Day 26: Venice Sightseeing

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Our complementary motorboat takes you to St Mark's Square, the Doges' Palace and Bridge of Sighs. See glass and lace-making demonstrations, wander the fascinating canal side-streets and why not treat yourself to a gondola ride.

Amazing day in Venice, absolutely loved it. Got up at 6.45, still drunk. Had breakfast of cereal, yoghurt, and omlette thing with bacon, and juice that tasted off (or like cheese and bacon balls according to em). Caught the 8.30 scarfie into town, which took about half an hour. Dave and Nat M spent the trip chucking up off the back of the boat, and thus began Dave's tour of the garbage bins of Venice.
Venice is such a cool place, it was built on 117 islands in a virtual swap by banging in huge tree stumps for foundations, then building on top, so it's no wonder it's sinking. We got dropped off at the east end of the city, then walked towards Piazza S. Marco. We saw the Doge's Palace, where the doge (the ruler of Venice chosen by the 5 most rich/powerful families in Venice out of themselves) lived, and it was also the courthouse. We saw the Bridge of Sighs, which connects the Doges palace to the jail next door. It got it's name as this is where the prisoners walked across waiting to be executed and you could hear then sigh. St Mark's Square was amazing to see, it was filled with pigeons. There was classical music being played, people having coffee (that costs 9 euro we later found out), and some of th others saw a wedding in the afternoon. St Marks basilica looked really cool from the outside, and we saw the horses Napoleon stole and took to Paris with him.
Went to a glass blowing demonstration, and they guy made a vase and a horse. It was interesting to watch, but didn't go for very long and we could hardly hear what the guy was saying as he spoke really fast. Looked around the shop at the glass, but it was very expensive. Had our lace making demonstration next, and saw the 2 different ways they make lace. Lace making is subsidised here by the government, as it takes about 2 weeks to make a doily the size of an A4 page which they sell for 28 euro. People bought table cloths and hankies and stuff.
Had free time till our gondola ride, so Julia, Emily, Nat L-Z, Melissa, Sarah and I wandered around getting lost, then found our way to the rialto Brisge. It's really easy to navigate your way around the city if you don't mind going in circles. There's signs for Rialto bridge, Accademia and St Marks Square at every intersection, so you follow them and get there eventually. We shopped at the markets near the rialto bridge, and the glass was heaps cheaper here than in the shop. Met up with Ange and James and had pizza for lunch, beside the grand canal. Made our way back to St Marks square and went into the basilica, which is very gothic inside.
Met up with everyone at the bell tower for our gondola ride, and Amanda gave us all some pink champagne to take. I was in a gondola with Melissa, Nat L-Z, Emily, Toni and Emily, and we had so much fun. The water was quite rough in the grand canal, but once we went into the side canals though the streets it was really tranquil and quiet. Our ride went for about half an hour, then we walked to Accademia to catch the scarfi back to our campsite. It started raining really heavily on the way back, so we got absolutely running back to our cabins. I decided to do some laundry, and managed to splatter mud up the back of my only shorts on the way. Amanda was also doing her washing, so I chatted to her and we met heaps of people from 2 other tours that had just gotten in that afternoon. Was late to dinner at 7.30 as I had to wait for a dryer (memories of b&g laundries) and keep an eye on Amandas stuff while she did the seating for dinner. Had a 'bbq' dinner, which was basically chicken and i think pork with pasta salad, salad and bread. It probably would have been better if it wasn't raining. Went back to get my washing out of the dryer, and chatted to Toni, Dave and Rach for a while.
Decided to have one last attitude adjuster at the bar, but everyone was having a quiet night so there was only about 10 of us there. This was the start of the 'no more sober nights' pack, which others eventually got swore into.

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