pancakes & bananas?: 27 Aug, Walking the trail of San Marco

So.. today’s our last day in Venice. As I type this post,I’m on the train enroute to Vienna. Hopefully I wont be out of Italy before Ifinish this post. 3G here sucks really bad. As I mentioned earlier, we didn’tmanage to get the couchette and ended up lan lan in the seated cabins. It’s a 6person cabin and from the board, it says another fella should be joining us butso far no one has come haha. Means it’s the cabin to ourselves! Cross yourfingers! :p But the aircon here machiam like no aircon and we have shearn andVernon complaining much bout the heat. Hopefully it gets better throughout thenight. 11hrs to Vienna 0.0

Today was a rather chillax day, checked out at 10, left ourbackpacks at the hostel and set forth of explore the rest of Venice. But first,we needed fuel! Couldn’t board the bus to Ca D’oro so we had to set forth byfoot. Found a café and chilled there till noon. Today was cooler compared tothe other days (with the exception of the storm yesterday). Was around 20ish.Under the shade, it was pretty cool but once you’re under the sun, you canreally feel the heat. Great weather to walk about!

Headed over to Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute, a churchthat dominates the entrance to the grand canal. It was built by the survivors ofVenice’s 1630 plague and has an unusual octagonal church design. Unfortunately,we couldn’t enter the church as it was closed, but its cool sheltered marblesteps cooled our butts down haha. Walked around the area in search of lunch andshelter from the now blazing sun. Ended up having some pizza at a random pizzashop in the alley near to academia. Intended to head back to the hostel area tochill, took the Vaporetti but while I was taking pictures, it left the Ferroviabus stop, leaving me stranded on the boat.

Oh wells, I guess breaking contact means another opportunityfor me to explore Venice alone again. I dropped off at San Marco’s, andproceeded to walk back. Like what the venetians would say to tourists, forgetthe map and get lost in Venice and you’ll find wonders. There were many hiddentreasures which we missed the past few days walking around Venice, littlehidden alleyways which shows yout he subtle side of Venice, away from thecrowds and the many churches, some plain and some with beautiful interiors andfacades. There were also couple of free museums open to the public! The mostinteresting one was the Musuem of Music, where the displayed the instrumentsmade by the Venetians throughout the centuries even during the dominance of theVatican Catholic church (they actually banned the fabrication of certaininstruments during certain period of time, but the venetians were gangstashaha). There was also a showcase on Vivaldi! Pretty interesting stuff there.The irony of the day was that I signed a petition supporting a clamp on druguse in Italy when I actually intend to try some (soft drugs) during my stint inEurope. Whopps. Shhhhh! Well, I guess travelling alone has its perks on justwalking where the wind blows you. But before you know it, It blows you back tofamiliar faces.

Its our last evening here in Venice and what better way tochill on the square than to down a bottle of Italian Peroni beer! And to add tothe ambience of this cultured city – some soft instrumental music. Scumbaggg musicians!!Only come on our last day! But I must admit the feeling of just chilling in thesquare with beer, cooling weather and the nice soft light is truly relaxing.But oh wells, all this has to end eventually and as the chapter of Italyfinally closes, we bid farewell to Italy with a glass (actually plastic cup) ofMoscato….

On hindsight, besides the cultural and artsy things thatVenice has to offer, Venice is a very beautiful place. Get lost in it, sit onthe little steps and soak your feet in the water. Its actually not as dirty orsmelly as many claimed it to be. Prolly only some parts… there are some prettybig fishes living in the waters. If you’re into the artsy stuff, you’ll getlost in the countless of galleries spread out around Venice. The only down side bout it, is that it ispretty expansive. Attractions can be ridiculously priced at 10 euros each,leaving you to eat grass the whole day if you’re on a budget.

Note:

For studentstravelling, or if you’re under 26, do get the rolling card. It providesdiscounts for many shops and enables you to get a 72hr pass for 18 Euros (+10euros if you want the Vaporetti Grand canal tour which I think is not reallyworth unless you just want a more comfortable ride). The rolling card costs 4Euros and you can get it from the ticket office at the Ferrovia bus station. Itusually lasts till the end of the year.

Its hard to find freemaps of Venice. Camp at a Vaporetti bus stop and ask an alighting Vaporettipassenger to give you one. Ear phones and maps come free everytime you boardthe Vaporetti.

Seafood is a musthave here on venice. Especially their vongole and seafood spaghetti.