Italy: Venice Day 2

After a giddy night walking around Venice and raiding the "breakfast room" for food at 1am, a late night was had by all. I was worried that the hotel might be noisy as we were right next to a bar, but they were all done by midnight at at 2am Kate and I were cackling with overtired goofiness, probably irritating the only other guests on our strange little floor.

The morning's breakfast (especially coffee) really hit the spot and I scored big time by swapping a book in their library. I dropped off a Europe on the cheap kind of travel book (that weighed 5lbs and I NEVER looked at it because...internet) for a Robert Crais super light paperback. There were some Harlan Coben books too, but they were all in French, so I left them.

After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, left our suitcases with the hotel (under the stairs) and took a 30 minute Gondola ride around the canals of Venice. At 80 Euro, we were only slightly hesitant, but honestly, what is money for if not to do the things you'd always dreamed of. It was so worth it. The views were spectacular and only available in Venice. I'm so happy we had the gondola experience.

"Instead of online dating, it's Clothesline dating," quipped Kate. If they're clean, it's a win.

Pushing off the wall

After the Gondola, we walked to St Mark's Square (you might be familiar with this from movies where people walk through a square and pigeons scatter everywhere, or a tourist will be standing in the square covered in pigeons). We opted not to go inside, but walked around taking pictures of the amazing architecture and artistic tile works. I took some obligatory light post shots and then we head to lunch (more pizza).

Back to the hotel to pick up our bags and use their wi-fi to book train tickets. Because we left it to the last minute, we had to take 1st class seats, but because of that I'm writing this blog FROM THE TRAIN. Yay free fast moving wi-fi.

We caught an express Water Bus to the train station, it was ridiculously full, but only one stop so no complaints.

Now, here we are. Carriage 1, Seats 3B and 4B, wi-fi'ing it up, blogging, and on our way from Venice to Florence.

Italy: Venice

I don't even know where to start. It's been such a long day.

Kate's day started at 5am, when she awoke from a HARD and much needed sleep, after 30 hours of awake time. I slept until 9 or so...heh, sorry Kate. We had a lovely breakfast in (what felt like) the basement of Hotel Regina in Milan. Everything was good. We each got our own pot of coffee with our own little jugs of warmed milk, croissants with Nutella inside and fruit. The silver wear was even nice. We loved it.

Then we checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the train station. Having 3 hours until our departure, we walked around the block and stopped for lunch. I had a tomato salad, which was basically a bowl of the best tomatoes and some fresh basil (oil and vinegar to taste). Kate ordered ravioli which was great. We took our time and enjoyed the restaurant, people watching, etc. 

At the Milano Centrale Train station, we boarded on platform number 8, carriage number 8 (lucky number 8....if we were Chinese). We had seats facing each other with a table in between, which was great. I faced forward, Kate backwards. It was only a 2 1/2 hour train ride, but we took turns napping for 10-15 minutes at a time. And then we pulled into Venice. With water on both sides of the rails, we knew we were getting close.

There are no cars in Venice. No scooters. For some reason, I was thinking we'd take a taxi to our hotel, but then realised...nope, no taxis. Well, there are water taxis but those can be expensive. Kate, being the well traveled genius that she is, took us to the visitor's information room at the train station and got directions (and water bus tickets) to the hotel.

First of all, there were people EVERYWHERE, so when we walked out of the train stations and saw The Grand Canal, I was a little overwhelmed. With people buzzing back, forth, front and behind us, we found our way to the right dock and boarded the number 1 Water Bus (it's a boat like a people ferry). Very slowly, it made it's way down the Grand Canal. We were looking for San Silvestro, but it must've skipped that stop, so we exited at S Toma and started walking through a labyrinth back towards our hotel, which we'd seen right on the water at a Gondola stand as we'd passed by on the bus.

Having had not much for lunch, and it being 6pm, my food window (my window of "must eat now or be cranky") was wide open. So, we stopped and had pizza and pasta. I had a whole plate of pasta and 1/2 of Kate's pizza. It was great. 

