Venting Venice: Day 5-6- 05/9/06-06/9/06
We arrived in Venice Treviso airport (outskirts of Venice) at around 4pm and took a bus to the Treviso train station. Was pretty suspicious of a guy who had prying eyes on us. Italy is notorious for pickpockets, so I better be careful. Then, we took a super lok cok train from the Treviso station to Venice main station and arrived around 5 plus pm. We enquired at the Tourist Information about the cheapest hotel rates for 3 pax for 1 night and it was 100Euro for a hotel room with communal toilets, near St Marco's Square, in the heart of Venice. It sounded very expensive, considering that we had a hotel for 81 Euros and a private shower and toilet in Frankfurt. We asked the Hotel Info Receptionist for the address of the hotel. She sorta smugged us and said that she will not disclose the addresss of the hotel if we dun book through her. SW enquired at the Tourist Info desk and got the same kinda reply. It's like they dun give a damn about tourists.
By the time we came to a decision to look for accomodation ourselves, it was alreay 6pm. We had dinner at a Italian Cafe nearby and tried it's signature- "2 Kinds of Pasta". Had tortelli wrapped with potatoes and cabonara with tuna. It's really really nice. We looked at the cafe's tray brochure and realised that they also have a branch in Singapore. It's the only branch out of Italy and guess wad? It's in Changi Airport Terminal 2. I can't remember the name of the cafe though, but I'd definitely recommend this cafe and it's food.
After dinner, we went around enquiring the rates for 3 person room per night. Most were in the 120Eur-150Eur range with breakfast. I managed to have asked 1 in which it was 100Euro with breakfast. SW and Melvin asked if I was willing to walk to St Marco's Square (about an hour's walk) to try our luck there.... It was a pretty bad decision, with me carrying a bagpack and a trolley luggage. To make matters worse, there were lots of steps onto and off bridges across the small canals.
When we arrived close to St Marco's square, we asked quite a few hotels about their rates only to get the same range of 120Euro (w/o breakfast) -150 (with breakfast). Well... Damn sianz lah.... We walked all the way back at double the pace (30 minutes or so).... By then I was damn shacked out already.... Haha... We went back to the hotel which was 100Euro for 1 night with breakfast and SW managed to get the price reduced down to 90Euros. The room was very small and had a communal toilet and bathroom. Worse, the window behind the shower kept opening up (the lock was spoilt). Sianz.... Yuppz... After washing up, I played Pokemon on my DS and SW and Mel played Command n Conquer on SW's laptop. Slept a bit earlier than them at 12.30am.
The next day, we woke up only to be greeted by a measly breakfast which consisted of baguettes, toasted bread(more like biscuit) and I had really bad coffee.... Urrgh.... After breakfast, we walked around the same route towards St Marco's square. Stopped by the fish market to take some photos.... Never seen such a large Swordfish in my life before. Hahaha.... The octopuses were gigantic too. Then I noticed that most of the shops and stalls that we've passed sell fancy masks, like those U see in classical movies that feature Masquerades, e.g. "The Man In The Iron Mask". Decided to get 1 too.... but the authentic ones in the shop are super ex lah... Like 32Euros at least. Those with the stick are like 60 Euros..... Urrgh... Later on, I settled for a purplish one for 15 Euros at a riverside stall. Sianz... the stick snapped into 2 when I got back... Have to superglue it back.
Haha... Digressed a bit too much. Yuppz.... The narrow streets and canals of Venice din look very appealing to me when we walked past it in the morning. Perhaps it's becoz I've been to the Venice of the East in Shanghai, Zhou's Village, which was quite similar in flavour. I told Melvin that Venice seems to be juz a normal old town in the day to me. Maybe when we walked past the streets at night, when there were much fewer ppl on the streets, it sorta gave the town a rustic and quaint feel.
