Buonasera (Good evening)
Venice is all that and soooo much more. I was so scared that I’d made it out to be something that it might not live up to but it has no disappointed. It’s very surreal to finally be here and I love it. It’s just so awesome.
I caught the train here from Milan, pity there was a stuff up with the ticket booking and it dropped me in Venice (the mainland as opposed to the
island of Venice), at midnight. I caught a taxi here but it could only drop me so far because Venice is of course, car free but when I found the train station, the hotel was only a couple of minutes away. The hotel is okay, my room is pretty small but the bathroom is miniscule. I’m sure my room was a storage room and the bathroom was just a toilet that’s been converted. But it’s clean and comfortable even if having a shower is hilarious and the toilet is so close to wall I almost have to sit side saddle. I’m also on the ground floor just by reception which is manned 24 hours and it seems like it’s a popular place to stop and chat. I knew I packed ear plugs for a reason which explains why I slept through my alarm this morning and got a much later start than what I was hoping for. I did however need to sleep.
When I finally got myself outside (about 9.30am), the sun was shining and I had to find my sunnies and had to laugh at everyone rugged up to the max like it was snowing or something. It was cool, brisk, maybe even nippy but definitely not freezing. Toughen up people, I’ll show you cold…pfft. Hell, I even got a bit sunburnt.
So where did I go, well I caught the vaparetto (Venice’s version of a bus, not unlike the City Cats) down the Grand Canal to San Marco Square, St Mark’s Basilica, Correr Museum, Doge’s Palace, Bridge of Sigh’s, Rialto Bridge, Frari Church, back to San Marco and over to San Giorgio Maggiore and up the bell tower with excellent views looking back across to San Marco. The Basilica ceiling was amazing and Correr Museum was great and I’m not a museum person in the least but it managed to keep me interested for the most part. Looking a books made in the 10th century was amazing. The Doge’s Palace though was just mind boggling, it’s just incredible, one of the best places I’ve ever seen. In some of the rooms the ceilings and walls have so much artwork that it’s impossible to take it all in. The ceilings were covered in paintings but there were detailed stuccos around the painting and around the cornices and the Golden Staircase was beautiful. I was completely awestruck.
I had trouble finding the Frari Church because I couldn’t find some of the street names on my map but I just shrugged and figured I’m on an island, how lost can I really get!! The streets are just alleys that are about 3 maybe 4 people wide and they twist and turn and suddenly it would open up into a Campo (square). Trying find the Frari, I walked into a campo with music blaring and a temporary ice skating rink set up with market stalls around it. It was really cool. Everything that comes in or out has to be by boat. The ambulance…is a boat. The garbage truck….is a boat. It’s a busy canal but it works. I’ve seen quite a few gondolas mainly being frequented by Japanese and those guys have a tough time out in the Grand Canal. Having seen San Marco Square today in the off season, makes me wonder what it’s like in the peak season. It must be packed…..but then again, I’ll see it at it’s busiest in a few weeks. That’s why I came here first, to be able to see all these touristy things without having worry about the masses.
Had a pizza for dinner….had to do it and have planned my day for tomorrow.
Catch you then
Ciao