard to get. Mestre is just across the pond from the city and was only 15 minutes away by bus. By the time we checked into the hotel it was already dark it's getting increasingly harder to arrive in a new city before nightfall but after http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-347538.html After my week in Austria I took a flight to Venice where I stayed one night before heading north to Bassano del Grappa. I stayed two nights in Bassano where I met up with Paolo. I had met Paolo back in Ireland and after explaining my upcoming travels he invited me to his home town when I was in Italy. So I decided to take him up on the offer and Irsquom sure glad I did He showed me around http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-346874.html bonjournoso today is our last day as italians i must admit my heart is a little sad. so no blog yesterday and that would because we did not have the day in venezia we wished for. rather we spent the day in the venice ophedale hospital. no emergenices chris' cough was getting worse and he had been in bed for a couple days so hospital it was. so let me paint a quick picture. maps in venice are http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-346637.html Milan didnrsquot get much better. We asked our hostel manager for a recommendation for dinner and he directed us to a restaurant that serves Italian AND Chinese food. So the menu went from bruschetta lasagna and tortellini to orange chicken beef and broccoli and egg drop souphellip Sketchy But we made the best of it.I forced Rachael to get out of bed at 430 the next morning to catch th http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-346278.html bonjourno bonjournoso today we are temporary citizens of Venezia. It is 530pm here chris is sleeping off his cold our room does not have the tv we became accustomed to so i am out here writing you. the hostel we are staying at the next 3 nights is a venice museum weird name right well when you step in here man oh man do you get why it's called a museum we are sleeping in a building tha http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-345959.html Hello and Welcome AllTo another entry log that is too far and inbetween to where we are currently exploring.Currently are travels have led us to Greece where we have seen Patra Olympia birthplace of the Olympic Games and currently Athens. We arrived yesterday and plan to see the Acropolis Parthenon blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda. It will be amazing but that is in another dry picles http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-345902.html Get lost in Venice. Just get off the train or the boat and start wandering around and let yourself get lost. Don't worry you'll eventually find your way back to the water. Of course you will want to see the main attractions Piazza San Marco Ponte Rialto Basilica di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia. But for at least a few hours enjoy the beauty and history of Venezia by exploring t http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-342096.html Itrsquos November now its been a while. Today we elected a new president making history with the first black president in American history. The Italians were thrilled about ithellipprobably as much as every other European. So wersquove got that going for us which is nice.A month ago when I last updated this little journal thing Irsquove got going people were still asking me who I was http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-341994.html The last night in a hotel was very comfortable. We each had our own bed and we had another gorgeous view. Our window looked out to the beach and the Adriatic sea. It was wonderful. Once we had all gotten ready we went down to our last breakfast included. The food was not as good as Capri but it was still very good to get our morning going. After breakfast we decided to walk on the beach. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-340807.html Thursday continuedWe rested up for a while and then headed down for dinner we both ended up with the suggested menu which was as follows potato dumplings with wild mushrooms in roast sauceroasted pork fillet wrapped in bacon with potatoes and courgettesmango confit with rhubarbwith litre of water a glass of wine with coffee to finishAll for euro26.00 each it was lovely and Pat dran http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-340327.html Thursday 30 October 2008Pat went off and had breakfast.We were up at a reasonable time and when Pat returned from breakfast we loaded the car. We then paid our bill and set off about ten o'clock. We guessed theHotel was run by a family and they were very personal in their customer care. The chef asking us what we wanted for dinner was charming.The plan for today was to drive to Venice and if we http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-340069.html Monday 27th October 2008We had to be out of the chalet at nine o'clock so had to set an alarm for the first time in a long time.We where up had the car packed and Pat cleaned the chalet by the time the guy arrived and was happy enough to give us our deposit back.We had decided that we would take the motorway but stop off at Menton on the way to Imperia as we had plenty of time.At Menton we http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-340016.html Despite having a background in the Spanish language I found myself having a lot of difficulty with the Italian language. Before the trip I had wanted to study a few basic phrases of Italian but never really got around to it. I did learn very few basic words but I found that bonjourno just doesn't quite roll