Day 2 - Venice

(written by Craig)
Spent the day walking the maze that is Venice. Made up of 117 islands joined by over 400 bridges... Dressed in all our themals as it was bitterly cold - especially in the wind. This month is carnival, so elaborately costumed characters added colour to the streets, posing for photos and drawing crowds of cameras.

Highlights include:

• Our first cafe (Italian esperesso coffee)


• The multitude of art stores


• The accademia gallery - where we enjoyed the liberty of taking photos of the architecture, not the art itself


• The Leondardo di Vinci museum where we were given a crash course in the emotions of Italian women when the teller decided to have a screaming and wailing argument with a sorry boy we assume was/is her boyfrind. Her shreaks filled the museum - despite it all being in Italian, we were in no doubt of what was being said.


• The tour of San Marco Cathedral, where the free entry was but a lure to many opportunities to part with our money... where every room attracted a fee to view it - being kiwis, we just went for the balcony area so we could get good photos of the crowds outside. We felt a level of disgust at the terming of "come view our treasure" where the offerings of many struggling people feed the opulence of a greedy church.


• Multitudes of tiny cafes which could on sit 5-10 people


• Finding our first Internet cafe and uploaed some wedding photos to Facebook - not enough time to check messages or comments, as the cafe closed at 2pm!!


• Speaking Italian to a local and having him understand us and replying and us knowing what he said ... another triumph of the day!
  


• Nearly getting lost trying to get back to the hotel - the maze was so disorientating - a long was got us back to our room finally


• Lyn found her new favourite icecream flavour: Pistacio!!

After a long was, we treated ourselves to a long awaited bowl of fine Italian Pasta ... the first since arriving. For those who know Lyn well ... she is a pasta freak and one of the reasons for choosing Italy to visit. We couldn't read the menu, so took a stab in the dark, guessing that it would be authentic and edible... we were well offtrack on both counts - with Lyn's "razorshell fish pasta" looking like one eyed alien worms amongst the spagetti, that even the boys in Jack Ass wouldn't touch. They tasted like they were hauled up from the bottom of a moddy pont and the shells provided a sandy grit which finished off the revoltingness of the dish perfectly. On escaping our torture chamber, that was the restaurant, we fled to our room to consume a weightwatcher muesli bar and glass of bourben.

Jetlag still has it's hold on us both, with us nodding off before 8pm and waking well before light (1.30am to be precise!!)

Day 1 - Dubai - Venice

(written by Lyn)
Finally on our flight from Dubai to Venice and we are both getting really excited!! Listening to all the Italian accents onboard but itàs also bringing in reality of needing to communicate in a non-English country. We both have started to pick out kiwi and aussies in the crowds. So far we have been on flights and waiting in airports for nearly 30hrs with little sleep and our eyes are starting to feel it. Especially when we said it felt like dinner time yet worked out it was only 5am in Italy!!!

We are still bubbling over with excitment despite no sleep. Craig said itàs giving him some appreciation of what a nightshift can feel like now. The flight from Auckland to Dubai was mostly in darkness but this last stretch, daylight has given us some amazing views, especially of the desserts in the middle east. We also managed to snap some pics of the manmade palm islands of Dubai but very hazy with sand and smog on the horizon. Makes us appreciate the green grass and treees, and blue skies of home.

Then suddenly before we knew it there was beautiful snow everywhere!!! This is what we'd come to see! Yay! It's all happening!! Announcement just made by the pilot ... 7 degrees in Venice!! Eek! Lucky we packed our woollens.

Just landed in Venice and ... Guess what? There's no customs! Don't know what's up with that! lol

So far now Venice has not disappointed us. Craig prebooked a hotel in the canal part of Venice. So after taking a watertaxi there, we found 'Pensione Seguso'. It is out of this world!! Our room with it's own delightful shutters that look out to the canal 3 stories below, as we watch the boats go by.

There are washinglines of clothes hanging out of the windows and each of the old historic buildings still look like they would have done a couple of hundred years ago. And we love the eccentric colours they are painted, just like in the postcards. Our hotel felt like walking into 'Fawlty Towers' complete with the bossy nagging lady of the house and her husband that hides in the kitchen smoking cigerettes while his wife has gone out.

The furniture and cracks in the paintwork tell the story of when it was first opened up to provide a roof over the heads of allied forces who needed it during the war.

Our first night in Italy was topped off by an annual carnival being on tomorrow including mascarade masks. For dinner we went down and got official Italian pizza from a place that was run by what looked like the mafia... the 'don' serving us in his suit and tie. Pizza and wine. Perfect!!