The Floating City

En route to Austria on the bus, and everyone has the contagious Contiki Cough! So gross 50 people coughing consistently. :-/

Lucky I haven't got sick yet. But considering wearing a sars mask!

Anyway we arrived in Venice two days ago but our original campsite accommodation was over booked and had no hot water. So we checked into a hotel. We were all so excited till we arrived to "Bates Motel" This place looked like no one had booked in decades. In fact the staff even looked excited they finally had customers. It even smelt like an old lady's house that hadn't been dusted EVER. Anyway as dodgy as it is we headed the next day on a boat over to Venice.

Venice is made up of 118 islands all accessible by tiny bridges. There are no cars and no bikes. Only boats and gondolas.

Walking through the city was such a surreal experience because every little arched bridge you walked over - to your left and right were canals filled with shiny teal coloured water. The water was so still it mirrored a reflection of the buildings lining the canals. Not to mention beautiful built gondolas in red, black and gold floating down.

After getting through the middle of the city we came out to St Marks Square. If you stand in the middle of this huge square and look around, the building walls were all archways that ran for miles. Under each archway were cream drawdown curtains and the cutest cafes and restaurants underneath. Most of the restaurants had bands playing violins and harps. Very romantic!

After roaming around the square I decided to venture off on my own. So off I headed with a map down a lane way. Murano crystal and glass is made in Venice so you can imagine the stores full of the nicest sculptures, wine glasses, jewellery, perfume bottles all handmade in Italy. I bought a few pressies for myself and Mum. But it's very hard to buy things that aren't going to smash in your suitcase. I would of loved to have bought some glasses or a vase.

For 100 years Venice has been holding a Carnival where the rich and poor come together and everyone wears these beautiful and eccentric masks. They did this so that no one knew each others status or who they were. So all over the lane ways and markets are thousands of masks ranging from €5-€500. All handmade in Italy. Some stores you can even watch people make them in front of you. Again it was to hard to bring home one. And really what would you do with it? Even though they're so so cool!

After searching through the markets and streets, (which is so much fun because there's no cars in your way) I headed to lunch and had steak and salad. Cannot explain how much I'm craving Aussie food. Pretty put off bread pasta and pizza! I went back to meet up with the group for the gondola rides!

Upon getting on these gondolas they're actually pretty unstable and you have to stay seated and even. We bought two bottles of Bellini, which tastes like the yummiest smoothie. We drifted down the canals and it's so relaxing and silent. You just sit back and take in all the old history in the buildings.

Floating past, all the buildings are vintage styled homes coloured terracotta with dark green shutters. Sometimes the locals hanging out the windows waving at us. Every now and then you'd come across these little cellar windows and doors, they kind of look like little caves off the river.
You'll have to check out my photos to get the idea of it. But this city is one I would return too! It's so pretty and so relaxing dining out along the canals and watching all the trade boats and gondolas floating up and down.

It was a pretty hot and tiring day so back to the hotel and off to the local pub for dinner where we went to order a drink and the bartender said "Nope, first ones on me!" and whipped out a samurai sword and took off the top of a champagne bottle. Not to mention it wasn't a cheap bottle........ Normally €30. Pretty sure they weren't used to females being in there pub because again he came out with two half litres of red wine and 2 shots each, and insisted we watch him light them on fire! We practically paid for 1 drink all night. But we were celebrating one of the girls 25th. For sure I thought there was a catch. But sure enough we headed home and only left a small tip for the bartender each.

So on the bus again, it's 8:50am and we won't be in Austria till 5pm! Such long drives. Tonight will be a free night so relaxing and repacking all my gifts to fit back in my suitcase. Only 10 more days left on tour!! Going so fast but can't wait to get back to London!!

MISSING EVERYONE!

xx