We walked past the enormous Christmas village that had been growing all week in the piazza opposite the seafront. In what looked like a scene from Grand Designs, flat-packed huts (probably from Germany) arrived in a sequence of plastic coats and were unloaded, unpacked, assembled, lined up into a series of streets and given a mantle of imitation snow. Then walkways were erected between them. We could just imagine that tinkling with lights and loaded with Christmas goodies they would prove a great draw-card for young and old over the next few weeks.
That walk to the train was a 12 E save and we had enough time for a coffee at at the station cafe.The train to Milan for the transfer to the Venice line, left Como with military precision at the appointed time and the ultra smooth track made the passage of the train seem very slow. We started off as the only people in the carriage but by the time we passed through the next few stations there was only standing room and just like in Melbourne, there was NO eye contact as everyone was on their phone.
We sped along and at Milan central transferred to the fast train to Venice a few platforms away. The Frecciorossa was a hell of a long train (11 carriages and 2 locos so at least half a kilometre long) with the capacity to travel well over 300km per hour.. we had high hopes of a quick journey. There was organised chaos as 38 bejewelled and well dressed ladies and a scattering of their husbands, all from the Golden Age Society boarded for their three day trip to Venice. Some of them sat with friends rather in their allocated seats and like kids they squabbled (whilst blocking access to all other passengers) until an accommodation could be found.
In the end the journey proved to be quite slow as leaving a few minutes late from the station the train became trapped behind a very slow train. We ended up in Venice almost 50 minutes behind schedule. This wasn’t a problem for us as we had a most entertaining journey seated next two of the golden girls. We struck up a conversation with them and with quite a good handle on English, a lot of hand puppetry by me, several dips into the internet for images by both the ladies and us, we had a wide ranging conversation over the next three hours or so. Their four friends across the aisle eventually joined in the chatter and we found one of them was an interpreter for 30 years for their textile import firm. In retirement she spends her time travelling the world and generally enjoying herself. It was a real joy talking to this lovely group of people and they took a big interest in us and our family too.
When we reached Venice and wished each other well, not expecting to see them again.
We emerged from the train station straight into paradise. There was the mythic Venice just outside the doors. The canal was wide and green. The sky was a clear, steady autumn blue. The palaces and domed buildings all lined up for us and all manner of craft danced in the water beyond the dock. We thought we had walked into a dream. I sat with the luggage whilst Johnny went off to explore the buying of tickets for the vaporetto that would take us up the Grand Canal to San Marco. The ticket said to catch the boat at pier 1. We joined a throng of people at pier 1. Some people went up a ramp with no queue but when I followed them I say a chain had been drawn across the entry to the boat. So Johnny and I joined the throng of people being herded into another door that curiously said “no entry”. We parked our luggage with the others and finding all the seats were taken we were happy to stand up on the open deck. We were very excited as we took off.
I never imagined the canal would have the proportions of Port Phillip Bay. After a while we began to feel slightly uneasy about the direction we were taking. Johnny was almost certain we were going in the opposite direction to the one he'd researched. After a while I found a lady wearing a “staff”bib and with unsure English she explained we were on the wrong craft. There was a lot of nodding agreement from those around her.We were headed for the island of Lido, coincidently where the golden girls were going. When we looked more closely, we noticed that all the passengers were of an age and yes they were all wearing the club lanyards. Oh well, what to do? We would enjoy the boat trip, get to Lido and catch another ferry back. As it happened, SAN Marco was only 4 short stops away. As we disembarked at Lido one of the old gentlemen saw me lugging my suitcase about and stepped up to help me. He quickly realised we were not part of the group and we were certainly not meant to be on this privately chartered craft. I tried to explain that we had made a mistake but we were there now and it was too late to do anything about it.
Within a few minutes we were on the San Marco ferry and splashing our way back. Luckily we found an unlocked gate and trundled through, not having to buy another boat ticket. It was a short
rumble through the narrow streets to our hotel, which was located next to a canal off a series of laneways filled with very posh shops. Our neighbours are Ferragamo on the right and Prada on the left. Johnny scored again with this hotel choice. We are in the thick of the sightseeing area and a short and interesting walk from everything.
We dropped off our bags and went straight out for a bite to eat. We had breakfast at 6 am and it was now early afternoon. We found a nearby place that made takeaway panini and took them down by the canal. There were signs prohibiting any sitting on steps and no street seats available but we found a place to rest outside the Gritti Palace near a gondola station.
Having finished lunch we headed for St Mark's Square, as that’s where the action seemed to be. It was picture perfect with the sun gleaming off the pale stone facades. It was such a pleasure to stand in the midst of all this beauty and impossible to take a bad photo no matter which direction we pointed the camera. Our first stop was the Basilica of St Mark. We deposited John’s backpack in store down the road and got in line. No photos were allowed inside so I was reduced to taking sneaky shots from the waist. Surprisingly they turned out well.
Our next stop was The Doges Palace, a famed must see in Venice. We got oldies discount and this made the visit even sweeter. What an incredible place this was. The grandly proportioned and grandly decorated apartments were the match of Versailles in terms of extravagance. Names from my art studies in year 12 started to come back to me..Veronese..Tintoretto.. It was fabulous. We saw the armoury and the prison cells. We peeked through the barred windows as prisoners would have done, as catching a last glimpse of the bridge Of Sighs and the sunlight glinting off the canals' green waters, they were led to their execution.
Walking back to the hotel we hoped to find a convenience shop where we could but a few supplies for when we were walking around but there just didn't seem to be anywhere. finally I just asked a woman who looked to be a local as she was emerging from a locked doorway. she knew of two supermarkets in the area, and we set off for the closest one. Her directions were spot on and came back to the hotel with beer, chips, juice boxes and lollies for the car.
After a short rest, Johnny found us a hotel in Laricci (from where we hope to walk the Cinque Terre) and booked it online. I did a bit of blogging and then we went out to an interesting place we saw as we were returning to the hotel. It looked like a deli with a range of prepared meals. They serve you up a portion, select a drink and take your tray to a communal table. I got a large serve of octopus with potatoes and sun-dried tomatoes. Johnny had seafood paella and a glass of Chianti. Over coffee we used the ipad to do some research about where we would go and what we would do for the next couple of days.
