Canals!

Yes, Venice has more canals than you could poke a stick at. There's not a lot of water-free photos, but some.

My Flickr set for Venice is now complete:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81692166@N05/sets/72157645471497911/

There hasn't been many fantastic photos in Venice, so far, just mostly solid ones. I did the same today as I did yesterday more or less, just wandering the canals, except I extended my reach a bit further.

In the morning, I headed up to the northwestern corner of the island, which is a lot less touristy as it's more a place where people live. I also walked through the Ghetto, which is a Jewish area of Venice that was the first, original ghetto, where the word gets its name from.

I then made another trip to Alfredo's, this time for a pork pasta for lunch, and walked down almost to the southeastern corner. There's a remarkable green park next to the seafront, with lots of tall trees.

My favourites for today

I'd previously learnt some Italian at QUT's free language classes, and found out that Marty, the Venetian girl who was teaching, was going to be in Venice at the same time as me! We had planned on going for a bit of a walk, but unforunately she was busy, so instead we went to this happy-hour place just past Rialto Bridge, where I tried Gingerino, which is what non-alcohol drinkers in Venice drink, to make it look like they do drink alcohol. It was great to catch up with Marty, I may even go back to Italian class next semester to improve my Italian further:

Met with Marty today

I also, on recommendation from my host, tried a Gianduiotto, which is a typical Venetian ice cream from this place on the Zattere called Gelateria Nico. It wasn't amazing, but it was good to have said I've had one. It's basically a hazelnut and chocolate ice cream block shoved in a massive mountain of cream. I could feel my stomach expanding:

An evil Gianduiotto

I'll be adding another trip report soon for my train trip from Venice to Rome. Until then.

Day 2 - yet more canals

A lot of interesting stuff happened today, on my second day in Venice. It was much the same again, just wandering around the canals and looking for pretty pictures.

I've added quite a few more Venice photos to my Flickr set:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81692166@N05/sets/72157645471497911/

Today I started off walking in the general direction of Piazza San Marco, the big famous square in Venice that is permanently full of tourists - and pigeons. Lots of pigeons. This little yappy dog got let off his leash and was chasing the pigeons with glorious fun:

This dog was happy

For lunch I went to this famous place called Alfredo's. It does takeaway pasta, and it's very good. For those of us that are going to Venice this trip, you have to try it at least once. It's not a well-kept secret, and it can get pretty busy until it closes at 8:30. Today I got a pesto sauce:

Alfredo's pasta

After that, I went for another walk before going to a famed ice cream joint, La Mela Verde (literally The Green Apple). This was also delicious - the Straciatella was chocolate chunks, not chocolate chips:

Gelati from La Mela Verde

While I was eating my gelati, I came across the American family from the overnight train from Vienna. It shows you how small a place Venice is, especially since they were only there for a day and a half:

The Americans from the train

After some more wandering, I got to Rialto Bridge just in time for sunset. I managed to get one of the 'hero shots' that everyone gets while they're in Venice:

Venice's typical photo

On the walk home, the tide was rising, and the restaurant on the banks of the river was getting underwater. There were kids piggybacking across the water, and the waiters were wearing gumboots. Would you like a snorkel with that spaghetti sir?:

 The rising tide

That took me through the rest of the night. Until tomorrow everyone!

My first taste of Venice

Having arrived on the train early in the morning, I had today and two more days in Venice before heading to Rome. There isn't a massive amount to see in Venice either - just like in Vienna, it's more about experiencing the culture. Despite that I was sure I would do lots of walking.

My first day of Venice photos are now on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81692166@N05/sets/72157645471497911/

Almost all the locals in Venice have a view of at least one canal from one of their windows. The Airbnb I was staying at was no exception:

The view from my bedroom window

After I got to my Airbnb place, I had some catch-up time and had some lunch, which was a leftover croissant, an apple, and a chocolate.

Today's lunch

After said catch-up time, I headed out into the streets. It's incredibly easy to get lost here, even the locals get lost almost every day, as some streets dead-end, and some go to the middle of nowhere. I satisfied myself by wandering around the area near Rialto Bridge. I knew I would be back at some stage to take the 'money shot' that everyone takes while they're in Venice:

My favourites from day 1 in Venice

Dinner today was a street food joint selling hot pizza rolls. The roll certainly wasn't amazing but filled a hole until breakfast the next morning:

Pizza roll

After picking up a gelati, I noticed that there was a storm approaching. Apparently the summer storms in Venice are quite bad:

A storm approaches

That's all for today. Another relaxing day of walking in Venice tomorrow!