Day 17 - Travel to Vienna

Venice has been interesting, and we're glad we decided to visit. There are also things we still want to see, but we have had enough of Venice for the time being. The crowds, at least at this time of year, are too much. It's also exhausting to walk everywhere in this heat, and benches to sit down are scarce (let alone one in the shade). We have also gotten tired of the poor or even rude service at many of the cafes and stores here. Obviously you don't need to give good service or even good food to do good business in Venice. It's also too expensive to stay here too long - everything costs much more than anywhere else we've been.

After doing some errands in the morning, we went to the train station to catch our train. It was lucky we had arrived early, because when we arrived we noticed that the person at the ticket booth had given us a reservation for the wrong day! After typically unhelpful service from the ticket office, we managed to get a new reservation (at extra cost to us).

Deciding to have a drink at the cafe at the train station was a mistake. Receiving rude service from the waiter, we decided to leave without ordering anything. Venice had gotten too much for us.

On the train we had seats in different rows. We're convinced the ticketing staff at Santa Lucia station are hopeless - buy your tickets from another station, or online. The train was half-empty and we had unoccupied seats next to us, so we sat next to each other anyway.

Apart from that less-than-ideal start to the journey, the rest of the trip was pleasant enough. Having dinner in the dining car was a nice way to spend some of the time. Although we wouldn't rave about the food, it was made to order and tasted fresh - and was better than half the stuff we ate in Venice. We weren't sure what to expect from the dining car so it was nice to see tablecloths, full sized plates and real cutlery. The best thing was the stunning scenery.

A castle from the train window.

Arriving in Vienna we easily made our way from the train station to our hotel by catching the S-Bahn (city train syatem) a couple of stops and switching to the U-Bahn (metro). We were at our hotel in minutes.

A station of the very efficient S-Bahn.

For some reason almost every hotel in Vienna (ones that advertise online, anyway) seemed to be booked out for this night, a Tuesday, when we checked a few days ago. What we had to do in the end was stay in a more expensive hotel tonight, and switch to a cheaper one tomorrow. We're not trying to be martyrs, and we're sure you're not feeling sorry for us right now, but that's why we stayed in a more expensive hotel tonight. Our hotel for the night the Radisson SAS Style Hotel which is nice, even though it does have a bit of a generic international hotel feel.

For the first time since we arrived in Europe, our room had a bar fridge (although we didn't have tea and coffee making facilities). I don't think they understand the concept of the mini-bar over here - it was all complimentary. In Australia, at least, the mini-bar is used to squeeze as much money from the guest as possible. Needless to say, we ate and drank everything - we were paying enough for the room.

Our hotel room.

One thing we noticed is how quiet everything is around here, such a nice change from Venice. There's almost no-one about on the streets. Vienna seems to shut down at night.

Day 16 - Murano and Burano

Today we headed out to the island of Murano by Vaporetto (water bus). Murano almost a smaller version of Venice, famous for it's glass. Lots of glass can be bought in Venice and Murano - most of it made in China.

Murano is alot like Venice, only smaller and a little less crowded.

We started by visiting the glass museum on the island. It was interesting to get an insight into the history of glass making here. We ventured through the rest of the island looking for a couple of stores we had been recommended, and trying to avoid all the stores selling rubbish.

This display was in the glass museum. Apparently these sorts of 'gardens' were once very popular.

Some of the stores allowed you to see glass being blown. Want a glass penguin, for some reason? You've come to the right place.

Some of the stores we visited had some nice things but hefty prices - up to around 30,000€. The shop assistants encouraged us to touch and pick up the pieces. Not at these prices, thankyou!

We caught a vaporetto again, out to more distant island of Burano. Burano is famous for its lace, although very little is made here anymore. Disappointingly, we weren't the only people to think of coming out to this little town - the place was packed with tourists. Strangely, though, no-one was in the lace museum, execpt for three old ladies still stiching lace the old-fashioned way. The museum was in the old lace school (apparently quite famous in itself) and had some amazing pieces.

Burano is bright and colourful. It's poor campanile, like many around here, has an unfortunate lean.

Houses in Burano are smaller than in Venice, but packed closer together. There are no courtyards, either, which is why everyone hangs their clothes out in the street.

We had a simple pizza lunch, but got more than we bargained for (we're sure European serving sizes are larger). We decided to walk it off by crossing the bridge to the nearby island of Mazzorbo.

Mazzorbo is nothing at like Venice. There's only a couple of shops, a few houses, and lots of open space. It was a refreshing change! I don't think we bumped into another group of tourists while we were wandering.

A green pathway on Mazzorbo.

Back in Venice, we wandered past the Arsenale, the historic sight where the great ships of the Venetian Republic were built. It's still in use by the military, so you can't see that much inside.

