Frazier Blog

Somehow made the early bus leaving at 9am when I woke up at 8:20.  Happened to sit by the same group as I did on my way in. The whole  staying out of the city thing was a wash; ya it was cheaper but it  wasted an hour of my life on a bus and the mosquitoes sucked. I hit one last night and there was blood from it on my leg.   Checked my bag and  was good to go.

I bought a 12 hour water bus ticket and hopped on. I felt that I just  needed to be on the water in Venice. I also planned on doing the Rick  Steves Venice by boat tour later. I was aiming for St. Marks square  and Basilica to hit before the crowds did. It was too hot and I was too hungry so I got off at a random stop and started walking. I passed two cafes that in hindsight would probably been better than where I  settled. Oh well. Had a big breakfast and was on my way. Found my  way to St. Marks square and used the Rick Steves check a bag trick to skip to the front of the line. Amazing. Walked in.

Oh my. The whole church is painted with gold. Never have I seen such an  ornate church before. The whole thing glowed brilliantly. I paid to  view the altar screen, wow! Something like 1000 precious stones.  Crazy. Then paid for the church treasury, again more stones and  diamonds. This church is a fort Knox of churches. Sat though part of a  mass and than paid to view the museum and terrace. Stunning view of  the church from above. Walked outside and got a good view of the  square despite all the construction. When I walked back in the inside it no longer glowed. At first I thought it was from less sunlight. Now I  think it is because they shut off lights. Glad I saw it when I did.  Stark difference. While entrance to the church is free I paid for the three exhibits. Worth it though.

Grabbed my bag and headed for the Rouge Palace. Very interesting and  amazing. Bit too long of a audio tour to relive or tell. Huge rooms and  paintings. Lots of wealth. Learned how powerful Venice really was.

Lunch at a Rick Steves spot. Good call. Then gelato. Lady was giving  small scoops, new person came in for me and got a normal size.

I wandered and wandered. Great time. Ended up at a bar to watch the  world cup game. Netherlands vs. Brazil. Crowd was for the Netherlands.  Very energetic and fun.

Loved wandering around. Great city. Such cool buildings. The Bridges are  great. I had no clue where I was half the time. Would find crowds and  always run from them. Tailed an angry guy on a cellphone, listening to him yell at the person on the other end was funny. When I wanted the maze to end I would find signs to a landmark. Really fun.

Now my mission was dinner. I tried for some Rick spots but they all opened too late. Kept finding too touristy of  places. Finally found a good one. No English menu, not 500 choices and  no “tourist menu”. However it opened far too late for me to catch my  night train.

About to give up I walked towards a main drag as I was settling for a tri-lingual menu when an alley way caught my eye.  It contained an open  patio and it’s menu was only in Italian and hand written. Yes!

Sat down and asked the waiter for the best pasta dish they had.  She was explaining and after 2 seconds I went for it. It came out and I knew I had found the place I had been looking for. Pasta and  schrimp and it smelled so good and tasted even better. After wards she started talking about dessert I said I’m full and have a train to catch. She said it’s  not that far to the station and we have great tiramisu. She had me at hello.  Great choice.  It came out looking good and tasting even better.Decked with chocolate.  Worth every Euro.

First night train expereince. Luckily our car’s AC was working because the  one behind us was not so lucky. Cool guys on board. I slept poorly as it was  loud and weird feeling the train change speed. Hopefully tonight is  better. I’ll be in Salzburg tomorow then leave by night train for the Rhine area after the day.

Loved Venice,

Paul