It's a hard life, but someone has got to do it...
couple more shots here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/fergusm/Santorini
Showing newest 6 of 14 posts from May 2008. Show older posts
Showing newest 6 of 14 posts from May 2008. Show older posts
Friday, May 30, 2008
Woke up to this...
It's a hard life, but someone has got to do it...
couple more shots here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/fergusm/Santorini
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Roma
We are now in Rome staying with Kim (who I used to share an office with). He and his wife and daughter are over here on a posting. They have a nice apartment in a fairly quiet area.
We arrived on a slow train from Rome and made our way to Kim's apartment. That night we all went out for a nice dinner in a local restaurant and made our way home via one of the local gelatoria.
The next day Kim had organised us a tour of the excavations under St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It was a very interesting tour. The current St Peter's is the third major building on the site (all on top of each other). The excavations were made in the 1930's after the then Pope died and had requested to be buried as close to St Peter's grave as possible. The excavations found an old cemetery from the 1st century AD. The mausoleum's were mainly pagan buildings and were actual houses that the people created for the dead to "live" in the afterlife. We explored these and then were shown the "actual" burial place of St Peter in 64 AD. The tour guide built up the story as we went along and eventually showed us where they have the most proof of where he was buried.
After coming up from excavations we saw the burial of St John Paul II and various Pope's in the crypt of St Peter's and then made our way up into the actual Basilica.
After looking around the amazing interior we climbed up the stairs to the dome. It is an amazing dome and part of the tour includes walking around the roof of St Peter's.
It has been very hot here in Rome (30-35 degrees) so after climbing the stairs we were very hot! So we didn't really think we'd bother with photo's of ourselves in that state. We did find some Swiss Guards for the obligatory photo:
After that we wandered into the city and made our way to the Roman Pantheon. Just outside is a shop where you can buy your bishop outfits:
The Pantheon is very old and looks like a ruin from the outside, but is still very nice inside, including a massive dome with a hole in the middle.
After that we were both way too hot to do anything else so we made our way on packed hot buses back to the apartment. We rested and ended up playing with Lara (Kim's 6 year old daughter) for the rest of the night.
Yesterday Kim (our travel agent for Rome!) booked us into a tour of the Vatican gardens.
It was very interesting to walk around and see the amazing gardens and gave a really good opportunity to see the different buildings and places in the Vatican.
After the tour we went back to the Vatican Museum and walked through the massive buildings (Below is the gallery of maps)
eventually making our way to the Sistine Chapel and gazing at the amazing ceiling along with hundreds of others all squashed in together. After that, and being another hot day we again headed home (it was 4pm by then).
Today our travel agent had booked us into the Domus Aurea (Golden House), which was a massive house/city built by Nero in the 1st Century. To visit you head to a tunnel under a park just next to the Colosseum.
After two-thirds of Rome were destroyed by the great fire in 64 AD, Nero used this land as a site for his new palace. It was not really a house, more a series of buildings scattered over 70 hectares which included an artificial lake. After Nero died (suicide) the next Emporer wanted to remove anything that Nero had created, so not much is left. Luckily the ruins we visited were just filled in with soil and baths were built on the top. This means that once they removed the soil, things were left in pretty good condition. Of course all the valuable and useful materials (gold, marble, mosaics etc) were removed, but we saw traces of things on the walls. Very interesting.
After a nice lunch we headed off to see the Palatine Hill, the Forums and the Colosseum. There are so many ruins and it goes on forever!
So we spent hours looking around and then took a guided tour through the Colosseum. Some of the stories are very gruesome!
It was the biggest stadium/arena in ancient times and could hold 65,000 people. Underneath the arena is three levels where wild animals, gladiators and slaves were kept ready to go up through doors or winched up through special trapdoors ready for to be shown to the crowds.
Tomorrow we head off early to Greece and the Greek Island of Santorini for a relaxing week before heading home :(
We arrived on a slow train from Rome and made our way to Kim's apartment. That night we all went out for a nice dinner in a local restaurant and made our way home via one of the local gelatoria.