David in front of the entrance to the Arsenale.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped into a tiny little electrical store where we saw a chandelier flower for sale in the window. The flower looked exactly like the candelier flowers we had seen in the historic palaces we had visited. We thought this small, inexpensive glass flower is a better souvenir and reminder of Venice than anything we had seen on Murano.

That evening we were still too full for dinner, so went out for Ice Cream on the Zattere. Our guidebook recommended three gelaterie (ice cream shops) while we were in Venice: Paolin, Il Doge and Nico. Over the last few days we had tried all three. Our verdict? Definately try the 'Crema del Doge' at Il Doge in Campo Santa Margherita.

Day 15 - Ca' Pesaro, Ca' Rezzonico, Museo Correr and mask shopping

First stop this morning was Ca' Pesaro. This huge, grand palace has an impressive baroque facade and huge courtyard. Inside however, was yet again another dull, stripped interior. The collection of artwork, however, was a nice change; mostly artwork from the 19th and 20th centuries. One highlight was Gustav Klimt's Salome.

The next palace was Ca' Rezzonico. Unlike Pesaro, there were a few rooms (from a grand ballroom, to a tiny boudoir) here that have been preserved, to varying extents. The top couple of floors, however are plain walls used to display Renaissance painters, which we were experiencing a bit of overload from. An interesting discovery was a preserved Venetian pharmacy from the 18th Century, tucked away in the upper floors.

This style of Murano glass chandelier has been a common feature of all the historic houses we have visted in Venice.

View from the upper floors of the Ca' Rezzonico.

As if we hadn't visted enough museums already, we visited the Museo Correr in San Marco. It has an interesting collection of Venetian items, including an almost complete display of all coins minted for the Republic. Another interesting display showed some of the games and sports played by Venetians.

Attached is the Museo Archeologico, with ancient scuplture. Through these rooms are the grand rooms of the Libreria Sansoviniana. Grand rooms, for sure, it was disappointing the displays were reproductions.

We had intended to buy some masks while we were in Venice, so we'd been keeping an eye out for a good store. While every second store in Venice sells masks, they mostly look the same - probably mass-produced. We spotted one store, Ca' Macana, which had masks that looked a little different. One of their claims to fame, it turns out, are the masks from Eyes Wide Shut. We looked around, and tried a few on, and settled for a couple of nice masks that weren't going to be too difficult to bring home.

Ca' Macana, on the Fondamenta della Toletta.

For dinner, we used the advice of the reception staff to find an Indian restaurant, Gandhi Ji. It was a nice change from the melted-cheese brigade. Food was good, staff were friendly and the prices were ok.

Day 14 - Ca' Mocenigo, Basilica San Marco, Caffé Florian and Vivaldi's Four Seasons

This morning we went on a mission to find a palazzo with interiors intact. We had heard that Ca' Mocenigo in Santa Croce, which we were told was more or less as it was in the 18th century.

It was a smallish palace, by Venetian standards, but the rooms were certainly grand and ornate. To our delight, the rooms we saw were indeed furnished and other other items of interest, including period clothing. We certainly recommend this small museum to anyone who visits Venice. The place was almost deserted - we wonder what all the other tourists in Venice are looking for?

We crossed the Grand Canal by traghetto. These are old gondolas that just cross the canal back and forth. Much less glamourous than a gondola ride, but much cheaper (50 cents vs 80€). It saved us alot of time walking all the way to the nearest bridge, too.

After stopping in a bakery for lunch, we visited a small church which is apparently a favourite amongst the locals. We could see why. The name of the church is Santa Maria dei Miracoli. The marble inside and out is quite beautiful.

The beautiful, small church, Santa Maria dei Miracoli.

Next stop was a somewhat larger and more famous church - Basilica San Marco. Certainly in a very different style to the churches we had visited in Paris and Avignon. We visited the Treasury to have a look are the artifacts, and all the yucky relics - hands, teeth, arms, etc. supposedly of saints.

Basilica San Marco.

View of the Piazza from Basilica San Marco. You can see Caffé Florian on the left. Yep, those are thousands of pigeons.

While in Piazza San Marco, we decided to have coffee in one of the famously expensive cafes. The only question was Florian or Quadri.

We settled on Florian, which is apparently the oldest cafe in Italy, having opened in 1720. We had coffee and cake for two, which was a nice experience, but probably not worth the 50€ it cost us. It's not the sort of thing you would do more than once.

David in Caffé Florian.

Our nicely presented coffee and cake in Caffé Florian.

We headed back to the hotel to get changed for the concert. After Florian we chose to have a cheap and cheerful dinner of takeaway pizza.

This unusual store uses mannequins in the form of Venetian doges - in high heels.

Having a bit of time to explore San Marco, we found the famous opera house, La Fenice, and Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, which was tucked away in a maze of alleyways but worth seeking out (look at the picture, you'll see what we mean).