Finally, we checked into our hotel. Hotel Marconi (which I am calling Hotel Macaroni, for fun). Someone shows us to our room. Try to picture it:

We're in the lobby, there are stairs up to the first floor on our right. The guide takes one of our bags and leads at breakneck pace up the stairs, a right down a small ramp and a hallway, then at the end of the hall we make a right and another right again with an immediate right down a set of stairs (at this point I laugh because he is BOOKIN' it, we're barely keeping up AND because we went up a flight of stairs to go in a circle and back down a different set of stairs - I said, "The Penrose Stairs"). Then at the bottom of the stairs, he says, "The breakfast room" which is basically an empty restaurant that we walk right through the middle of and make a right at the end of the room, passed some couches and into what looks like an emergency exit or an elevator, but what is actually our room. Room number 1. It was a hilarious maze, but fits right in here in Venice.

We drop off our stuff and go for a walk over the Rialto Bridge, through some laneways. Kate has the best gelato I've ever tasted. We try to make our way logically around, but deadens surprise us and I feel like I'm in a labyrinth of epic proportion, all the while knowing the water is on our left, but how to get to it can be a mystery. Then we take pictures like these.

There are Masquerade (Mask) shops through Venice that sell cute things like this

A random alleyway in Venice at 9pm

This is a picture, from the bridge, of our hotel

Afterwards we grabbed a table on the water at the restaurant next to our hotel and had tiramisu and drinks. 

I am really looking forward to tomorrow, mostly because I can't wait to eat again. I wish I had two stomachs. 

Italy: Milan

Keeping it short tonight.

• Barcelona - Took a taxi to the airport with no dramas, but I did have a female taxi driver, which might've been a first for me.
• No souvenirs worth buying at the airport.
• No passport stamp in Spain, or Italy. Frown.
• Got to Milan, took a taxi to the hotel...nice hotel, great location.
• My good friend, Kate, picked the hotel (Great job, Kate!) She showed up a half hour after me and we went out for some food and to walk around the Duomo.
• I'm so glad to be here with Kate, but also very tired, so here are some pictures. Yay!

The view looking left from our room, looking right out the window is a mistake we won't make again

Barcelona: Last full day

Today, my only goal was to go to lunch at Los Caracoles (the snails). It was a recommendation from a good friend who lived in Barcelona 20 years ago (yes, you're that old). Also, a secondary goal was to use up the 10-trip Metro ticket I bought yesterday (forgetting that I only had one more day here).

After getting lost (I am really bad with directions), I wandered up and down some awesome narrow streets off of Las Ramblas, eventually stumbling upon the restaurant. There are two entrances actually, and I even managed to screw that up (going in the bar entrance). So, I walked through the kitchen and told the Maître D' to take care of me because a friend recommended the place.

They sat me downstairs in a quaint corner of the restaurant where I could people watch to my heart's content (I didn't realise there were two more floors above me until I was leaving). There were signed photos all over the walls of famous (Spanish?) singers and actors, etc. The small room was full of fat, rich American tourists. I say rich because this restaurant was not cheap and they were going nuts with the menu, and because they were talking about traveling all over the world in a flippant way, "We were thinking about going to Norway again, but I don't know." And one of them was talking about owning race horses, "He was the same speed all year, so he was a champ in the winter because all the other horses would slow down." I was enjoying myself thoroughly.

I ordered the Thursday Special: Sole in an Orange Sauce. They brought me bread shaped like a snail (cute) and the best oil and vinegar. When my main came, he showed it to me, asked if I'd like it filleted (yes) and made quick work of deboning the fish. It was the tastiest, best cooked, most amazing fish I've ever eaten. 

I then had strawberries for dessert. Again, amazing. I don't know how you make strawberries amazing, but they did it. I smiled through the whole meal and couldn't have been happier.

And then I went for a walk around the neighborhood.

Something else to note about today, it is Sant Jordi day. Sort of like Spanish Valentine's Day. All the boys are supposed to buy their best girl a flower (rose) and the girls are supposed to give a book in return. There were stands everywhere selling flowers and books. Las Ramblas was full of people.

I am feeling much better. Not so tired (even after walking allllllll over). So, after a few more sights by the water (Mediterranean sea), I took the Metro back to La Sagrada Familia for an espresso and to take a few more (dozen) photos. I walked around the building two steps to my left at a time. Two steps, look up, take it all in, snap some pictures, two steps, repeat. It was great fun and now I'm back in my hotel, resting before my last night in Barcelona.