The next day Kim had organised us a tour of the excavations under St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It was a very interesting tour. The current St Peter's is the third major building on the site (all on top of each other). The excavations were made in the 1930's after the then Pope died and had requested to be buried as close to St Peter's grave as possible. The excavations found an old cemetery from the 1st century AD. The mausoleum's were mainly pagan buildings and were actual houses that the people created for the dead to "live" in the afterlife. We explored these and then were shown the "actual" burial place of St Peter in 64 AD. The tour guide built up the story as we went along and eventually showed us where they have the most proof of where he was buried.
After coming up from excavations we saw the burial of St John Paul II and various Pope's in the crypt of St Peter's and then made our way up into the actual Basilica.
After looking around the amazing interior we climbed up the stairs to the dome. It is an amazing dome and part of the tour includes walking around the roof of St Peter's.
It has been very hot here in Rome (30-35 degrees) so after climbing the stairs we were very hot! So we didn't really think we'd bother with photo's of ourselves in that state. We did find some Swiss Guards for the obligatory photo:
After that we wandered into the city and made our way to the Roman Pantheon. Just outside is a shop where you can buy your bishop outfits:
The Pantheon is very old and looks like a ruin from the outside, but is still very nice inside, including a massive dome with a hole in the middle.
After that we were both way too hot to do anything else so we made our way on packed hot buses back to the apartment. We rested and ended up playing with Lara (Kim's 6 year old daughter) for the rest of the night.
Yesterday Kim (our travel agent for Rome!) booked us into a tour of the Vatican gardens.
It was very interesting to walk around and see the amazing gardens and gave a really good opportunity to see the different buildings and places in the Vatican.
After the tour we went back to the Vatican Museum and walked through the massive buildings (Below is the gallery of maps)
eventually making our way to the Sistine Chapel and gazing at the amazing ceiling along with hundreds of others all squashed in together. After that, and being another hot day we again headed home (it was 4pm by then).
Today our travel agent had booked us into the Domus Aurea (Golden House), which was a massive house/city built by Nero in the 1st Century. To visit you head to a tunnel under a park just next to the Colosseum.
After two-thirds of Rome were destroyed by the great fire in 64 AD, Nero used this land as a site for his new palace. It was not really a house, more a series of buildings scattered over 70 hectares which included an artificial lake. After Nero died (suicide) the next Emporer wanted to remove anything that Nero had created, so not much is left. Luckily the ruins we visited were just filled in with soil and baths were built on the top. This means that once they removed the soil, things were left in pretty good condition. Of course all the valuable and useful materials (gold, marble, mosaics etc) were removed, but we saw traces of things on the walls. Very interesting.
After a nice lunch we headed off to see the Palatine Hill, the Forums and the Colosseum. There are so many ruins and it goes on forever!
So we spent hours looking around and then took a guided tour through the Colosseum. Some of the stories are very gruesome!
It was the biggest stadium/arena in ancient times and could hold 65,000 people. Underneath the arena is three levels where wild animals, gladiators and slaves were kept ready to go up through doors or winched up through special trapdoors ready for to be shown to the crowds.
Tomorrow we head off early to Greece and the Greek Island of Santorini for a relaxing week before heading home :(
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Chianti Wine Tour
On Saturday we went on a wine tour from Florence out into the Tuscan coutnryside (Chianti to be exact). We had tried to go the day before but the guide was sick so they recommended another tour. That day while we were waiting in line to see the Galleria dell'Accademia (Museum with Michelangelo's David), we got talking to girls in front of us and told them about the tour. The next morning after confirming our spots the girls turned up as well. The tours (Tuscan Trails) only take small groups out in a van, which is much better than a huge commercial tour (in my opinion).
