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Published: August 1st 2008
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Saturday 10 May 2008 We arrived at Charleroi Airport and quickly found the RyanAir check-in counter - it was the one with the longest queue! When we finally got to the front of the line we found that each of us had about 16.5kg of check-in luggage. Luckily we had prepared for this scenario. We had packed at easy access anything in our packs that we we not willing to pay 8 Euros per kilo to keep - half full bottles of shampoo, spare shower wash, spare old rain jacket not needed in European summer, mini umbrella, tattered bed roll, etc. All of it went. The desk attendant was very impressed that we were so organised and polite to let other customers go ahead while we purged our baggage. She let us through when we were a shade under 16kg each - as long as it was "15 point something" she didn't mind.
The seats were unallocated on the plane and as soon as we boarded there was an announcement advising us to quickly take the closest seat to allow the plane to take off quickly. All the while they played fast music to motivate us.
The views
over the Alps were spectacular near the end of the short flight from Brussels. We weren't quite sure whose Alps we were looking at but we were sure there were some Italian ones in there somewhere!
From Venice airport we caught a bus to Mestre, which is the mainland town nearest the island(s) of Venice. We then caught another bus to a rather suburban area nearby. We had been trying for nearly a month to get a couch surf in the Venice area but were unsuccessful. However one of the respondents provided an alternate contact who set us up for a bed in private accommodation for a reasonable price - reasonable by Venetian standards, although the room was pretty ordinary. It was actually a double bedroom in the apartment of a local Sri Lankan family who were subsidising their rent by accommodating tourists. Anyway, it was only one night and we were happy for a bed and our hosts were very helpful with local transport information.
After briefly dropping our luggage and freshening up we caught the bus into Venice, across a very long bridge from the mainland. From the bus station we made our way to the
nearby train station where we booked our train tickets to Rome for the following evening and purchased a very good map from the tourist office for just a couple of Euros. It was a much more detailed and accurate map than those provided to other tourists we met by their hotels - although most of them didn't plan on straying away from the main tourist strips anyway for fear of being lost in a foreign city.
With the use of our great map, Barbara happily navigated us around the nearby San Polo district of Venice that evening. It was already late afternoon by the time we got into the city and the buses didn't run very late so we didn't venture too far that night. We wandered southwest from the station through the winding lane ways of San Polo. We admired the beautiful crumbling old buildings, the gorgeous sunset over the canals, still reflections on small quiet canals away from tourist gondolas and found the Campo Santa Margherita where we enjoyed a delicious - but slowly served - Italian pizza dinner and fresh - and cheap - locally made gelato for dessert. We wanted to continue wandering for a
little while longer but then it started to rain so - being without the umbrella we ditched to accommodate our RyanAir baggage limits - we headed back north to the bus station. We just missed our bus so we had to wait for a little while, but not to long. The transport system was crowded but efficient - and cheap! (cheaper still if you pre-buy your ticket before getting on the bus!) We dozed on the bus back to the random apartment, said goodnight to our hosts and CRASHED! We were exhausted.
Sunday 11 May 2008 Early morning we caught the bus back across the very long bridge into Venice. The buses were full of morning church-goers so we had to find an alternate bus stop - it felt like we were back in Randwick on a Monday morning! Once in town we bought a very expensive ferry ticket as a cheaper alternative to an even more expensive gondola. The ferry was meant to go all the way south along the Grand Canal to the Piazza San Marco, but it didn't. AFTER we bought the ticket we were advised that the Grand Canal was closed for the day
so the ferry would go to the Piazza San Marco via the outside of Venice - not quite the scenic tour we had planned! Although, once we actually started moving we found the trip round the outside to be quite scenic - even if it was very bumpy and we did have to dodge the odd cruise liner. The spray was very refreshing and once it started getting a bit wet everyone on the crowded boat moved away from the front and we had the views to ourselves.
We arrived at San Marco and strolled along the promenade admiring the beautiful artworks on offer. We immediately knew where to find the Bridge of Sighs because there was a huge crowd of people on a small bridge taking photos up a small canal. The small bridge is the bridge next to the Bridge of Sighs. Then we wandered into the Piazza, dodging swarms of dive-bombing pigeons and admiring the very slanted tower. The queues for the museums were WAY too long, entry was quite expensive and the weather was far too nice to be sending the day inside so we gave them a miss. We admired more of the beautiful
architecture around the Piazza and then moved on.
Which ever way we saw tourists walking, we walked the other way. Barbara kept track on the map so we didn't get lost. We found the most gorgeous little canals and old buildings. The city has so much character and atmosphere if only you stay away from tourists. We found quite piazzas, lanes no wider than a person nor taller than a child with warm sun filtering between the decorative rooftops. We made our way thorugh San Marco district and Cannaregio where we found lunch from a local deli and a quite piazza to sit and eat it in. We also found an internet cafe to book accommodation in Rome after another failed couch surf attempt. We then made our way up to the Rialto Bridge, one of only three bridges crossing the Grand Canal, and perhaps the most famous and most beautiful. We the found out why the Grand Canal was closed for the day, there was a boat regatta on that day! We stayed to watch the elaborately decorated boats competing and celebrating then we explored the markets on and around the bridge.
Having seen enough other tourists
for the day, we then strayed back off the beaten track and explored the district of Castello, and more of San Polo - of course stopping along the way for the occasional gelato - even meringue flavour! We caught a ferry up through the Grand Canal and back to the bus station. It was a little difficult to find the correct ferry due to some dodgy temporary signage but the ride was great - despite being VERY full. We watched the sun setting over the canal and the beautiful old buildings.
Back at the apartment we thanked our hosts who were already ushering in the new guests. We collected our baggage and caught the bus back to Venice.
In Venice, we took our luggage to the railway station. Our train wasn't due til midnight so we put our luggage in storage (cheapened by fastening multiple bags together as one). We then set off to explore the rest of Castello district and enjoyed a splurge for a romantic dinner at a pasta restaurant by the canal - after all it was our anniversary!
At the railway station, we collected our baggage and tried hard not to fall asleep
and miss our train. We found a compartment, locked up our luggage, and settled into our seats for the night. It had been a whirlwind couple of days - we had no doubt we would sleep, no matter how bumpy or loud the journey!
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