Magical Venezia

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Arriving in Venice when we did was perfect, our boatbus to the hostel was cruising the canal right as the sun was starting to set.

The last time we were here we were camping outside of the city so it was quite a treat to be able to stay right in town. Across the water from San Marco, in fact! Just one waterbus stop away!

The hostel itself was pretty strange. It is in an old warehouse type building and is segregated. It is advertised as 12bed dorms but the walls don't go up to the ceiling so really, the entire floor is one big dorm. It also is one of those hostels where school groups stay, which was pretty irritating. About 3 school groups of crowdy chattery screamy children, ach. But the hostel more than made up for that with its AMAZING breakfast.

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one bun.

one butter.

one jam.

one watery coffee or hot chocolate.

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mmmmmmm...

Luckily there was a cafe next door where we got some very nice early morning cappuccinos.

Our first day, we went to San Marco Basilica, which we didn't see last time because the lines were huge and I would have had to wear pants all days in the heat (because we were staying so far away) So it was nice to go in this time.

It's really stunning, the ceiling is all these mosaics that look as smooth as a painting, the floors has mosaics with amazing perspective, everything is just incredible. They have gold in the mosaics as well as jewels. You can see the difference in them too, the early ones and the later ones look very different. there were a lot of tourists around so it was pretty crowded but there was still enough space to stand and gape without being hurried.

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We spent the rest of the day wandering aroud venice, getting lost on purpose, stopping in shops, eating pizza, getting coffee whenever we needed a bathroom (all the public toilets are pay toilets so we figured we might as well get a coffee/gelato out of it!!). Mom went off on her own for a bit so Scott and I had some walking time alone, which was nice.

That night we went to... an OPERA!!! It wasn't a full blown costumes/sets/story opera, but it was an opera concert with a some strings backing it up. It was beautiful and wonderful and I loved it.  After the concert, Mom and Chris went back to the hostel and Scott and I walked around, finding some places that we'd liked last time we were in venice.

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That night in our segregated hostel, the girls in the 'room' next door would not shut up so my mom and I stood on her bunk bed and stared at them until they shut up- it was most creepy of us, I know, but pretty funny.

The next day we all branched off. Chris went to Vicenza where the Campignolo Bike Part factory is, on a little pilgrimage, if you will. Yvette got lost in Venice then went to Burano.

And Scott and I went to Murano, where we watched a master glassblower do some blowin', then walked around looking in the shops. The weather was overcast which always makes me feel sleepy, so I was kind of dragging my feet a bit.

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We took the waterbus to Burano, a veritable easter egg of a village. By the time we got there the weather had cleared up. All the houses are painted bright and beautiful colours. It's also known for it's lace-making. Every year, the women repaint their houses the same bright colours and then they have a lace circle! It's super pretty and not as touristy as the main islands of venice.  We sat on a pier for a picnic and enjoyed the sun and the breeze for a while, then briefly looked at some lace places.

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Next we took a waterbus to Torcello and on the bus, while it was pulling away, we saw an angry tourist yelling at the bus attendant in english. "wait for me! i just got off the other bus-come back here! What is your name?! TELL ME YOUR NAME!!!" which was pretty funny. Torcello is supposed to be an island that was deserted in the face of malaria a long time ago and has supposedly never been re-habitated. Only has some ruins left...However, they seem to have done a lot of work on it because there were the requisite tourist restaurants with obscene prices, and there is a long path to the ruins that is the only way you can go, so there isn't really wandering abilities there, just follow the path to the tourist attraction, then follow it back. Also, it costs money to go into everything there, even the big church (you can go into a chapel for free) and even the only public toilet around 1EURO to pee, for goodness sake!!

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So we went to a restaurant and had a standing up cup of coffee (which is always less in Italy and France, I don't know where else) and both of us used the toilet and it cost less than 2euros for both of us! Pee and a coffee... they should put that on the menu.

We went back to Venice and got delightfully lost on the way to the hostel. Also, we went into this grocery store and bought what we needed for dinner and some snacks and they gave Scott too much change back, which he didn't notice until later which was pretty cool, since we lost 10euros just a few days before!

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We had a picnic on the steps of a great building near our hostel where  Chris found us and joined us, having returned from Vicenze unsuccessful in his pilgrimmage at the bike factory. *tear*

We stayed there as the sun went down and it got darker, playing with our drawing stuff and snacking, until it was too dark to see!

Friday we walked all over, going to a park and looking for random cafes to stop at. Scott, Yvette, and Chris went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum but I wanted to continue wandering, so while they went there, I walked clear across town and sat with my feet dangling over the water, watching boats going by.

We had a pretty mellow evening, Chris was hanging out with some Aussies, Mom was doing her laundry and Scott and I went to and internet place and walked around the island.

Then next day we brought all our stuff to lockers near the bus station. Chris spent the day hanging out at a park and in that area while the rest of us walked to the Palazzi Grassi, a really good modern art gallery. We saw a lot of our various top artists there. At the end, Scott went back to do round two and mom and I went for pizza.

Then Scott got pizza and we went to get our stuff. The bus to the airport was packed and the A/C was broken and it was so hot and stuffy. Ugh. Then our flight was delayed and the whole airport was packed full of people and hot and smelly.

Then we were in..............