After strolling for more than an hour or so, we finally arrived in St Mark's Square. Haha.... Ok... It's was really buzzling with activity, with humans and pigeons... Haha.... Lots and lots of pigeons lor.... Urrgh... I really dun like pigeons for their smell and the germs they bring. The pigeons looked as though they were having a mass orgy man.... Haha... SW bought 1 Euro worth of Pigeon snacks and the moment he placed the stuff on his hands, the pigeons came flocking up to him..... The farnie thing is that even though Melvin has no Pigeon food on him, an albino pigeon still came to rest on his shoulders.... Haha... He was desperately trying to take a self intiated photo with the pigeon. Shortly after, Melvin got some of the pigeon snacks from SW and placed it on his hand.,.. Haha... The 1st pigeon that came shat on his hands lor... LOL!!!
Luckily I insisted on not feeding the pigeons. Din wanna get my hands dirty man.... After which, we continued on our stroll down the streets on other side of the St Marcos Square and we found some Gondolas (shaped like minature vikings with a boatman rowing the boat) picking up passengers. Haha... I quite gian to take the ride and stood in the queue. SW asked one of the boatmen and he said that it was meant for tour groups.... Sianz.... Haha... Was looking forward to boat rides in Venice man.... We walked towards the grand river of Venice and enquired about the many varities of boat rides avail- River bus- 5 Euro per person but it's super crowded, so U can forget about taking photos. River taxi- 40 Euro for 3 person from St Marco's to Main Station. Gondola tour of the small canals- 100 Euro for 3 persons. Urrgh.... too ex for the later 2 that we decided to give it a miss. Sianz...
We din visit any of the museums and churches in Venice coz either they were packed with tourists or else they were art museums dat din picque our interest. Our walking tour of Venice ended around 1pm and we had lunch until around 2pm at a Pizza Restaurant. After that, we walked around some of the small streets that we hadn't visted and we bought 3 dancing Mickeys and 2 Minnies for 12 Euro from an African (I juz got 1. Mel and SW took 2 each) ... Or should I say F- Freakan.... Urrghh.... He cheated us of our moolah lor. The paper dolls din dance to my CD player. Had to wait for 4.30 for our train to Florence where we would spend the evening.... it was a long wait.... By the time we reached Florence, itr was already evening. We approached the tourist info for hotel bookings and this time we were greeted by a friendly receptionist who din mind if we din reserve the hotel with her. She even provided us a free map of Florence. Haha....
By the time we got to our hotel, settled down and had dinner, it was already very late and we spent the night there before heading to Pisa the next morning.
By the time we came to a decision to look for accomodation ourselves, it was alreay 6pm. We had dinner at a Italian Cafe nearby and tried it's signature- "2 Kinds of Pasta". Had tortelli wrapped with potatoes and cabonara with tuna. It's really really nice. We looked at the cafe's tray brochure and realised that they also have a branch in Singapore. It's the only branch out of Italy and guess wad? It's in Changi Airport Terminal 2. I can't remember the name of the cafe though, but I'd definitely recommend this cafe and it's food.
After dinner, we went around enquiring the rates for 3 person room per night. Most were in the 120Eur-150Eur range with breakfast. I managed to have asked 1 in which it was 100Euro with breakfast. SW and Melvin asked if I was willing to walk to St Marco's Square (about an hour's walk) to try our luck there.... It was a pretty bad decision, with me carrying a bagpack and a trolley luggage. To make matters worse, there were lots of steps onto and off bridges across the small canals.
When we arrived close to St Marco's square, we asked quite a few hotels about their rates only to get the same range of 120Euro (w/o breakfast) -150 (with breakfast). Well... Damn sianz lah.... We walked all the way back at double the pace (30 minutes or so).... By then I was damn shacked out already.... Haha... We went back to the hotel which was 100Euro for 1 night with breakfast and SW managed to get the price reduced down to 90Euros. The room was very small and had a communal toilet and bathroom. Worse, the window behind the shower kept opening up (the lock was spoilt). Sianz.... Yuppz... After washing up, I played Pokemon on my DS and SW and Mel played Command n Conquer on SW's laptop. Slept a bit earlier than them at 12.30am.