First of all we headed to a lovely old castle that overlooked the surrounding countryside
In the courtyard of the castle
the guide told us all about the history of the winery and castle. Apparently it used to belong to the Pazzi family (pazzo means crazy in Italian) who were enemies of the famous Medici family of Florence. Below you can see the family crest (designed by Donatello)
We tasted some of their wine and some yummy olive oil.
From there we continued on through the countryside and made our way to a lovely Tuscan villa for lunch. We had a big lunch with 3 different types of pasta and some more wine.
The scenery in the area is really stunning and beautiful.
After lunch we headed to another old villa with another winery. They have made a new area where they age some of their wine in oak barrels. It was very interesting. The house is some 800 years old and they still have wines from 1947 in the cellar (unforunately we didn't try any of that).
We had a good day, but when we got back we were both stuffed. I think drinking wine in the middle of the day and having a big meal usually do that to you!
First of all we headed to a lovely old castle that overlooked the surrounding countryside
In the courtyard of the castle
the guide told us all about the history of the winery and castle. Apparently it used to belong to the Pazzi family (pazzo means crazy in Italian) who were enemies of the famous Medici family of Florence. Below you can see the family crest (designed by Donatello)
We tasted some of their wine and some yummy olive oil.
From there we continued on through the countryside and made our way to a lovely Tuscan villa for lunch. We had a big lunch with 3 different types of pasta and some more wine.
The scenery in the area is really stunning and beautiful.
After lunch we headed to another old villa with another winery. They have made a new area where they age some of their wine in oak barrels. It was very interesting. The house is some 800 years old and they still have wines from 1947 in the cellar (unforunately we didn't try any of that).
We had a good day, but when we got back we were both stuffed. I think drinking wine in the middle of the day and having a big meal usually do that to you!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Firenze
We headed out on our first day in Florence and came across the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, just along the street from our B&B (the breakfast room actually looks out over the gardens). There is a complex ticket pricing structure and one ticket does not get you into both, so we decided since it was such a beautiful day that we would see the gardens and the costume museum (which came in one ticket). The gardens were beautiful, stretching out over a huge area and filled with statues,
fountains
and tree lined avenues.
The costume museum was amazing and has Italian clothes from the 1500's up to the present day all setup in some of the palace's rooms, that have elaborately decorated ceilings.
We then continued over the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge lined with overpriced tourist trap jewelery shops and swarming with tourists. We have been surprised at the number of tourists in Florence, it seems that they are everywhere, more than anywhere we have visited.
Florence also wins the prize for the smallest vehicles and large number of scooters. There are tiny buses:
3 wheeled trucks made by piaggio (the scooter brand):
and plenty of other tiny weird contraptions:
After pizza for lunch we went to the Duomo, which is the fourth largest cathedral in the world. The outside is lavishly decorated with marble and topped with a huge red dome.
The inside is not as exciting except the inside of the dome which is painted with a very strange comical mural, including skeletons, devils, angels and lots in between.
We climbed to the top of the dome and got a good view out over Florence.
We also started on the quest for a new handbag for Jo, trawling one area known for its leather and being offered all sorts of deals by hopeful store holders...
On Thursday we took our breakfast at a leisurely pace (who wouldn't with beautiful home made croissants) and decided to head to Pisa for the day. It really is amazing to see how much the tower actually leans and we took lots of the obligatory funny photos pushing the tower back up,
kicking it down etc etc.
The tower is open to climb, but unfortunately the only available time was after our train back to Florence (in time for our cooking course), so we had to make do from seeing it from the ground.
That night we had one thing planned that we had been really looking forward to...a cooking course followed by a home cooked dinner. Varina, the host at our B&B runs the course and we learned how to make pasta,
firstly ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta, and then taglitelli.
It was so much fun and we are planning to get a pasta machine when we get home to make some ourselves. We then went and sat down with a glass of wine while Varina completed the dinner...five amazing courses (including our two types of pasta, both cooked to perfection). It was the best dinner that we have had on our holiday so far, and it was only a very short stumble back to our bed!