The famous staircase of Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo.

The concert was Vivaldi's Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni) as played by an ensemble called Interpreti Veneziani, a very talented group.

Day 13 - Palazzo Ducale and the Campanile

After a morning doing our laundry at the busiest time of day, we dropped into a bakery for a cheap lunch.

Afterwards we decided to brave the crowds and visit the Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale) in San Marco. Surprisingly the queue was short and we spent a while exploring this grand building. The inside was largely bare of furniture (which we're noticing is a trend in European historic houses) with very little information given beyond who painted the walls and the ceiling and what school they belonged to.

A blurry picture of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, or Great Council Hall.

A view of San Giorgio Maggiore from Palazzo Ducale.

The palace had an amazing number of waiting rooms and committee rooms, with the Grand Council chamber being the most enormous and impressive.

We crossed the Bridge of Sighs that links the palace to the prisons, resisting the temptation to sigh unlike most of our fellow tourists. The prison was one of the first purpose built in the world, and was intended to improve prisoners' conditions. Casanova is supposed to have escaped from here. There was some interesting graffiti but very little explanation.

View from the Bridge of Sighs.

David in the prisons.

After our luck with the queue earlier, we were again lucky to find the queue for the campanile to be relatively short. The campanile was rebuilt in 1902 after the earlier one collapsed and today tourists are only allowed up by lift. The view from the top put Venice in perspective and we were grateful that the huge bells weren't rung while we were up there.

The Campanile.

View from the Campanile, towards Dorsoduro and Giudecca.

View across Venice towards the mainland (Mestre).

That evening we wanted to try some authentic Venetian cuisine at a restaurant called Antica Besseta. To get to the restaurant we went down the narrowest street we had seen (about 50cm wide). Sitting outside enjoying some delicious food (David had a delicious prawn and saffron pasta) it was funny to see lost tourists searching for the street only to be startled that they were in fact looking for the narrowest crack between two houses. Several others called into the restaurant - the only one on this lovely, quiet back street - for directions throughout the night.

A very narrow street.

And a very low street.

Day 12 - Arrival in Venice and Ca' D'Oro

We arrived in Venice at around 8 am and walked the few steps to our hotel to leave our luggage. While we were waiting for check-in time, we wended our way through the streets of Venice, eventually crossing the city to San Marco. The streets of Venice are even more maze-like than Avignon with the addition of criss-crossing canals and numerous palazzi. It is fascinating to see this place for the first time, when one is still excited by the sight of masks and supposed Murano glass in the shops and the novelty of a city in which most of the traffic is pedestrian or on water.

Hotel Florida, convieniently just around the corner from the train station. Very handy when you have to carry your bags! (Water taxis are very expensive.)

The Grand Canal in front of the train station.

Stunning glass from Murano. Imagine trying to get this back to Australia!

We started walking early, so saw some of Venice without tourists. As our walk wore on the multitudes of tourists appeared and crammed all of the main streets.

We checked in to a really lovely room with a small balcony (albeit overlooking a narrow alley) and refreshed ourselves.

We stopped in a Jewish bakery for lunch on the way to the Venetian Ghetto. This ghetto was the first to carry that name anywhere in the world and comprises a small 'island' surrounded by canals on all sides. Since all Jews were required to live there the area is much higher density than other areas of Venice with buildings of about 6 storeys. Today it is a quiet place, off the main tourist path (which surprised us). There is a main square with a synagogue, museum and holocaust memorial.

The campo of the Venetian ghetto.

We made our way to the famous and opulant palazzo Ca' D'Oro. It is now holds an art collection but we hoped to see some of the inside of a palazzo as well. Unfortunately there is almost nothing left of the original interior and we could have been in any art gallery anywhere.

The beautiful facade of Ca' D'Oro, on the right.

After another walk we had an okay Italian meal at a very touristy spot when we got tired of saying no to touts. We vowed it would be the last restaurant with a tout we would eat at on principle.

Day 11 - Night train to Venice

After visiting the supermarket and doing some shopping to replace some clothes that hadn't survived the laundry in Paris, it was off to Venice!

It was a long train trip, but we got to see some of the coastline, from Marseille (not so nice) up to Cannes and Nice (a bit prettier). At Nice we switched trains to a sleeper. We had wanted to travel during the day, but all the trains had been booked out.

In our cabin there were three beds and we were sharing with an Australian from Brisbane called Ben. He has been working for a year in Scotland and on his last holiday before returning home.

It was a little difficult to sleep - the train kept on stopping and starting - but it was ok. The train worked its way up through Monaco, up to Milan and across to Venice. In the morning the guard woke us with a cappuccino and a packet croissant. We were in almost there!

We passed through the ugly industrial city of Mestre and watched as we sped along the long bridge into Venice.