Thursday 14th February
Happy Valentine's Day!
We decided to take a day trip to Venice!
We caught the train across to Venice and I was just as breath taken this time stepping out into Venice as I was the first time. It's just completely different to anywhere else. It is absolutely beautiful, and one of the few places that would be easy to keep going back to.
I was surprised by how many people there were, it was definitely quieter than the summer time, but still much busier than what I was expecting based off of Verona.
We started off by walking along the grand canal and eventually ending up at the Rialto bridge, which is encapsulating.
Along the way we saw a "create it yourself" ice cream shop! Like the packaged magnums. It was such a cool idea (totally overpriced) but very cool to see. You choose your ice cream and then what chocolate you would like to coat it in, then whatever else you want coating that. i.e. nuts, coconut, freeze dried raspberries, m&m's. Very fun idea.
We decided to ditch the map and just wander through the streets and see if we could get to the main square "Piazza San Marco". Eventually we did! (I say eventually because we kept stopping to take photos, not because we got lost!).
The piazza was full of people! So many more than I thought, but it was so stunning, and felt so special to be back here. We saw St Mark's Basilica and it was just breath taking. The sheer size of it, and its beauty.
We walked around and along by the water, watching the gondolas and ferries. We saw Doge's Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. Everything here is just full of beauty.
We wandered back towards the square and down a side street found a little hole in the wall food place where we bought some wraps and arancini for lunch which we enjoyed sitting in Piazza San Marco. It was really really lovely, although we did get swooped by GIGANTIC seagulls, like they were seagulls, but easily four times the size of the ones at home, they were humongous!
During the afternoon we both needed to use the bathroom but you have to pay 1.50 euro at all the public restrooms which we both think is absurd. So we walked back to the train station to see if it was free there, surely if you've bought a train ticket they'll let you use the bathrooms right? Nope. So we found a Burger King (sad that there is one in somewhere like Venice I know) and thought we'd use that one! Wellll they lock their bathrooms with a code that is on the bottom of the receipt if you buy something, so we go down to buy something but fast food is ridiculously expensive so we go to walk out, when Sam notices a receipt lying on the floor. Yep we did it, we grabbed the receipt and thanked the stranger that had left it and proceeded to let ourselves into the restrooms. Thanks Burger King.
We then spent the rest of the day getting lost in the streets of Venice and it was magical. There was just beauty everywhere we looked. I absolutely love Venice.
Around sunset we found ourselves at the edge of Venice and open water, so sat and watched the world go by for an hour or so. There were people out for a row, water taxis, water fire engines, boats carrying logs of trees, and just general day to day activity on the water, that is everyday life for the Venetians. It was so fascinating and beautiful.
We stayed until nightfall where we got to see the lights come on and the mood and atmosphere change. The whole place seemed to become calmer, people slowed down and became friendlier. It was really interesting to experience this magical city by both day and night.
We said goodbye to Venice (for now) and caught our train back to Verona. We wandered into the "Verona in Love" markets and got a calzone for dinner and stood listening to an Italian band that was playing, and watching the hot air ballon rise in front of the Arena, before heading back to our B&B for the night.
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