We had planned to do a wine tour on Friday, but when we arrived we found out that the tour guide was a home sick in bed and there was no one else to run the tour, so we had to change plans (an put off wine tasting until Saturday). We decided to try our luck lining up to see David at the Accademia Gallery. We had been warned that getting into this gallery and the other big one in town (the Uffizi) can be difficult without pre-booking, but the line didn't look too bad, plus there were handbag shops in the street to entertain Jo while I stayed in line with my book. After about 45 minutes we were in (still no handbag) and had a quick look at one or two things before finding David.
After the gallery we stumbled across some more markets filled with handbags, wallets and leather jackets. Determined to find a handbag Jo visited every store and eventually found one that was just right for her, beautiful red leather with plenty of space inside. I tried some more bargaining, but only managed to get 20 euros off the ticket price, but it was too nice to let go for the sake of a few euros. I also found myself a nice leather wallet.
This evening we went for a walk up the hill to the Piazza Michelangelo, grabbed the compulsory gelato, and joined a crowd of other people watching a beautiful sunset over the city.
I think I took about 50 photos and ogled at other people's bigger and better cameras.
fountains
and tree lined avenues.
The costume museum was amazing and has Italian clothes from the 1500's up to the present day all setup in some of the palace's rooms, that have elaborately decorated ceilings.
We then continued over the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge lined with overpriced tourist trap jewelery shops and swarming with tourists. We have been surprised at the number of tourists in Florence, it seems that they are everywhere, more than anywhere we have visited.
Florence also wins the prize for the smallest vehicles and large number of scooters. There are tiny buses:
3 wheeled trucks made by piaggio (the scooter brand):
and plenty of other tiny weird contraptions:
After pizza for lunch we went to the Duomo, which is the fourth largest cathedral in the world. The outside is lavishly decorated with marble and topped with a huge red dome.
The inside is not as exciting except the inside of the dome which is painted with a very strange comical mural, including skeletons, devils, angels and lots in between.
We climbed to the top of the dome and got a good view out over Florence.
We also started on the quest for a new handbag for Jo, trawling one area known for its leather and being offered all sorts of deals by hopeful store holders...
On Thursday we took our breakfast at a leisurely pace (who wouldn't with beautiful home made croissants) and decided to head to Pisa for the day. It really is amazing to see how much the tower actually leans and we took lots of the obligatory funny photos pushing the tower back up,
kicking it down etc etc.
The tower is open to climb, but unfortunately the only available time was after our train back to Florence (in time for our cooking course), so we had to make do from seeing it from the ground.
That night we had one thing planned that we had been really looking forward to...a cooking course followed by a home cooked dinner. Varina, the host at our B&B runs the course and we learned how to make pasta,
firstly ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta, and then taglitelli.
It was so much fun and we are planning to get a pasta machine when we get home to make some ourselves. We then went and sat down with a glass of wine while Varina completed the dinner...five amazing courses (including our two types of pasta, both cooked to perfection). It was the best dinner that we have had on our holiday so far, and it was only a very short stumble back to our bed!
We had planned to do a wine tour on Friday, but when we arrived we found out that the tour guide was a home sick in bed and there was no one else to run the tour, so we had to change plans (an put off wine tasting until Saturday). We decided to try our luck lining up to see David at the Accademia Gallery. We had been warned that getting into this gallery and the other big one in town (the Uffizi) can be difficult without pre-booking, but the line didn't look too bad, plus there were handbag shops in the street to entertain Jo while I stayed in line with my book. After about 45 minutes we were in (still no handbag) and had a quick look at one or two things before finding David.
After the gallery we stumbled across some more markets filled with handbags, wallets and leather jackets. Determined to find a handbag Jo visited every store and eventually found one that was just right for her, beautiful red leather with plenty of space inside. I tried some more bargaining, but only managed to get 20 euros off the ticket price, but it was too nice to let go for the sake of a few euros. I also found myself a nice leather wallet.
