I didn't think the scenery from Vienna to Munich could be topped, but the road from Munich to Venice was six hours of the most gorgeous landscapes. At first it was mountains and cliff faces and epic bridges only to give way to much of the same in Italy, with the addition of vineyards and orchards, only ceasing when they came to the bases of yet more looming mountains. So beautiful!! The main difference I noticed from our service stop in Austria to our service stop in Italy was the temperature. I stepped out the bus in Austria to clear blue skies, but hectic wind. In Italy I stepped out to a wall of hot air I hadn't expected or experienced yet. I think the bad weather is following me though, as it started raining when I got to Venice and is currently storming outside again. Bugger.
Venice is lovely. Just like the pictures, believe it or not. I think Courtney spent her time here walking around hoping this man would jump out and seduce her:
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| Sleeeeeaze... |
And I spent my time hoping this man would jump out and totally fail to seduce me 'cause he's such a spazz:
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| Fezes are cool... |
Venice has been mean to Courtney and I. I've been eaten alive by mozzies, though as Courtney pointed out 'At least they didn't eat your eyes...' and it's rained more than half the time that I've been here. Not to mention the hopeless camp ground I'm at. The city itself is so stunning however, that I honestly don't give a crap. I'm just a bit itchy and rained on.
I headed into Venice with no idea where to go, but I had no idea what I was looking for in the first place, so I wasn't exactly at a loss. I wandered around following vague signs that seemed to be pointing toward significant sights. You become extremely aware of your surroundings when you want to be able to find your way back somewhere without signs. I was eagerly staring at everything around me. It's so gorgeous and so ridiculous, it's just lovely to stroll around, crossing a little bridge every twenty metres or so. The water is the most stunning sort of green-blue colour and on a day with blue skies it's incredible. I love that cars are replaced by boats too. Today appeared to be delivery day in Venice and boats chugged around with huge boxes and crates piled on them whilst burly men struggled to wheel them around the narrow streets and up the countless steps on the countless bridges. Every now and then two men would try to go down an alley in opposite directions and one would have to back into a side street so the other could pass. It must be a nightmare! Likewise with the gondola's. On multiple occasions I would watch as three or four of them headed towards each other in a narrow canal and wonder how they'd manage to get through. They always did though. Skills. I also saw a market boat moored in a canal today. So cool. There were countless types of veggies and at least half a dozen types of mushrooms that looked divine. One of the workers was sitting peeling artichokes to sell fresh artichoke hearts. Rad.
On one day I sat one the edge of a canal and watched lots of fish chilling in the water nearby. You can almost always see a few of them boogie-ing around the hulls of boats or near the surface.
There were a great many clock towers scattered around in Venice. I was sitting in a square on the only bench I'd found in the whole city next to some chattering old Italian ladies when one clock started to chime only for another one not too far away to chime slightly after the first. Cool. As for the chair situation, there are signs outside businesses everywhere that say 'This is not a pic-nic area' (yeah? What about picnic?) and 'Venetians do not like people who eat off the floor.' Damn. Harsh! You now how to remedy this Venetians? Invest in some damn chairs! I hate that it feels like they're trying to bully you to go to restaurants and spend a ridiculous amount of money for the privelage of sitting down. I just went back and found my chair whenever I wanted to sit. Screw you Venice! I found a chair!
I'd been in and around Austria and Germany for quite some time, so the change from German to Italian was a pretty drastic one. I had to keep stopping myself from saying 'danke' every time I was served in a shop. They probably just would have assumed I was German... A German with a really crap accent. Speaking of Germany... When we were in Berlin our friend told us that there was a hostel there called 'Heart of Gold' that was Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy themed. If I'd known this before we booked our hostels, I'd have been there in a hot minute.
Every second shop was selling Venetian masks. After a while they all started to look the same. In fact I'm pretty sure most of them were just mass produced and were the same. Some places had displays with big black cloaks and masks that made me think of V in 'V for Vendetta.'
Speaking of 'V for Vendetta', it also made me excited that we're going to be in England on November 5 for Guy Fawkes day. We'll get to watch people set fire to shit and blow stuff up. Oh, yeah.
Also, In Venice we found out that The Globe were filming the production of Henry IV that we saw. This makes us very happy. VERY!
Just about everyone I've asked about Venice has said 'It's a shit hole' or some variation there upon. I don't know why they didn't like it or what they were expecting, but it's exactly what I'd hoped for. Perhaps it's because most of them had just come from Munich and were in a hungover haze or perhaps it's because there weren't a million places for them to go get trashed. It's Venice guys!! It is what it is!!
This computer is rubbish, so expect photo's later!! There are many!
Missing you all!
Love Bron xoxo
FEZES ARE SO COOL! <3
ReplyDeleteNot as cool as Mr Tennant getting his sleaze on! <3 Court
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