Verona & Venice in very little time...

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10 September 2011 1536 (Italy, 0136 NZ)
Just pulling out of the station in Venice… it would have been so nice to have more time, it would have been so nice to be able to have sent the fabulous wine glasses I came across home AND know that that they would make it intact and make it full stop!
My train takes around 2 hours to get to Florence, I think we might have a fair few stops! Perfect timing for a siesta though!
Since I last wrote we didn’t really see much more of Milan, just the breakfast room at the hotel & then a trip to the train station – it is already hot and its only 8am – its only going to get hotter im guessing! However as I get messages from home which mention the cold weather they are suffering through perhaps this isn’t too bad at all! The washing situation is a wee bit close to the limit though – I planned that worst case scenario I could wear most items at least twice… didn’t plan on sweating a lot in each item the first time I wore it though! DUH! Did some handwashing in Nice seeing we could leave it to dry during the day, but I am counting on the laundry service at our hotel in Venice!
Tracey hit the road for an airport around Milan sometime before 7am, Rudz & I had a bit more of a leisurely start & caught a train just after 8am, first stop Verona!
Verona was nice, we wandered in to town from one of the train stations & were offered assistance as to how to get to town by a gentleman on a bike, he even offered to pretty much guide us right there! Obviously this would cost us so we just got him to point us in the right direction & we were outta there. He turned up at the next two major intersections though & offered us more assistance, you definitely couldn’t fault his persistence!! He had no luck getting any coin out of us though, we were walking to town for a reason after all haha
We just jumped on a hop on hop off bus which was a great idea cos it saved us walking up the hill to the castle which had a panoramic view of the city/area! Magnificent however it looks fairly overcast & miserable in the photos! I swear it wasn’t! It was just at hot as Milan but with a grey haze hanging around!! We jumped off & headed down to get a photo groping the statue of Juliets’ right breast outside the ‘balcony’ which isn’t really the actual balcony according to all the record books! We were lacking a ladder and a lovers name to write on the walls on the way in to the balcony so it was off to the wee market just up the street for a cup full of fresh fruit and a browse around the market! No exciting buys here but boy oh boy I can’t wait to do some shopping in Venice & Florence!!
Jumped back on the bus & we were back at the train station and off to Venice before we knew it!
Venice… so far, hot!!! Oh my goodness, im not sure if it was just because I had my pack on my back & backpack on my front or if this place is the hottest place we have been to so far!
We got our way on to a water bus & we were off to find out hotel – we stayed out at Girabaldi which is a wee way round the island, hence why we went with the experience of getting on a ‘bus’ from the train station! Jeepers – I was thinking it then Ruddy said it, we were so crammed in to the thing, a lot of us with luggage on our knees, that if we went down or there was an emergency for any kind of reason we were screwed!!!! The windows were tiny and there were so many people to compete with to get to one that I was planning my escape route by picking out the weakest looking person closest to some kind of exit! Honestly it was that claustrophobic and full on – I think our lives would have been at risk if one person had let one rip down there even!!! A number of stops however and we were back on land, sinking land, but that didn’t worry us!
Our hotel is odd, its very nice, but its odd! Ok mainly the reception guy is odd. He showed us to our room with this sleazy smile on our face & asking if ruddy & I were ‘just friends’! he was so weird! We quickly sorted ourselves out then headed out sightseeing in the blaring heat and with the hope that this guy wouldn’t be there when we got back!
St Marcs Square & the Bell Tower were our first ports of call, with a wee bit of a detour due to visual diversions! We jumped in the lift up the bell tower and got one heck of a view over Venice – incredible! (I’d put the thesaurus tool to work & get some better adjectives if I wasn’t so lazy!) It was almost 5pm and the fear of being up the tower when the bells went off was enough to get us out of there without too much hanging around! Apparently it is quite loud! Haha Off to Rialto Bridge from here – very cool but a HUGE number of tourists, obviously! I read that years ago the bridge fell down after there were too many people standing on it at once… I didn’t think we were quite at risk of another episode like this but better drinking bellinis at a nearby bar than in a pile of rubble in a canal with a gizzillion tourist right?? Haha GREAT touristy shopping on the bridge too – lots of the same stuff in all the shops it seemed – bar the Gucci, Louis etc etc of course!!! – but the bridge seemed to be the cheapest by far for glass, masks & leather bags! Oh goodness the leather bags!!! I have been restraining myself from buying them for now & waiting till Florence where I have less bag carrying to do, this better not come back to bite me in the *rse or im gonna be one very unhappy camper!
Bellini’s by the Canal were delicious, dinner at Osteria in Santo Stefano Piazza was even more delicious! Home-made pasta!! So worth every penny… it did mean that we were too full for Gelato on the way home though so it was a sit down in the Square to avoid any kind of stitch & some people watching/appreciation of the musicians playing at different restaurants! It was also the point where we caved & bought the LED flying things that a lot of the street sellers sell! They are very cool but obviously a rip off – oh well it cost us €2 a piece so it probably works out to some of the cheapest entertainment we will get along this trip!! Hehe We did find a church tower that was on a lean along the way, that’ll save me a day travelling to Pisa haha
With Florence accommodation booked once we got home it was off to the best nights sleep I have had this far!
Ruddy was off to catch her train to Florence first thing, we still aren’t quite sure about the water bus timetable/amount of time it takes to get anywhere so we figured it was better safe than sorry & both planned to allow ample time to our trains! I had breakfast at the hotel & then headed down to jump on my tour to Murano, Burano & Torcelli(?) Islands at 9:30… at 10am the guide still wasn’t there & they said another 20mins, at 10:15 it was cancelled with just enough time to get the next bus to Murano on my own! Only got an hour there but it was worth it – the glass blowing is soo impressive – I would have bought sooo much if I didn’t have to carry it & not break it!!
A couple of ‘training beers’ (we are a week out from Oktoberfest today) & then I have ended up here, on the train air conditioned train to Florence to meet Ruddy for dinner! Looking forward to it!
Have had some RWC updates along the way, thanks for that team! Is a shame we don’t get to be there for that bit BUT I wouldn’t trade this for much else in the world!!!

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