Venice

After our adventures in Rome, we set off for Venice, travelling by Ryanair. Ryanair does not reserve seats, so any Ryanair flight involves a scrum as people run to the plane to get the best seat (apparently, there's a difference!). Surviving the scrum, we managed to get seats together and away we went.

Upon landing, we noticed it was very foggy and even more excitingly, snowing! We got on the bus to Mestre train station. When we booked accommodation for Venice, we got a great deal at a hotel in Mestre, far cheaper than youth hostels, which is about 10 min by bus from the island of Venice. I was initially concerned about staying on the mainland, but we were soon to be rewarded for this as we got off the bus at the Mestre station. After a fair bit of confusion, we found the bus to take us to the hotel, which dropped us off at Piazzo Ferreto, a nearby square. It was absolutely magical, all lit up with Christmas decorations, foggy and covered in a thin layer of snow. After the confusion about where to go and how to get there, this sight made staying in Mestre worth it. We then got another surprise as we got to our very nice hotel- they upgraded us to single rooms each as they were out of twins (at no extra cost). And the bus to Venice left from outside the hotel, every 10 minutes during the day and every half an hour from 11pm till the morning.

The next day we set off to venice at 1st light in order to make the most of our limited time there (after our buffet breakfast included in our hotel deal!) there was still plenty of snow around, and we spent about 10 hours wandering. Despite it being freezing (I had to buy another pair of socks)
we had a fantastic day, wandering without a map, peeking into shops and meeting locals and tourist alike. As well as finding the only Beatles shop in Italy, we saw gorgeous lacework, great cafes and lots of Murano glass. We also met and had a long chat to the photographer for the venetian paper, whoe father's photographs of celebrities such as george Cloony, Nicole Kidman etc adorned the walls (from the Venice film festival). He owns 2 photography shops open 9-7:30pm and does the newspaper photography, working 7 days a week.

We decided to do the tourist thing and go on a gondola ride, but when we found out how much it was decided against it. As we were walking away a brazilian couple in their 50s or 60s asked us how much it cost and on a whim I asked them if they wanted to split the cost. After some discussion, they were keen. The next gondelier asked a higher price than the previous one, but the combined bargaining powers of Jarnie and Anneke meant we got it cheaply!

Before I go, another few observations about Italy: there is a very prominent military prescence, with all sorts of forms of armed forces and police everywhere, guarding embassies with their machine guns, wandering around the streets and sitting on street corners. They all have very smart uniforms.

Italians were very friendly to us when we mangled their language. After learning Buon Anno, we said it to everyone we met. One lady, in the supermarket, practically hugged us as she smiled a huge smile and said 'bellisimo'.

Anyway, running out of time at the internet cafe.

Ciao,

Anneke