This evening we went for a walk up the hill to the Piazza Michelangelo, grabbed the compulsory gelato, and joined a crowd of other people watching a beautiful sunset over the city.
I think I took about 50 photos and ogled at other people's bigger and better cameras.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Ferrari
Yesterday we made our way to Florence, but on the way I had been determined to stop via the Ferrari factory/museum in Maranello. I was going to include this in the Venice post, but I had so much of an adventure I think it deserves it's own post.
We caught the train from Venice and had to change trains in Bologna. The train to Modena was running late of course. We only had a little under 4 hours between trains, but the late train had made that even shorter! Jo decided that it probably wasn't worth her going, so she waited at the station while I went off on a crazy adventure.
I had to navigate 2 different buses to get from Modena to Maranello and then it started to rain again, so I got nice and wet walking from the bus stop to the museum.
Once in the museum I took plenty of photos to compensate for the short visit, there are around 20 different Ferrari's on display,
including last years F1 car,
an Enzo,
an F50, F40 and my childhood favourite the Testarossa.
In the end I had less than an hour at the museum as I had to get back for a 3:50 train. I found out from the front desk that the bus back to Modena left at 3:30 and took 30mins so I had to organise a taxi instead.
Crazy!
The taxi driver kept trying to talk to me, even though he knew hardly any English and I hardly any Italian! He did slow down as we drove past the Ferrari test track so I could try and spot any cars (I had heard an F1 car being tested earlier) but no luck.
Italian taxi drivers (or probably all Italians) drive a little crazily as though they are in an F1 race, and if anyone gets in the way or is not driving fast enough they beep the horn until they have gotten past. This guy took me the faster way than the bus had, which involved a freeway, and I'm sure we were going just as fast on the normal roads as on the freeway! In the end he did get me to the train on time so I was grateful.
What an experience!
We caught the train from Venice and had to change trains in Bologna. The train to Modena was running late of course. We only had a little under 4 hours between trains, but the late train had made that even shorter! Jo decided that it probably wasn't worth her going, so she waited at the station while I went off on a crazy adventure.
I had to navigate 2 different buses to get from Modena to Maranello and then it started to rain again, so I got nice and wet walking from the bus stop to the museum.
Once in the museum I took plenty of photos to compensate for the short visit, there are around 20 different Ferrari's on display,
including last years F1 car,
an Enzo,
an F50, F40 and my childhood favourite the Testarossa.
In the end I had less than an hour at the museum as I had to get back for a 3:50 train. I found out from the front desk that the bus back to Modena left at 3:30 and took 30mins so I had to organise a taxi instead.
Crazy!
The taxi driver kept trying to talk to me, even though he knew hardly any English and I hardly any Italian! He did slow down as we drove past the Ferrari test track so I could try and spot any cars (I had heard an F1 car being tested earlier) but no luck.
Italian taxi drivers (or probably all Italians) drive a little crazily as though they are in an F1 race, and if anyone gets in the way or is not driving fast enough they beep the horn until they have gotten past. This guy took me the faster way than the bus had, which involved a freeway, and I'm sure we were going just as fast on the normal roads as on the freeway! In the end he did get me to the train on time so I was grateful.
What an experience!
Venezia
The owners of the B&B where we were staying in Venice, had organised to meet us at a vaporeto (public transport boat) on the Grand Canal, and I'm glad she did as we would never had found the place otherwise! The "streets" in Venice are all tiny walkways and were deliberately made difficult to navigate as a defensive ploy. It works very well. If you don't have your wits about you, all the streets look the same, and one that looks like a dead end, could be a major thoroughfare!
Once at the B&B the owner, Esmeralda, sat us down and went through a session on navigating through the streets, the best sites to see, the best restaurants (not ripping off tourists) and marked it all out on a map. It was very good and helped for the rest of the stay, immensely. That night we headed out and found the Rialto Bridge, and then made our way to one of the recommended restaurants.
