Venezia, Italia by Kev

4.8.2025. Packed, breakfast and off. Hopped on a train to Venice. We arrived in Venice around 3, then walked to our new stay. Google had trouble, small streets, bad signal, but we found it. After a bit of fun with the front door, which involved a phone call made by a guy walking by to the owner/manager, we were in. I reckon he knew them and has dealt with this before. In we went. Past a biggish communal area, up to our room. One big room, two beds and our own shower/toilet. We settled in once again, then ventured out into the city. Emma bought another Pandora charm. Both kids bought a box of chocolates each, the same box, so Mel put names on each. We found some pizza to eat for dinner, then headed back. Tried the shower, works ok. Wifi is shit and barely works in our room. Today is the end of our 7th month of travelling. It's hard to believe that we have been away from home for that long. I’m still ok with this travel thing, haven't killed anyone yet. I do start to miss things. We called my sister yesterday, and she showed us our dog. It was really nice to talk to Bec, though it reminded me how much I miss coming home and being greeted by my big furry idiot. Travelling is not all sunshine and skittles and foreign beer. We've had our tough moments. I would not, however, change how this year has gone, and I do not for one moment wish I hadn't done this trip. If we can get through being this close for this long, the rest is easy. Goodnight.
5.8.2025. Today we have an early start, yep again. It's the best way to beat the crowds. We're visiting the Doge’s palace, a massive building in a massive open area with a massive bell tower next to a massive Basilica. That's a lot of massive’s I know, but it's all pretty big. The palace was the home of the Doge, the “duke” of Venice. It also housed government offices and prisons of the Venetian republic. The palace has the largest room in Europe, where 1200-2000 councillors would gather to decide the best course for the republic. Of course, all these people were men, and all from families with power and wealth. The room itself is absolutely huge, with no supports in the middle. Paintings all around and a couple of sculptures. As with everything here, art everywhere you look. Be it paintings or sculptures, or even the floor. We walked through the old prison cells, across the “bridge of sighs”. So called, because prisoners would sigh as they walked across it. It's a bridge that is fully enclosed, there was no chance of escape. We finished our tour of the palace, then went looking for some lunch. We found some sandwiches and crumbed things, not bad. After the sustenance, we headed for the Correr Museum. Yep a museum, don't see many of those here. More sculptures, more paintings. Some plaster models that were made before the final piece was done in marble. One of them had what looked like nails all over it. We read this was so the artist could measure the plaster model, in order to get it right on the final piece. There were a few miniature ships, which the kids enjoyed looking at. A weird map of the world, made in the 16th century that didn't have Australia and really didn't look like the world as we know it. After the museum, we just walked. Took in the city. It's not to my liking, too many buildings, everything too close together. Mel loves it, and don't get me wrong, I think it is beautiful too. I just prefer more nature, less people. We have only been on the main island, there are 118 islands that make up Venice. The main island may actually be several. But the main part, where we have been, there are almost no trees. Grass grows only in tiny tufts, between stones on the ground. The canals are nice, you see fish here and there. It would be fun to have a boat instead of a car, for a while anyway. After walking for a fair while, we headed back. Rested, played games, then headed out again for some dinner. The dollar to euro exchange rate is murdering us in Europe, so we try to eat at places a little more affordable. So far pizza and lasagna have been good to us, pasta from these places has been less so. Mel tried a risotto tonight. While they said it was good, when it arrived I thought they must have dropped half of it somewhere, because it was a tiny portion. Kids had lasagna, as they always do if it's on the menu. I had pizza, can't miss with pizza. I gave Mel a couple slices, they had finished and we're drooling on the other side of the table. We went back after dinner and did the nighttime thing.
6.8.2025. Up early again. Today we're off to, duh, duh, duh… a Basilica! Yay! We'd had a look at the outside on previous days but didn't visit as this is the first Basilica we've had to pay to enter. Not only that, you have to pick the time you enter. We chose 9:30 in the morning. It was a nice well decorated Basilica, like most of the ones before. I think though, that this one had the largest pillars I had seen of any of them. It hasn't stopped it from sinking, as we had seen from the outside, one corner was at a bit of a wonky angle. On the inside it was even more noticeable, the floor had sunk in a lot of places. I took a picture of Andrew standing next to a pillar. If you look closely, you can't see his feet. Hopefully it will be one of the photos Mel picks for the blog, to illustrate my point. It is still a very beautiful Basilica, and as always, they would have spared no expense with the design and decoration of the place. While I have definitely seen enough Basilica’s, chapels, churches, temples or whatever. I still marvel at the craftsmanship. The ability of people to create something so huge, so ornate and so bloody fantastic. It's mindboggling. What to do now? Oh yeah we're in Venice, what do they have lots of in Venice? Gondola’s! That's right! Can't go to Venice and not ride in a gondola. So that's what we did. You know what? It was pretty nice. We chose a slightly longer trip, 45-50min around the canals. We got a good look around, passed lots of other people and gondola's. The guy told us a bit of info, I'm half deaf and struggling with accents so I missed most of it. We got off the gondola and wandered over to a bridge. Apparently a famous bridge, Ponte di Rialto. A 16th century, covered bridge that has shops in the middle of it. We didn't look at the shops, just tourist stuff. We walked back to the big square near the palace, we have another booking. This time to see the clock tower. It's a guided tour, and not very big. But it was very interesting. We went up the stairs, learning along the way where the family that lived in the tower, the family of the “timekeeper”, used to live. We saw the weights and pendulum. We got a brief description of the mechanism and how it worked. We saw the “digital clock tick over. It does this every 5mins. After that, we went right to the top and saw the big statues that ding the bell. We had to get back down before that happened, apparently not because of the sound, but because of the vibrations. The guide told us about the clock. It has the days, months, zodiac sign, moon phase and of course the time. The days being the smallest, are hard to see now. We headed back to the room, rested, then blogged. We went out again later for dinner. I found a little takeaway pizza place not far from the room. We got our pizzas, then sat on the side of the canal and ate them. I had spicy salami and gorgonzola, best pizza of the trip. We walked back slowly, taking in Venice at night for the first time. It is beautiful here.
