Getting lost in Venice

Our evening in Innsbruck was fun. The dinner was excellent and Sam enjoyed a nice glass of Austrian wheat beer with his meal. We had a slightly early wake up call than normal but breakfast was also really good so it made up for it. Then it was on the road, we had a very scenic drive through the Austrian part of the Alps before descending into the South Tyrol/Alto Adige area. This area was part of Austria until after World War I when it was designated part of Italy. From the Alps we drove through the Dolomite Ranges, where were absolutely stunning with acres of vineyards and castles.

Our first stop of any significance was in Verona. We jumped off the bus and John took us for a quick orientation walk around the medieval wall and the Verona Amphitheatre. He also took us down and showed us Juliet’s Balcony made famous by Shakespeare’s play. It is rumored that if you rub the statue of Juliet in just the right way you will be given good luck in your love life, you will notice in the photo that several parts of the statue are significantly more polished than others. We stopped off for the first Italian meal of what will be nearly a week’s worth – I had a delicious pizza with eggplant, zucchini and yellow pepper, while Sam had a creamy tuna pasta. I think we will start filling out our pants a bit more over the next week. 

Juliet and her shiny boob

The Market in Verona

From Verona we traveled another hour and a half or so to the infamous Venice – the city of Canals. The bus dropped us off at a water taxi which took us for a tour down the Grand Canal which is the main waterway through the city to St Mark’s Square. We had a quick half an hour to briefly look around before got climbed aboard some iconic gondola’s and were serenaded under the bridges and between the buildings in some of the smaller canals. It was really fun and rather beautiful in a rustic sort of way as the city is quite run down and many buildings appear abandoned or at the least in dire need of repair.

The Venice Canal's by Gondola

... Just to make you all jealous

... When the moon hits your eye...

That evening we were served dinner back at our hotel. It was a three course meal complete with lasagna, salad and a main of pork and potatoes. The courses were nicely spaced out and filled in our evening so straight after dinner we went up to bed.

This morning we woke up at 3.30 - but I that was due to an error with the hotel wake-up call, so we got to sleep for a few more hours until 6.30. We got up and had breakfast which was a bit of an effort since we had dinner just before we went to bed. However, Italian breakfasts are known for being a bit smaller (why would I need-a big-a breakfast when-a mama make-a de big-a lunch). From there we were taken by bus to a water taxi which carried us to a glass blowing gallery on the Giudecca Island(s) for a demonstration of Venetian Glass blowing. The demonstration was very impressive as the artist created within a matter of minutes a carafe and a small horse. We spent about an hour at the very large gallery looking at the different chandeliers, masks, drinking vessels and figurines.

From there it was back to the St Mark's Square for a short walking tour from John which gave us a bit of an orientation of the area. By this time it was around 11.30 and we had some free time to explore the canals and streets with there many shops and monuments. It is a very touristy area with an average of 60,000 people visiting the area per day. The businesses certainly use this to there advantage too as there are limited spaces to sit and rest your feet or go to the bathroom. A simple bathroom stop when you can find one will cost you around €1.50 and if you wish to sit down in a cafe or restaurant it has the potential to double your bill. We were told that the main cafes in St Mark's Square will charge you €9 for a simple cup of tea. So after a quite takeaway cappuccino (which only cost €2.00 and was the best we've had since leaving New Zealand) we had a bit of a rest sitting on the steps of one of the nearby monuments.   

On another note - I didn't realize how prone Venice was to flooding. I mean its a man-made city built on sand and naturally you expect that they can't get flood insurance but it floods on average 60 times per year. That is to the point where the locals choose not to occupy the ground floor of any of their residential buildings and that they have these picnic table-like stands which they lay out at high tides in areas where the Square floods. Funny enough the drains used for getting rid of the water after a high tides are usually the culprits for bringing the water in and flooding the area in the first place. Never mind though, we have been informed that the Dutch are giving the Italians a bit of a hand in making some alterations to the harbor which should reduce this.

Anyway, after our short rest we got in line to see the stunning St Mark's Basilica. The cathedral is simply stunning and only second to Barcelona's Sagrada Familia (well based on what we have seen on our trip - although St Peter's Basilica is coming up in the next few days so there may be some shuffling). Anyway, the photo really doesn't do justice to the stunning gold tiles and paintings. We couldn't begin to understand the amount of work and risk that went into creating these magnificent mosaics at such heights.

Inside St Marks Basilica

After we looked through the Church, we said goodbye to mum who went of to do a lagoon cruise excursion around the Burano Island with the rest of the group and we continued exploring. To be honest, after that point the day really escaped on us and I have no idea what we spent the following four hours doing. We just got lost (not literally Sam is very good at navigating) through the Canals and streets taking photos, drinking coffee and just exploring this really magical city. We had so much fun taking pictures and they probably say it better than I can write it.

Looking out over a main Canal

One side of  The Procuratie

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