Venice

---

Hi everyone

We are just leaving Venice and heading for Genoa via Milan. Unfortunately we managed to go to the wrong railway station but Italian train authorities are obviously used to clueless tourists and let us on the train.



Venice is a gorgeous place, not really at all like I pictured. No floods, no smell and not very cold. We managed to get lost a zillion times. The place is fully of tiny alleys winding round ancient buildings and canals. The first night we got really lost. As you know being lost is not a new thing for me but Peter was very sorry he left his compass behind. About an hour and a half after a journey that should have taken 5 minutes, we emerged victorious from the supermarket with two of the important food groups, beer and Italian chocolate.



We stayed at the Hotel Campiello which did not quite live up to its website publicity. For some reason we got to stay in a room outside of the hotel. I guess it was an “apartment”. A very strange small apartment a bit bigger than an Australian bathroom. We never did get to see how the “other half” lived inside the hotel.



However, the BIG bonus was the proximity to the Grand Canal and the public transport. It was about 50 metres away from boats of every shape and size. Lots of gondolas. Not that impressive in real life A bit tacky.



To give you some idea of the scale, the grand canal which is the major waterway is about 75 metres wide and there are boats everywhere. Traffic chaos Italian style with boats rather than cars. Incredibly they don’t run into each other especially as the gondolas are black and don’t have lights even at night. It all seems to work though



We had some really good food and some ordinary stuff. The discovery of the trip so far is Italian pizza which is not like Australian pizza at all. Very thin and crisp pastry with minimal topping. It’s gorgeous and there’s no grease and fat at all. I had THE best meringue over at Lido. Meringue, cream and chocolate heaven some of which went into my mouth and the rest on my face. Bliss!!!!



The weather has been quite mild so far. About the equivalent of a mild Melbourne day. I’m wearing my Brisbane winter clothes with a jumper and jacket. The Michelin man look is very trendy here! Scarfs and headwear are essential, especially for the follically challenged!



We loved Venice and were privileged to share it with only a few tourists, interestingly most of whom were Chinese, in huge groups! Everything was open, and the pre purchased boat, church, museum and palace tickets made things easy. We visited Murano and Burano islands. The glass was impressive but I managed to resist. The main part of Venice is shaped like a fish and took most vaporetto (public boat) routes while exploring.



If you saw my facebook postings, you could no doubt tell that I LOVED having in flight wifi. It was incredibly cheap. I spent the princely sum of $2.00 to entertain myself for 23 hours of flying. I’m sure that price won’t last. Travelling on the Emirates A380 was amazing. The seats are bigger than normal and there is more legroom Unfortunately we have QANTAS on the way home.



We spend tonight in Genoa before departing on our cruise and our first stop is in Barcelona. Everything is pretty close so there’s not a lot of cruising days unlike what we are used to on Pacific cruises. It’s been a little bit Christmassy in Venice but I expect things to build up as we get closer to the 25th. It rather nice to be cold rather than boiling hot.



Just arrived in Genoa! Dinner...



Love pj and sandy

---