Venice

Venice is a city that quite frankly just shouldn't exist. Built on a total of 117 small islands the only ways to get around are via boat or on foot. Needless to say, Venice is 'too good' for our motorhome so we stayed only a 5 minute bus ride away in Mestre on the mainland. The campsite was our favourite yet. It had just been completely renovated and was offering 4 nights for the price of 3 so we happily stayed for 4, leaving us three full days to explore Venice.

After our first bus ride in we queued to buy a 3 day transport ticket for the vaporetto (water bus) which allowed us to catch as many boats as we wanted. We humorously waited in line for over ten minutes while the non-Italian and non-English speaker in front of us tried to convey to the assistant that he wanted his twenty €50 notes changed into two €500 notes. He was very resolute and just wouldn't budge or take back the money which the assistant was holding until he got what he wanted. The young man behind the counter eventually realised what he wanted (which was still a mystery to all of us watching) and we clapped the assistant as the old man walked away, a toothless smile on his face.

Only 5 minutes later as we were heading to a boat I saw the same man emerge from the bank with a giant stack of €50 notes. Roughly €1000 worth I would estimate. Matt and my brain went into overdrive. Our conclusion- he just changed counterfeit €50s for two €500s at the unsuspecting ticket office and then waltzed into the bank and changed the real €500s back into €50s thereby making an easy €1000 profit. By the time we had solved the mystery the man had disappeared into the crowd.

Anyway, our detective stint over, we jumped onto a boat. It is an absolute must to buy an unlimited ticket like this and allows you to easily get around the city and take in the sites. It's amazing how efficient they are. The driver
quickly pulls into the 'bus stop', the assistant loops a rope onto the floating pier, people pile off, more people pile on, the rope is undone and away we go. The whole process couldn't take more than a minute. It's very different to catching boats back home. I suppose it's just a way of life here.

We wouldn't really plan our days. We would just jump on boats and pop off when we felt like it, either rejoining where we got off or walking to somewhere new. In our three days we travelled down the Grand Canal several times, the main waterway which basically cuts Venice in half, and under it's three bridges- the Ferrovia, the Rialto and the Accadamia. Once we did this during the night and it was simply magical to watch the lights shimmer and dance on the water. We also took a day time trip around the outside of Venice which stops at some of the outer islands and gives you some perspective of Venice's size. From the water it all just looks like an elaborate set, painted flats with nothing behind them.

Only by exploring Venice by foot do you truly appreciate what is behind the water front. This is where the magic really starts. I asked Amber if there was anything she would recommend us to do in Venice, having recently been there. She had only one suggestion - just wander around and get lost.

We happily took her advice, ditching our map and just turning down alleys and crossing bridges as we followed our noses. I felt like I was in a movie as we zigzagged our way across the city.

Early on we stumbled on "the most beautiful bookshop in the world", as declared by the cardboard sign out the front. And when we got inside we realised the sign was 100% correct. The place was jam packed with old and new books of every shape and size. We found the English section and set about picking some good reading material which we had been sorely missing. We were met with the most bizarre selection of books. Obviously the good books don't last long and those remaining on the shelves had clearly been there for years, if not decades. Some of our favourite titles included:
- Guinness World Records 2000
- How to Meditate
- The Voyages of Columbus
- How to Teach the Piano
- The First Weeks of Life
- The Bible as History
- Rock Forming Minerals
- Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2: How To
- Trees of Europe
- The History of the Postal Service in England and Ireland

We set off happily with 5 books, unfortunately none with the titles above. Our new acquisitions pretty much set the tone for our time in Venice. When we had tired of wandering or boating we would settle down in a nice spot and pull out our books. It was wonderful!

Our wandering also took us to more of the popular tourist areas and we spent time in San Marco Piazza chasing the pigeons and gazing upon the church, taking in the view of the city and surrounding islands from the San Marco Belltower, marveling at the intricate masks on sale in every second shop and locally made glass in every other and watching the boats and gondalas weave in and out of each other from Rialto Bridge.

On one of the days we arrived at San Marco Square and realised that we left our camera's memory card at home. At that moment we were very glad to be at one of he world's top tourist attractions, and walked across the square to one of the many camera shops and picked up a replacement for €12.

On another occasion we were window shopping and came across a shop selling elaborately designed and somewhat racist chess sets. Our favorite had English soldiers on the white side and Zulu tribesmen on the black side. In awe of the piece I snapped a pic and was met with a very angry shop woman asking me "Who allow you? Who allow you?". We apologised and hurried away. I figure if you're going to stock blatantly racist products, you can't really get angry at people taking photos of them.

Our three days in Venice were glorious and a great ending to our time in Italy.

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