Part Five – Venice: Days 13 - 15

Winding Down

My original plan had entailed taking a train from Bled to Nova Gorica and then somehow taking a bus or a train from there to Venice. I was never able to get definitive information on how to do this, and I had nightmare visions of us stranded in Nova Gorica. I decided it was better for us to take the bus back to Ljubljana and then the EC Casanova to Venice. It was a proven, reliable method.

This proved a wise plan and the only bit of excitement came in the Ljubljana train station, when a drunken passerby decided that A.) Patrick and I were from New Mexico and B.) we were desperate to talk to him about US politics. He reliably informed us "your President George Bush is most…fucker."

Our train carriage to Venice was overrun with junior figure skating champions. The World Junior Figure Skating Championship was held in Ljubljana and there were 4 Italian skaters, 2 Americans and 1 Canadian, all headed for Venice. (The Italians were not traveling with their parents while the Americans and the Canadian were.) Two of the Italian girls in particular had no respect for assigned seating and were not very thoughtful about where they put their luggage. I don't have a lot of time for figure skating and I have even less time for teenaged figure-skating divas traveling without parental supervision. Let's just say that the trip to Venice seemed A LOT Longer than the trip from Venice.

We found Venice largely as we'd left it although there did seem to be more tourists, particularly large school groups of Italian kids. Every summer, Dublin is inundated with Spanish and Italian teenagers, sent to a fellow Catholic country to learn English in a "safe" environment. Everyone who lives in Dublin dreads this yearly invasion as the kids always travel in packs of 20 to 30 and have the ability to take over any public space. I'd always thought it was just the way they acted in Dublin. It turns out I was wrong.

The hotel Patrick selected on Orbitz was an ideal location, right where Piazzale Roma meets the Grand Canal. Since he was only paying $80/night for the room, we were also afraid it would be a pit. It turned out to be a truly Venetian and cute little hotel. Marble floors, wood beam ceilings, a small balcony, enormous shutters for the windows. And, depending which way you looked out our window, we had a range of views.

Left
Straight
Right

Patrick and I spent our afternoon and evening in Venice hanging out and shopping for souvenirs. We mostly rested up for tackling San Marco the next day.

Overrated

Visiting San Marco and the square is the high point for many tourists. I have to say, it didn't do much for me. I found it too big, too full of pigeons and people. It seemed to lack the simple character of the rest of Venice. To me, Venice is cobbled alleyways, humpbacked bridges, narrow canals, crumbling buildings, hanging laundry, hidden courtyards, and shuttered windows. The huge open space of the square, dominated by the over-done basilica just isn't for me.

We also visited the Palazzo Ducale and took the Secret Itineraries tour. In the end, it wasn't secret or illicit enough for us. The biggest thing I learned is that early Venetian republic was really into bureaucracy. They produced reams and reams of paperwork and, when faced with a problem, their instinct was to form a committee to investigate and propose solutions.

Don't get me wrong – it was a good tour, but it wasn't as cloak and dagger, non-stop excitement as the title would lead you to believe. It was also nearly impossible to leave the palace. It took us at least 30 minutes just to find our way out.

Even though I'm not a big fan of churches, we did go into San Marco Basilica. It's as gaudy and overdone on the inside as it is on the outside. Yes, I am a Philistine.

We did the separate afternoon thing and then met up for dinner. I gave Patrick my un-validated vaporetti ticket and my Lonely Planet guidebook and instructed him to follow the Grand Canal tour in the book. A trip to Venice wouldn't be complete if you never once set foot on a boat, after all.

We had an early night since Patrick had a ridiculously early flight. His plane was leaving for Amsterdam at 6:20 am. We weren't sure how to get him to the airport, but it turned out that the first bus left at 4.40 am, so he was able to take that. Being the mean sister, I made him get up at 3.30 to make sure he didn’t miss the bus.

I spent my last day in Venice riding the vaporetti and touring the islands. I made a crucial mistake at the start, leaping on the first vaporetti that came my way without knowing where it was going. My plan was to go to the fishing village in Burano. I ended up getting there in the most bass-ackards way possible.

I went from Piazzale Roma to San Zaccharrio, then from there to Lido. At Lido, I got on an enormous double-decker ferry to I-don't-even-know-where and from there, I got a regular vaporetti to Burano. A trip that should have taken 45 or 50 minutes took 2 hours. Ordinarily, I'd have been jumping out of my skin, but a calmer me prevailed. On this day, it was all about the journey and not so much about the destination.

As a bonus, I really enjoyed the destination when I finally got there. Burano is like a candy village, all of the houses painted different bright colours like candy wrappers. It's a quiet place and I just strolled around soaking in the sights. I bought a couple of things in the open market and met a very sweet dog. I was on a quest to find some souvenirs and to just relax and enjoy myself. I was successful on both counts.





After Burano, I headed to Murano, which is known for its glass industry. The glass blowers were relocated to the island in 1300s because of the fire risk of their kilns. I found Murano a bit of a tourist trap – full of shops selling expensive glass stuff.

After Murano, I spent my last few hours in Venice walking, shopping, and just relaxing. Someone who recommended things to do in Venice told me to buy a glass necklace. She said, "They're beautiful and cheap and whenever someone asks you where you got it, you can chuckle to yourself and then say 'Venice.'" I did look around for a necklace, but I never seemed to find exactly what I was looking for and besides, I have a necklace already. (Peter gave me a very nice necklace with a small sapphire and diamond pendant and the necklace has pretty much become a part of my body.)

I ended up with an array of glass hair clips. They're much more my style. One of them even looks like a Gustav Klimt painting, so I'm a happy girl.

Retracing my first vaporetti journey, I went from Ferrovia to Piazzale Roma. The boat was packed to the point of uncomfortable-ness, but I still managed to drop a bit of Nana in the canal.