Arrived in Venice yesterday, unfortunately the weather has been overcast for the past few days
but the only wet days were when we were travelling most of the day. Most of our travel has been on the local trains. They do not allow for passengers with anything bigger than a breifcase for luggage so we have been doing a lot of heaving and hauling bags on and off the trains which are quite high off the ground. After 2 weeks I have almost accomplished getting on and off with a little more decorum - for the first week it was a case of just about fall out the door hoping to land on the luggage and not the platform! Inside the train it is a real sport to find a place to stow your bag before anyone else beats you to the sparse racks and with 20kg packs it is quite a sight to see grown women standing on the seats trying to heave these monsters on a shelf just below roof level. Ah the joys of travel....
Venice is amazing and the canals are much cleaner than I expected and they don't smell as I had been led to believe. Have taken a trillon photos of gondolas etc. The gondola experience loses the romance theory a bit when you see them in a real traffic snarl in a skinny little canal. We are taking our serenade gondola ride tonight so hope it isn't raining.
Half our group departed yesterday so we are left with 5 aussies and 1 yank. We also have a new leader, Spanish-aussie from Geelong.
Before Venice we spent 2 days at Varenna on Lake Como. Really pretty, picture book scenery and spent a whole day village hopping across the lake by ferries. Went shopping in the famed Bellagio village with all the rich and beautiful people. - lots of them over here!
Italian culture for today.
As you know the italians love their coffee and sit around at street cafes sipping expresso all day. (Don't know how they make those little cups last so long) We have had great difficulty in procuring a plain old cup of black coffee. The first time we ordered it we got thimble sized cups of luke warm black (espresso)rocket fuel. Second time we got a glass of the same brand of rocket fuel with a dash of milk. Then it was suggested we should ask for an "Americano" this produced a large cup of extra strength rocket fuel that the spoon stood up in by itself and kept us awake for 36 hours. Of course, as you already know it is a "non si fa" to drink cappucino except at breakfast time so that is no help at dinner time. We have tried a latte but as we prefer black we have just about given up coffee for good!
To those very few people tht have bothered to reply to my emails, thank you so much - the rest of you get your s..t together and send me a note - god knows I might get homesick or something!
Till next time
love to all
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