Italy - Venice

We had very high expectations of Venice, yet when we arrived we were both spellbound! Instead of walking to our accomodation we took the Vaporetto (ferry).

Our arrival in the early afternoon, cruising down the Grand Canale, in the warm sun was just amazing, so different to anything we had ever seen before (except the Venetian in Las Vegas I guess!)

Our room in Best B & B was very nice, and we were able to use a small kitchen which was a bonous. Only one bathroom for the whole floor was a pain at times, but comparatively cheap and in a great location near Rialto bridge. The lady who ran it was very nice but did not speak any english, but I would definately recommend this place.

After checking we went for a walk through the mercado (market) and over the Rialto bridge. At one stage we turned a corner to see a small canal and bridge. Probably only the 3rd or 4th bridge we had seen, Christine remarked 'Oh look, another bridge!'... one of only a few hundred just like it!

Next morning we stopped at the mercado to buy some pescare and scampi (fish and prawns). We also got some vegetables to cook up for dinner. The rest of the day we spent walking around semi randomly. We decided against buying a detailed map, instead opting to just explore and see where we ended up. We did see the Rialto bridge and San Marco square. On our way we saw many small canals and bridges, much less crowded than the main tourist areas and buildings with beautiful windows and doors. Our poor memory card is getting a work out this week, I thought we took a lot of photos in the Swiss Alps, but Christine has taken it to a whole new level in Venice.

La Biennale di Venezia is a art exhibition with artists from all over the world that is on at the moment, it only happens every second year. Part of this is that there are many small galleries open around Venice which are free to visit, so we saw a few of these including Russia and Australia which were really good.

We sat and ate Gelato under a bridge, but had to eat very quick as it was melting everywhere. We then headed home, cooked dinner and then had fruit salad on the Grand Canale. Our dinner was awesome, vegetable in white wine vinegar and pescare e scampi with rosemary, garlic and butter.

Wednesday morning we headed to one of the two main exhibitions of the Bienale. This was in an old shipyard and had many sculptures, drawings, paintings, video, prints etc... One of my favourites was an ice sculpture of an eagle.We then spent the afternoon island hopping, including a few hours on Lido, eating lunch, swimming, lying and walking on the beach. The beach was crowded which we expected, the weather all week was sunny and in the high 20's. The water was very warm, so we spent a while swimming.

On the way back we had gelato at Punta Sabbioni, passed through Burano which looked really nice with very colourful houses, Mazzorbo and Murrano. It was getting late, but we did get some nice sunset photos out on the water.

Thursday we had a busy day heading back to San Marco and into the church. This was very busy with a long line, but we learnt a new trick, just follow a tour group who has priority access, much quicker! The church was beautiful with dome ceilings, mosaics and paintings and lots of gold. Unfortunately our tour group was Spanish so we didn't understand much of what the guide was saying...

We then went to the second main exhibition of the Bienale, which was predominately country based, eg one artist was selected from each country to contribute works. This was great and took most of the day. We liked the paintings from Brazil and Spain and also the Russian exhibitions. The Australian exhibition was fascinating and a bit disturbing. The main video was a series of roadside clips with road kill in the foreground. A guy dressed in black would then come an pick up the road kill. There was also another video of the car from mad max driving through the desert in slow motion.

Some other works were not very good at all, like Israel which looked like a 3yos drawings and the Austrian exhibition which looked like photos from the set of 'Bruno' the movie. Many were also boring videos, that looked like random scenes that anyone with a camera could create.

After the exhibition we rushed back to the hotel, and then out again on the ferry, which was packed and felt like it was going to sink. We then caught a train to a pretty little town called Treviso to meet up with Elisa and Roberto (Scotland tour) for dinner. After a walk around town and a Venetian Spritzer we headed to a nice restaurant for an Italiano Pizza. Our 3 days in Venice we really only got lost once, apart from tonight, following Roberto around we had to ask for directions about 3 times, but it was fun! The town was very nice with trendy shops and restaurants and a university. It was great to catch up with our friends, and hope to see them again, in London or Melbourne perhaps!

Our last night in Venice we also saw another storm (we had one the first night). They only last a few hours but are amazing, the sky lights up with lightening and the thunder is deafening. It also pours rain, but we were inside so it was great to watch!

While we have done a lot in Venice, and had great weather, I think the best part was simply walking around the canals, especially away from the crowds. It is a quiet and beautiful city... oh and did I mention that there were a few nice bridges?