The next day, we woke up only to be greeted by a measly breakfast which consisted of baguettes, toasted bread(more like biscuit) and I had really bad coffee.... Urrgh.... After breakfast, we walked around the same route towards St Marco's square. Stopped by the fish market to take some photos.... Never seen such a large Swordfish in my life before. Hahaha.... The octopuses were gigantic too. Then I noticed that most of the shops and stalls that we've passed sell fancy masks, like those U see in classical movies that feature Masquerades, e.g. "The Man In The Iron Mask". Decided to get 1 too.... but the authentic ones in the shop are super ex lah... Like 32Euros at least. Those with the stick are like 60 Euros..... Urrgh... Later on, I settled for a purplish one for 15 Euros at a riverside stall. Sianz... the stick snapped into 2 when I got back... Have to superglue it back.
Haha... Digressed a bit too much. Yuppz.... The narrow streets and canals of Venice din look very appealing to me when we walked past it in the morning. Perhaps it's becoz I've been to the Venice of the East in Shanghai, Zhou's Village, which was quite similar in flavour. I told Melvin that Venice seems to be juz a normal old town in the day to me. Maybe when we walked past the streets at night, when there were much fewer ppl on the streets, it sorta gave the town a rustic and quaint feel.
After strolling for more than an hour or so, we finally arrived in St Mark's Square. Haha.... Ok... It's was really buzzling with activity, with humans and pigeons... Haha.... Lots and lots of pigeons lor.... Urrgh... I really dun like pigeons for their smell and the germs they bring. The pigeons looked as though they were having a mass orgy man.... Haha... SW bought 1 Euro worth of Pigeon snacks and the moment he placed the stuff on his hands, the pigeons came flocking up to him..... The farnie thing is that even though Melvin has no Pigeon food on him, an albino pigeon still came to rest on his shoulders.... Haha... He was desperately trying to take a self intiated photo with the pigeon. Shortly after, Melvin got some of the pigeon snacks from SW and placed it on his hand.,.. Haha... The 1st pigeon that came shat on his hands lor... LOL!!!
Luckily I insisted on not feeding the pigeons. Din wanna get my hands dirty man.... After which, we continued on our stroll down the streets on other side of the St Marcos Square and we found some Gondolas (shaped like minature vikings with a boatman rowing the boat) picking up passengers. Haha... I quite gian to take the ride and stood in the queue. SW asked one of the boatmen and he said that it was meant for tour groups.... Sianz.... Haha... Was looking forward to boat rides in Venice man.... We walked towards the grand river of Venice and enquired about the many varities of boat rides avail- River bus- 5 Euro per person but it's super crowded, so U can forget about taking photos. River taxi- 40 Euro for 3 person from St Marco's to Main Station. Gondola tour of the small canals- 100 Euro for 3 persons. Urrgh.... too ex for the later 2 that we decided to give it a miss. Sianz...
We din visit any of the museums and churches in Venice coz either they were packed with tourists or else they were art museums dat din picque our interest. Our walking tour of Venice ended around 1pm and we had lunch until around 2pm at a Pizza Restaurant. After that, we walked around some of the small streets that we hadn't visted and we bought 3 dancing Mickeys and 2 Minnies for 12 Euro from an African (I juz got 1. Mel and SW took 2 each) ... Or should I say F- Freakan.... Urrghh.... He cheated us of our moolah lor. The paper dolls din dance to my CD player. Had to wait for 4.30 for our train to Florence where we would spend the evening.... it was a long wait.... By the time we reached Florence, itr was already evening. We approached the tourist info for hotel bookings and this time we were greeted by a friendly receptionist who din mind if we din reserve the hotel with her. She even provided us a free map of Florence. Haha....
By the time we got to our hotel, settled down and had dinner, it was already very late and we spent the night there before heading to Pisa the next morning.
posted by Iceman JQ at
3:32 PM
1 Comments:
I wanted to say that I am glad you had the possibility to acknowledge the Venetian beauty and share it with us. By the way it is a bit hard to read the yellow font on a gray background.
By
hotel Treviso, at 3:11 PM
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