Venice 3

Scala du Bovolo monument. My apartment door is where I took the picture from.
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Last leg of my trip is 6 days back in Venice. Took the daytrain from Paris to Venice. Train from Paris to Milan I was sitting beside a guy from Afghanistan, whom I chatted with a bit (his English was poor). At the border the Italian Polizia came to do their routine passport checks. This young man only had his ID, no passport. He was told to take his bag and was kicked off the train, I never saw him again the rest of the ride. The train arrived 10min late in Milan, so I missed my correspondence to Venice. Waited for the next train, which was an hour later and which I had no reservation for. This train was packed - had to sit on a foldout seat in the walking aisle of a compartment car, even then some people still had to stand.

View from the Rialto bridge at night
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People can be so strange. I was watching the American family that was in the compartment across from my seat. The mother wipes the spout before her daughter drinks from a bottle of water the family was sharing. But she lets her daughter lick fingers and palms after the girl eats chips. I mean this is fullout saliva, catch every crumb with your tongue - type of hand cleaning. And I'd seen the girl touching the bottom of her shoe (amoung other things I'm sure) with her hands. Cripes.

Anyways back to Venice, and a week of drowning in the magic of the city, eating more gelato and drinking ciocolato. This time I stayed in an apartment right across from the Scala du Bovolo monument - 2 bedrooms, private terrace.. http://www.venicerentals.com/apartments/apartments1.htm ok so I splurged a little this last time ;)

Burano, lovely and peaceful.
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Visited St Mark's Basilica, Doges Palace, Corror Museum, and a couple other museums. Unfortunately by now I've seen my share of palaces, churches, and museums so none of these really impressed me :( Went to an orchestra concert one evening. Travelled to the laguna islands of Murano and Burano. The fishing village of Burano is so colorful and peaceful and just lightyears away from the bustling touristy Venice. Bought some glass jewlery from Murano, but skipped the lace from Burano (for what each island is famous for).

mmm ciocolato
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One thing I really wanted to do was check out the nightlife in Venice, not many clubs but lots of bars. But I didn't get to because either I'd spend the night drinking alone or I'd attract random Italian guys, which I wish would happen if I wasn't travelling alone in a foreign country :( Instead I spent nights just strolling the streets of Venice. There's something about this place, I can just spend hours sitting in a campo or standing on the Rialto bridge watching the world go by and be satisfied. Checked out the bars during the day - the famous Spritz (mix of white wine, Campari, and selzer) is lethal ;)

View down onto St Mark's Square. So beautiful.
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Explored the less touristy parts of Venice, if there is such a thing. Even walking through the quietest alleys, another person would turn in from the other side. A group of people would be talking Italian so I think they're locals, but then BAM they pull out a map.

Last day in Venice, the song "Home" by Micheal Buble was playing in a cafe. You know the part that goes "..in paris and rome.. surrounded by a million people i still feel all alone, I just wanna go home.. another aerorplane another sunny place i'm lucky I know but I wanna go home.. i've had my run, baby i'm done i gotta go home" was kinda how I was feeling. But I know I'll miss this.

A pigeon flew into the cafe. I was waiting for it to fly around and cause a commotion, but nothing exciting happened. Damn tame pigeon.
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My flight back to Regina was from Venice Marco Polo airport at 6:30am on the 18th. Instead of staying an extra night and getting up early, I took the landbus to the airport the night before. Hehe yep I was an airport bum. Waited 8hours - the airport was deserted from midnight to 4am except for me and another bum lady waiting for her flight. 2 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany on Lufthansa Air (Germany has the best rail AND air transportation!). 2 hour wait in Frankfurt. 8 hour flight to Toronto. Then an 8 hour wait in Toronto. And finally a 2 hour flight back to Regina. 48 hours of no sleep ;)