3 days in Venice

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Hi, I hope all my friends and family have found my new blog site, I am sorry about the change but unfortunately I had notification that the site I was using would be closing before we made it home next month. Hopefully I can work out how this site works and will be able to still post on Facebook, going to soon find out!

Left Rome via train for Venice, easy trip, I wrote my Rome blog the whole way so managed to avoid freeking out over all the tunnels we went through.

Arrived at Venice Mestre station to find there were steps to go down with our 3 suitcases and two backpacks And Andrea and Garry with their two large suitcases and small backpacks. Just debating the best way to achieve downstairs when three guys swarmed on us, Andrea managed to wrestle her suitcase from them but they grabbed mine and Stephens and headed down the stairs yelling the whole time, want taxi want directions want something else .... we are going, no no no we are fine. At the bottom of the single flight of stairs they are still trying to make us get taxis from them, insisting NO, they finally relinquished our suitcases and started yelling at us for 20 euro, we just laughed handed them 4 euro and walked away, 3 suitcases, one flight of stairs and 20 seconds of their time, which I hadn't asked for, consider yourself overpaid with 4 euro! Found our way outside, found our own taxi and found our hotel, settled ourselves in and headed for Venice proper.

The bus stops right outside our hotel door so a five minute bus ride and we are in Piazzale Roma, which is the main bus stop for VenIce. We are quickly wandering around the narrow little picturesque streets. The main canal is absolutely jam packed with tourists so we walk along for a while looking in all the shop windows, mostly touristy cheap rubbish, but we are tourists so we are doing what is expected. We then turn a corner into one of the quiet little alleyways and wander a bit more, finally stopping at a small bar with outdoor seating, umbrellas for shade and a view over a quiet canal. I ordered one of the orange drinks which everyone seems to have in Venice, I think it was called a spritzer but don't quote me on that, it was ok, but the taste of orange peel a little strong, was nice spot to stop though and relax. A bit more walking and we found a charity garage sale where Garry managed to find a novel in English for a euro, bargain!

We crossed the back to the main canal looking for a restaurant and eventually found a square with a restaurant that looked reasonably priced and we allowed ourselves to be coaxed to take a seat by the waiter. Food was awesome, I had linguine with a light cream sauce and salmon, very simple but very yum, shows we put way too much sauce on our pasta, the waiter was hilarious and kept us well entertained throughout our meal, they seem to know we are open to a bit of banter which makes dinner way more fun. There was a stall next to the restaurant selling tourist knick knacks, including massive baby bibs for grown ups, Stephen always wraps a tea towel around himself to eat dinner at home , so bought him one, he put it on immediately and spilled not a drop of lasagne on himself! Sang happy birthday to Andrea ....again....probably about the 10th time so far on this trip, still a day early but will eventually get it on the right day. Everyone seems to enjoy a good sing along!

Day 2

The plan for the day was to go to Murano to look at all the glass factories and shops so bought a 20 euro bus pass which gets us a full days travel on the bus to and from town and the water buses, which go up and down the canal and over to the other islands. Three different buses were leaving from the little enclosed pontoon platform we were waiting in, we determined which number bus we needed and settled in to wait. When we arrived there were a few people waiting but it certainly wasn't full by any means, 2 other buses came and went and by the time our water bus arrived the waiting area was hot uncomfortable and full to capacity, we got pushed further back and as everyone piled onto the bus more than half those waiting including ourselves couldn't get on, we were at least at the front for the next bus and there was no way we were relinquishing our position, at least near the exit we had some air and a slight bit of relief from the oppressive heat and crush of bodies.

Finally after what felt like forever another number 3 bus arrived and we made it on and chugged around the canal and across to Murano. Not really sure what I expected but it's essentially a small Venice but every shop is a glass shop or a cafe. The glass is beautiful if we didn't have to travel half way round the world with it I would have bought a lot more, as it is we now have a few small and one largish fragile parcel to somehow get home without breakages. Looks like at least one of our carry on bags now will be a dedicated fragiles bag, we didn't need all the stuff it held before on the plane anyway.....much!

Returned to Venice just after lunch and back to the hotel to drop our parcels and have a rest and a swim before heading back to the main canal for a gondola ride. Managed to get a gondola for each couple without any wait and off we went, appeared to be rush hour on the canal and there were boats of all sorts everywhere, a couple of times thought we might get run over by a water bus but the gondolier seemed to know what he was doing so sat back and enjoyed the ride, with one turn into a side canal all the hustle bustle and noise of the main canal disappeared and all was silent and peaceful, except for the gondolier yakking on his cellphone to someone in rapid Italian! Stephen held my hand (even his suggestion, such a romantic!) for the required 2 minutes then it was back to snapping pictures most of the way.

Andrea and Garry's gondolier suggested a little restaurant for tea so after a wee bit of a wrong direction recovery we managed to find it, found a seat by the canal, and settled in. Unfortunately the sun was just in the wrong place and the tables were shiny metal and no umbrellas which was a bit hard on the eyeballs, Andrea and Garry really enjoyed their meal, Stephen said his was a bit cold and my fish tasted good unfortunately was full of scales and bone and very difficult to eat, I was well over picking through it by the time I finished and even after a scrummy dessert was still hungry. We of course sang happy birthday to Andrea ...again.....right day so she was a little happier about it! The service was slow as a wet week, it was over an hour after we finished our main that dessert arrived and by the time we left, after being stinking hot all day, we were now freezing!

Called in at a bakery on the way home bought ourselves some supper cakes/buns and home for a cuppa and bed.



Day 3

Last day in Venice. Grabbed a water taxi at the exorbitant price of 60 euro and set off to San Marco square in style, at this price definitely one off just for the experience! Did enjoy it though and Garry really thinks he should buy one and take it home. The square was jam packed with tourists, ourselves included, we took some photos, browsed the little shops around the square, bought some more glass :0. We found a bun shop for lunch, and bought some take away buns, Stephen and Andrea thought they would sit at an empty cafe table just outside where we bought our buns, they were moved on very quickly! We sat on the steps next to the inaccessible cafe tables and chairs to eat our lunch, I lasted 2 minutes before the scavenging pigeons drove me to stand up, my bun was rubbish anyway so found myself a fresh fruit salad and wandered round eating it.

We spent a couple of hours just taking in the sights and poking about the little shops, before catching a waterbus back to the main bus station. The water bus was packed full but we had a great spot outside, all was well until a mountain of a man who was as wide as he was tall with the biggest backpack in the world came aboard, he smacked me with his back pack nearly sending me down the stairs and some poor old guy who told him rather abruptly to take the backpack off and put it at his feet. He very snarkily said I'm going to when I can, the old guy and I just gave him looks which said you're an idiot and you should have carried the backpack aboard not worn it on your back smacking it into people.....twit!

Spent the last part of the afternoon soaking up some sun by the pool with our books, drinks and having the occasional dip, before a very average dinner in the hotel restaurant. A wee party in our room, 4 of us and one bottle of wine, before a late night to bed, not a great idea as we have to be up at sparrows fart to catch the train to Innsbruck.

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Photos

Venice
Woo hoo in Venice

Venice
Big baby

Venice
Yum!

Venice
You can fit how many people in a bus stop?

Venice
Finally on the boat bus on our way to Murano

Gondola
Andrea and Garry

Gondola ride
Hope that bus misses us !

Taxi ride
Our water taxi

Taxi
Being celebrities

Taxi
More celebrity photos

Venice
Classic Venice

Venice
Enjoying the day