Day #22
Breakfast
(See day #21 for Breakfast description ;)
Train
The train is getting quite easy for us now, especially as we are becoming comfortable with words. I have decided that foreign languages are like a massive influx of consumer goods with strange names (e.g. iPod). Once you get use to them, they become 2nd nature to you.
Internet Café
We eventually we arrive at Venice Santa Lucia (Venice Island Terminating Railway station) again, and we head straight for an internet café (you might say "why would you waste time in an internet café in a beautiful place like Venice?" - well let me tell you, the place was packed). Here we cancel our hotel booking in our stay-over in London (on the way to the US) because we will arrive in Heathrow and depart again the next day, and we thought it was a waste to stay at Islington (now that we understand the locations better). We make a new booking in a hotel in Heathrow (the internet has made this sort of thing so easy).
Post Office (Officio Postale)
After the internet café we head to the Officio Postale to mail off some stuff. The wonderful thing about being in a foreign country is that every new type of place is a new learning experience. The Officio Postale has its own language and most of the words were not in the phrase book (the Government having their own language - never! ;). We unloaded more junk into boxes and after a long and complicated conversation came up with the bill. Silly us, we forgot to ask if they took VISA at the beginning (and they didn’t). We didn’t have enough cash on us either. Luckily the (Colin's) Phrase book had "Where is the Automatic Teller Machine" question it. I started to read it to the guy, but gave up and just showed him the sentence in the book. He then pointed out to the machine (100m away), I went out and got some money and came back and paid.
Pizza
After the post office we got roped into a restaurant by an exuberant waiter standing on the footpath. There I had a Pizza Babaru(pron. - wouldn’t have a clue how to spell it) which tasted very nice (I love Italian Pizzas so far … they are every bit as good if not better than Australian Pizzas).
Boat to PL. Roma
It is now getting close to 2pm and we haven't got to San Marco yet. We decided to get a water bus using our 2 day tickets to use the ferry. The boat ended up going the wrong way and terminating at PL. Roma. It took us awhile to realize that we had to walk 10 metres to another platform for the reverse run (luckily the rest of the tourists were confused too, so we got to the reverse platform before anyone else ;)
Boat to Rialto
We now got on the boat in the reverse direction and a ticket collector ("Biglettio Per Favoure" (don’t trust my spelling ;) came up and inspected ours. She then told us that because we hadn't stamped our ticket it had started at time of issue :(. Which meant we had 2 hours left on it (What a waste! 25 EU each for 2 boat trips - little did we know that she waived the 25 EU fine that you get for not stamping tickets). Amy was quite upset at this, she said wished she had spent the money on Italian shoes instead.
Bassilica(sp?) San Marco
There was a board on the island that gave instructions for having a pleasant time in Venice. One of the interesting ones was "remember that Venice is more than San Marco". I don’t think the tourists knew this because outside of San Marco it was quiet but inside (and on the road to it) it was chockers/overlowing with tourists.
We came to the Bassilica but it had a queue of hundreds of people. I could not stomach queueing for that long (especially as it was now about 4pm) so we went to the Doje's Palace instead.
Doje's Palace
The queue here was better. The Doje's Palace is where the various Doje's (like an Emperor/Governor) lived in the Republic of venice. It also had courts inside and council chambers. It was a huge stone and marble place with giant ornate rooms with paintings all over the walls (no, I do not know who the artists were - art doesn’t do that much for me). The bedrooms didn’t have furniture in them unfortunately (I asked Amy if this house was big enough for her, and after consideration she agreed it was but said it would need more bookcases ;). After these we came to the armoury.
Cool! The Armoury! I was gaining XP here by the minute. There were 1-handed axes, 1-handed maces, daggers, 1-handed swords, 2-handed swords, full plate mail, helmets and chest plates (sorry mages … no staves). Some of the chest pieces had puncture holes in places that made me feel for the person who wore it last.
After this "section" there was another "section" with pistols. I wasn’t as interested in these as I am more of sword/axe type person.
After the armoury came the prisons. There is a bridge that crosses a canal called the "Bridge of Sighs" because (apparently) the prisoners crossing here would sigh as they saw there last daylight. We crossed the bridge and down into the prisons. They were effectively stone cells in which some had wooden beds (no mattress - there was no indication if there was ever mattresses on them though I doubt there would have been). These cells were used up to the 1940s and had graffiti from the prisoners displayed in them. Guess what the prisoners drew in the late 19th century? Pictures of big breasted naked women, and pictures of penises. Sad. There was the occasional piece of art that was half-decent but largely it was rubbish.
At the end of the prisons, I said to Amy that the prisons were not as bad as I thought they would be (there was plenty of head room and some faced out to a courtyard), just after this we saw a plaque that said that these were the "new" prisons ("new" means 17th century ;) and they had been built to replace some "old" prisons to try to improve the conditions for prisoners (such humanitarians ;). One thing that concerned me is that the prisons were down low and I wondered what happened if Venice flooded (which it did quite a bit). I then realized that this was not something I should be pondering.
After this we then had some afternoon tea at the Café and I had an in-depth conversation with the Bar girl about long plane flights and how to keep yourself entertained on them. Amy then came up and dragged me away "for safety reasons".
Pakistani's
After the Palace we went back to the Bassilica and it had no queue. It was also closed. It was now about 6pm (the Bassilica closed at 5pm), so we decided to head back to the boat to get to Ferrovia (the port next to the Train Station). While in the queue a couple of Pakistani's asked us what the fair was. We got talking and they asked me if I thought "Australia would win the World Cup?". I had said that I hadnt been following it because I was on holidays but that "If anyone would want Australia to lose it would be the state players because then the top players might retire and they would get a shot at the top spots". They then said "You mean the Sheffield Shield Players? Warne has retired, and McGrath too - so there should be some spots. I guess Gilchrist and Ponting has some years left though". Damn! These Pakistani's know Australian cricket better than I do! They then asked me if I knew where any cheap accomodation was. They hadn't booked any and were looking down the barrel of sleeping outside. I (helpfully) suggested that they buy a tent and 2 sleeping bags, and they laughed and said they might have to. We then said our goodbyes and parted company.
Boat to Ferrovia
We then got on the boat, and it was packed to the eyeballs. I kept having flashbacks to news stories about vastly overloaded ferries sinking and 200 people dying on them. I said to Amy that if the boat started sinking to make straight out the window. This boat went all the way around the Great Canal and we got to see lots of marvellous building. Some teenager kept waving from our boat to all the people on the gondala's and they waved back (this also generated a lot of smiles and mirth - so it looked quite amusing). Finally we reached Ferrovia and the crowd climbed off.
Train to Mestre
We got the train back to Mestre (we are experts now ;). We stopped at McDonalds where I had some chicken nuggets and a thickshake. We then walked back to the hotel and went back to our room.
Sleep
Damn! Back too late (9pm) to watch Star Trek again! Oh well, we watch one episode of the Italian version of Truth or Dare (for those of you who watch the show, the Italian version has the boxes wrapped in string, and the bank Offerto (offer) comes in on a old telephone), and then we crash for the night.
A word of warning to Italian public transport travellers: buying a ticket does not mean you have a valid ticket. The ticket must be stamped at a "stamping booth" just before you first use it. This activates the life expectancy of the ticket (which can be 60 min, 24 hours, 48 hours depending on the type of ticket). Not stamping ticket is an offence of which a fine of 25 EU can be issued.