7.8.2025. We bought bus tickets this morning. Water bus tickets, boat tickets if you like. Our destination? Burano island. Why? Because. Any more questions? More seriously, because there is a lace museum there, and apparently it's beautiful. We'll find out. About a 40min boat ride, we hopped off at Burano. It is beautiful, with lots of brightly coloured houses. Trees! Grass! It is not a big island, and did not take us long to explore most of it. The lace museum was far more interesting than I expected. Once again, the time and effort that goes into creating this art is staggering. The incredibly fine details they are able to put into these works is truly amazing. Emma, who, it has been mentioned before, is over museum's, seemed renewed. She was captivated for the whole visit. We exited, then looked for something to eat. I chose pasta, a carbonara. I was disappointed. I should have known better, and gotten pizza. I have made way better pasta on this trip myself. We even had to ask for the parmesan, this is Italy right? Kids had lasagna, and while it looked on the small side, they said it was good. I was the one who chose Italy as a destination. I chose it because I thought of how good the food must be. I can honestly say, I have been disappointed with most of it. Sure, if you can afford to spend €50-100 each it's probably great. I had thought pizza and pasta was their staple and that even the small, cheaper places would offer better than what I could get in Australia. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I have had better pasta at the Centenary Hotel, and that makes me sad. I hold out hope that, if you get away from the big touristic places and out to the small village areas, this is not the case. That it's only because of the tourists that the pasta is subpar (my opinion), and that Italians would not stand for this. If we ever come back, I would rather spend my time visiting the small places, away from the top tourist spots. We walked around Burano a bit more, before getting back onto the “bus” and heading to Murano. Another island, this one famous for its glass blowing. Another museum, a glass museum. Once again, my mind was blown. We saw things done with glass I would not have believed possible. Tiny faces and designs done in cane. Mesmerising artwork. Stuff that looked almost real. It was another amazing museum, and another that captured the kids' attention fully. We walked around Murano a little afterwards. All the stores selling astonishing glass work. We looked at so much in the windows. We hopped back on the boat and headed back. Trying to save some money, we bought dinner at a supermarket tonight. Dinner, desert, beer and wine. A little tv, then bed.
8.8.2025. Today we hit a couple more museums. Starting with a museum about costumes and perfumes. Another interesting one for the kids. They loved smelling everything. It wasn't just perfumes, it was also essential oils that were used in temples in ancient Egypt. We all imagined what it would have been like, walking into a temple and smelling what the people smelled all those years ago. The costumes I found less interesting. Then we were off to yet another museum. This one the natural history museum. Lots of fossils and artefacts. One room full of man's conquests! In other words a lot of animals, some people shot, then stuffed. At the end we listened to whale and dolphin songs. By now it was after 2pm and we're getting hungry. Another trip to the supermarket! Sandwiches, chicken legs and some crumbed stuff. Pretty yummy. Now blogging in the room and drinking lots of coffee. I am writing this before I do it. Tonight we will eat at one last restaurant in Italy. I won't be having pasta, maybe I will try the lasagna. Then maybe one more walk around Venice at night and bed. On the bus tomorrow and off to the UK.
What are my thoughts on Italy? A beautiful country, not just the cities, but the countryside as well. I saw lots of the landscape while on the train. I have seen so much art and culture. I have seen rubbish and homelessness. Mostly in Genova, it was a mixed introduction to Italy. It's also the place I got the best pasta from, apart from the pasta I cooked in the apartments we had. I came to Italy knowing I would see more than I could possibly remember. I am glad for photos and our blogs to help with that. What I was not expecting was to be this disappointed with some of the food I ate. All from restaurants. When we shopped and cooked in the little kitchenette in some of the apartments we booked, the food was delicious. Ripe tomatoes, smelly, crumbly and tasty cheeses. The pasta! Even the cheap store bought pasta cooked up absolutely beautifully. I discovered basil pesto. Mixed through pasta it is fantastic. I have discovered a new love of coffee, and will be buying a decent coffee machine when we get home. I have found the people very friendly, warm and helpful. Rome was beautiful, as was Venice. Florence was my favourite visit here. I will miss Italy. It's hard to believe our time here is done.
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