It must have been something similar to O-week on as a massive group of Uni aged people were wandering (stumbling) around with red shirts on seemingly on a bar crawl. It was pretty funny to watch the different stages of drunkenness go past.
The dinner was very nice and we had our first taste of Prosecco. It is a local cheap equivalent to champagne and goes down very easily, especially as it comes in 1 litre carafes.
The next morning we awoke to a nice big thunderstorm. Thinking it would probably only last a while, we put on our raincoats and headed out. Turns out we were wrong. It kept raining all day and seemed to get heavier and heavier. By the time we walked across town we were both absolutely soaked! Even though we had raincoats on, our legs were saturated and everything gradually got wet anyway.
Being the good little tourists we are, we didn't let it spoil our day and headed over to St Marco's Square where it was virtually empty as no one wanted to get wet!
We splashed around a bit in some large puddles like maniacs and everyone probably thought we were certifiable, then we headed to the Ducal/Doge's Palace.
It is a large complex and has some nicely decorated apartments, a cool armory, and after crossing the bridge of sighs, joins a nasty old prison. The prison would have been horrible, to get into the cells the doors are only about 1m high, but I guess once you were in your cell they probably didn't let you out very often!
After the palace, we walked around the streets a little, mainly to get away from the expensive square, and got some lunch. The ticket we had bought at the palace also allowed entry into a few other museums, so after lunch we headed back to the square and visited another museum (lewis carrol?). After that we decided we were probably wet enough for the moment and went back to the hotel to dry off and have a bit of a rest.
Later on we decided the best outfit to wear would be board shorts and thongs, as they dry easily, so we headed out in shorts, thongs and raincoats. We must have looked funny and I probably made it worse by saying "G'day" to people as we walked past, it just seemed like an outfit only an Aussie would think of!
We splashed around again in the rain and tried to do some shopping, but it is not very nice dripping through shops with beautiful Murano glass and nice masks. I did get some cheap ties and cuff links and even bargained 15 euro off the price, so I was happy with that.
After dinner and some more prosecco we found that the rain had finally stopped (Hurray!) and the was some blue sky. So we made the most of it (still in the boardies) and walked down to the Academia Bridge and back to St Marco's Square.
Luckily the good weather continued the next day so we got up early and went for a walk. At the Rialto bridge we decided we'd take advantage of being early and take some photo's without tourists. Seems that a photographer and model had the same thought:
It must have been the morning for models as later in the walk we saw these three!
We then caught the cheapest gondola in Venice (50 cents) which is actually just a ferry service crossing the canal.
After breakfast we caught a boat out to the islands. We skipped Murano (glass) and headed straight to Burano (lace). It is a lovely quaint little island village and they have a tradition of painting their houses in all different very bright colours.
We browsed and bought some obligatory lace, and then headed to Torcello. Apparently Torcello was actually once the most populated island in the area hundreds of years ago, now it only has a couple of houses and a massive basilica.
We also found some cute goats while we were there, which seemed to like eating anything we gave them, even if it was the same grass they were eating. Always better if someone else picks it for you!
Jo then changed her mind and we went back to the glass making island of Murano. By this time, I was a bit buggered so sat around fiddling with colour settings on the camera while Jo went shopping.
As previously advised, the prices on the island are inflated for tourists, so we didn't end up buying anything and headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest. Later that afternoon we went to the markets to try and bargain some good prices for some glass and gifts, only to discover that, either I'm crap at bargaining (probably), or they really don't like to negotiate in general. I only got a few euro off all the purchases, but the prices were still good so it didn't matter too much.
Last night we checked into our B&B in Florence. It is fairly close to town and the owners are a lovely couple, and we were welcomed with a glass of wine, exactly what was needed after a long day traveling. The lady does cooking classes, so we are going to book one in and we can't wait.
Once at the B&B the owner, Esmeralda, sat us down and went through a session on navigating through the streets, the best sites to see, the best restaurants (not ripping off tourists) and marked it all out on a map. It was very good and helped for the rest of the stay, immensely. That night we headed out and found the Rialto Bridge, and then made our way to one of the recommended restaurants.
