Venezia (day one)

Venice was kind of one of those places where everything felt spectacular. Like everywhere you turn is going to look similar to where you just were but that doesnt' change the fact that it's all a little bit ungraspable. like hey, let's build a city on a bunch of water, watch it sink and still be amazed. like yes, we're a bit cliche, over the top and touristy, but that doesn't mean you're not going to love us still.

love it we did. as is evident from the 200 pictures taken over the course of three days.

we had a few adventures before even arriving including a two point five hour bus ride to Trieste where the bus stopped at the Slovenian border and a woman resembling Morticia Addams came to sloooooowly inspect every single person's passport (second Addams family run in on the trip). We then were shuffled through an immigration office where a sullen man stamped, stamped, stamped away all passports and then were herded back out the office, across an actual line and then herded back onto the bus that moved a total of thirty feet ahead. Welcome to europe.


last two seats on the back of the bus, wedged between a scary looking Addams family Croatian lookalike, three jolly, senior Italians and no airconditioning vents

I slept much of the ride through Slovenia, but from what I remember it all looked very green, mountainy and beautiful. Our short tryst in trieste involved finding the train station, triple checking that we purchased the correct tickets and hopping on the train next to some spectacularly dressed italians. two hours later we ended up in the outer stations of venice without a clue for how to get to our hostel. not that finding it was much better...


the view from our 'lovely' camping village venezia located, i kid you not, at the direct back of Venice Leonardo da Vinci airport's airfield; 3am landings, 6am departures. you may think, wicked, easy commute to the airport. oh no. we flew Ryanair and were thus located at the 'out of town' airport a further 45 minutes away.

there were perks, i suppose: a crowd of loud australians, two swimming pools, our own air conditioned prefab cabin and a once an hour shuttle bus to the city. staying in venice proper is far too expensive, especially after a week in mega-cheap Croatia, so we did the best we could.


The Grand Canal and our first glimpses of Venice


second glimspe of Venice. we, on that stop, determined this city is for us


more grand canal


the unfortunate circumstance of there being 500 canals in venice is that jen and i could never, ever figure out where we were. we walked ourselves in venetian circles without fully knowing/understanding what we were looking at


something pretty


jen and the bridge without a parapet, one of three left in the city. health and safety, you know.


gondolier


gelato in the very hot afternoon sun somewhere in the sleepy Jewish quarter, our favourite part of the city






Gondola traffic


The Rialto (crammed with upwards of 5000 people at a time, mostly annoying American tourists wearing sneakers and hip packs. we avoided central Venice at all costs)




i'm aware that the reality of living in Venice is rather sad; the youth/young adult population is diminishing due to the expense of living in Venice and the lack of professional jobs. add that to living in a place consistently rammed with tourists, with strict laws/codes about building/renovating and yeah okay, not so much. but driving a boat to work? definite benefits.


looking left and/or right on any given street


looking up on any given street


my starter, eek!


mains: me, my venetian sardines and my venetian sardine face. another brave food attempt for me...thankfully there were no heads attached to the fish under the layer of onions and rocket.


this photo perhaps epitomises the entire trip

and it's only the beginning of venice...