We left Hallstatt at 10am and made our way to Venice Italy. The entire voyage was a series of lakes, forests, rocky mountains and open road. The difference between Austria and Italy was drastic, the scenery changed very abruptly, but was nonetheless stunning! We arrived in Venice, Italy around 3pm, settled quietly into our hotel and decided to go for a quick tour of the city (so that tomorrow we would be pros).
We took a rail train from our hotel to the Venice city center and upon arrival my heart filled with joy and excitement. Venice was absolutely everything I thought it would be, which was pretty spectacular. I find often when we grow older things we envisioned being amazing as a child aren't so amazing. Venice, however, was exactly like the movies.
The city streets (water roads) are absolutely captivating, and run for miles in every direction. We walked for 4 hours straight through what seemed like the biggest maze ever. After seeing a few streets they quickly all look the same (still beautiful though) and the only source of direction you truly have is which way the current flows. The good thing about Venice, any time you are lost you simply keep walking until you hit a main road, hop on any city boat and they will lead you back to the city center.
In the mornings the city streets are calm, quiet and empty. However, most tourist tend to keep to the city center out of fear of getting lost (happened to us once... we all know my sense of direction is amazing), but if you wander a tad farther, most streets resemble the one above.
However, this is not the case in the city center (RUSH HOUR EXIST FOR BOATS TOO)... The city during the day is infested with tourists, what is crazy is that we are not even in tourist season yet!
While we were in town we got to witness a speed chase Venice style. An unofficial gondola boat had ripped some tourists off and been reported to police. When the police arrived and put the sirens on he paddled like I've never seen anyone paddle before. He fled down a small road where the police motor boat would not fit. We later past and saw him in cuffs and his gondola being towed. I won't lie I could not help but laugh.
The size of ships which go through Venice is impressive! everything from tiny gondolas, to cruise ships to cargo ships enters the canal. Above is one of the bigger ships we saw go through today, but definitely not the largest, nor the only one.
Venice is home to some pretty spectacular monuments with fascinating stories. The city goes for miles and has many more small islands which surround it but they all look similar. Everywhere you turn there is another captivating monuments luring you in to read it's exciting tale!
This photo made me smile and rather amused me. I watched this man parallel park his motor boat and I must be honest I was impressed. So many people in this world cannot parallel park their car let alone a medium size boat, but he was a pro (dude in red)!
Everywhere you can walk in the city, there are clothes lines above your head! I thought this was very cliche, but truly the only reason I took a pic was because I felt I had to... after a Double D bras attacked me from above (who ever that belonged to I kindly tucked it on the sidewalk)!
The gondolas are quite special, and truly a piece of art and tradition. I really wanted to take a gondola ride, but the rate starts at 100 euros and for what they offer, I just could not justify it in my mind. Most people who ride the gondolas do it in groups and get better rates, two people wasn't enough to get a discount.
The remaining photos below are shots which I thought were beautiful and that you may enjoy seeing.
We finished our day off by watching the sun set, watching all kinds of artist paint, charcoal, and sketch landscapes and characters. We observed merchandise-men creating stock for the next busy day, or packing up to leave for the evening. Village people dressed up in Venice tradition with mask unravelled themselves and the city steadily quieted. We sat with the sun setting along the canal horizon and enjoyed a Venice meal. When we completed our evening we took a rail train back to the hotel.
Now that i've completed this blog entry it's time for me to hit the hay! Tomorrow morning we wake at 6am and make are departure for Rome, Italy (since we are 5 days in advance on our itinerary we have added a few more cities throughout Italy and of course Rome was the first suggestion) shortly after :)
Thanks for reading!
-San
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