It must have been something similar to O-week on as a massive group of Uni aged people were wandering (stumbling) around with red shirts on seemingly on a bar crawl. It was pretty funny to watch the different stages of drunkenness go past.
The dinner was very nice and we had our first taste of Prosecco. It is a local cheap equivalent to champagne and goes down very easily, especially as it comes in 1 litre carafes.
The next morning we awoke to a nice big thunderstorm. Thinking it would probably only last a while, we put on our raincoats and headed out. Turns out we were wrong. It kept raining all day and seemed to get heavier and heavier. By the time we walked across town we were both absolutely soaked! Even though we had raincoats on, our legs were saturated and everything gradually got wet anyway.
Being the good little tourists we are, we didn't let it spoil our day and headed over to St Marco's Square where it was virtually empty as no one wanted to get wet!
We splashed around a bit in some large puddles like maniacs and everyone probably thought we were certifiable, then we headed to the Ducal/Doge's Palace.
It is a large complex and has some nicely decorated apartments, a cool armory, and after crossing the bridge of sighs, joins a nasty old prison. The prison would have been horrible, to get into the cells the doors are only about 1m high, but I guess once you were in your cell they probably didn't let you out very often!
After the palace, we walked around the streets a little, mainly to get away from the expensive square, and got some lunch. The ticket we had bought at the palace also allowed entry into a few other museums, so after lunch we headed back to the square and visited another museum (lewis carrol?). After that we decided we were probably wet enough for the moment and went back to the hotel to dry off and have a bit of a rest.
Later on we decided the best outfit to wear would be board shorts and thongs, as they dry easily, so we headed out in shorts, thongs and raincoats. We must have looked funny and I probably made it worse by saying "G'day" to people as we walked past, it just seemed like an outfit only an Aussie would think of!
We splashed around again in the rain and tried to do some shopping, but it is not very nice dripping through shops with beautiful Murano glass and nice masks. I did get some cheap ties and cuff links and even bargained 15 euro off the price, so I was happy with that.
After dinner and some more prosecco we found that the rain had finally stopped (Hurray!) and the was some blue sky. So we made the most of it (still in the boardies) and walked down to the Academia Bridge and back to St Marco's Square.
Luckily the good weather continued the next day so we got up early and went for a walk. At the Rialto bridge we decided we'd take advantage of being early and take some photo's without tourists. Seems that a photographer and model had the same thought:
It must have been the morning for models as later in the walk we saw these three!
We then caught the cheapest gondola in Venice (50 cents) which is actually just a ferry service crossing the canal.
After breakfast we caught a boat out to the islands. We skipped Murano (glass) and headed straight to Burano (lace). It is a lovely quaint little island village and they have a tradition of painting their houses in all different very bright colours.
We browsed and bought some obligatory lace, and then headed to Torcello. Apparently Torcello was actually once the most populated island in the area hundreds of years ago, now it only has a couple of houses and a massive basilica.
We also found some cute goats while we were there, which seemed to like eating anything we gave them, even if it was the same grass they were eating. Always better if someone else picks it for you!
Jo then changed her mind and we went back to the glass making island of Murano. By this time, I was a bit buggered so sat around fiddling with colour settings on the camera while Jo went shopping.
As previously advised, the prices on the island are inflated for tourists, so we didn't end up buying anything and headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest. Later that afternoon we went to the markets to try and bargain some good prices for some glass and gifts, only to discover that, either I'm crap at bargaining (probably), or they really don't like to negotiate in general. I only got a few euro off all the purchases, but the prices were still good so it didn't matter too much.
Last night we checked into our B&B in Florence. It is fairly close to town and the owners are a lovely couple, and we were welcomed with a glass of wine, exactly what was needed after a long day traveling. The lady does cooking classes, so we are going to book one in and we can't wait.