off my tongue as easily as buenos dias does.Speaking of languages I found that Itali http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-339759.html We didn't arrive in the city of Venice until some time around 545pm when the city had already turned dark. We checked into our hotel which happened to be right by the bus station at Piazzale Roma. Good thing it was such a short walk because we were pretty tired after all that traveling. Due to the flight delay our plans for Venice had to be revised.That evening we walked around area by hot http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-339758.html 2 posts in about 3 days my my. Midterms must be over.Last weekend I went to Venice. Let me begin with getting to Venice overnight train. I once took an overnight train to Memphis and loved it. Course when I got there I had the luxury of being able to sleep until mid afternoon. On my trip to Venice I wasn't exactly granted that luxury. The regional trains in Italy have compartments Hogw http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-339754.html With the amount of time spent in transit I had a lot of time to think about which part of the tour would count toward Day One and which would count toward Day Two. We had left New York at the end of Day One and didn't arrive in Venice until almost the end of Day Two. Regardless I've decided to count the transit time as Day One and thereafter as Day Two.Our arrival to JFK was about half an ho http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-339748.html On Wed 22nd Oct we went on a Eurostar train to Venice. It went very fastabout 170kmhr. Not as fast as the one from Rome to Florence that went about 250 kmhr. In Venice we walked to St Mark's Square. We saw billions of pigeons. If you stay still they stop on your arms 2 got on my arm. We are staying at a place on the Grand Canal. There are lots of boats in Venice and not one car There http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-338340.html 2 weeks ago my friends and I took a weekend trip to Venice and it was beautiful Definitely a very romantic city adorable canal streets and gondolas everywhere. It was crazy going place to place via water taxi. I visted the main tourist spot of Piazza San Marco and the basilica there. It was full of gorgeous fresco mosaics. It was such a magical city with tons of old little streets and alley ways http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-337095.html Venice was so beautiful it created a time delay for this journal so here's a summary of my stay there. I could feel it from the train ride in from the main land going over the connection looking out over the water I could sense I was going to like Venice. Arrived at the train station walked out and just stood in awe. It was basically like all the pictures I'd ever seen were in motion before http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-335411.html CiaoLast weekend my friends and I flew over the Mediterranean and landed in Venice. We spent a full three days there and pretty saw every inch of Venice or at least that's how I felt after three days of straight walking. My friends Jordann and Brian and I arrived at Marco Polo airport about 9 30 pm on Thursday. Since we're smart savvy travelers we had zero checked luggage. We found a local http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-335408.html Well this is my first ever blog I chose to write about Venice in Italy where I have been living for the last 7 months. This is one of the most amazing cities in the world It's almost time jumping into a time machine and traveling back hundreds of years Specially on a foggy morning when all you can see is the ancient architecture of the next square and the bow of a gondola poking silently out f http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-335094.html I know I briefly made an entry about the day I spent in Venice but since Irsquom typing on my own time instead of a 30 minute internet caf timeframe I thought Irsquod go more in depth and hopefully get some pictures up.I got up early to go into Venice. I think I had rehearsal that afternoon so I wanted to have a few hours to get to know Venice. Wersquore still strangers Venice and I. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-334629.html I'm writing this a while after it happened so I dont want to say a lot just a brief account of the importantterriblehilarious things that happened on that fateful Saturday.It started off by having to wake up at about 5.45am after only three or four hours sleep. I met Lotje at the trainstation and we waited... and waited for Edie bless her who was inexplicably absent. About one minute before http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-334256.html We arrived in Venice in the afternoon. It was hot and packed with tourists. Everyone says you cant grasp the beauty of Venice from videos and movies and that its so amazing when your there. Most of those people are wrong. It's nice as a novelty but really i don't understand the hysteria around it. It's slightly cleaner then Bangkok and the only difference is in Bangkok a boat ride costs 15 Baht http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-334192.html This weekend I went to Venice the city on water. It was really cool. We left pretty early and took an 830 am train to Bologna and then to Venice which saved us about 15 euro. The ride was pretty easy and took about 3 hours. Including the stop in Bologna. I couldn't believe how much it cost to use the bathroom there. It was .80 euro and you absolutely had to pay to use it because they had these m http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-333599.html