Backpacking around the globe and back again (Part 8)
The next morning was rough for all of us who went on the pub crawl. I am a very lucky girl, I don't get hung over regardless of how much I drink, however, since I got almost zero sleep I was exhausted and dehydrated. Even if we hadn't been drinking the night before the drive from Munich to Venice was going to be a long one, and I don't think any of us were looking forward to the many hours sitting on a bus.
However, we hadn't anticipated what we would be driving through. On the way to Venice we drove through Austria again which meant we were going through the Austrian Alps. They were gorgeous. There were waterfalls coming out of tiny cracks and snow topped peaks. I spent the majority of the morning taking pictures out the window and disregarding my book. Our stop that morning was at St Johann in Triol, a very cute Austrian town surrounded by mountains and known for it's adventure sports in both the summer and winter time. They served us a BBQ Breakfast (which was great for everyone who had been drinking) of eggs, tomatoes and some sort of pork, which I didn't get. Everything was cooked on the BBQ... I didn't know you could make eggs on the BBQ!
After breakfast was over and we had unloaded/reloaded the bus we were on our way again, destination: Venice. Lija and I were excited about Italy, probably more excited than we had been for anywhere else on our trip. We kept saying, this time tomorrow we will be in Italy! As we drove through the alps we were told that we would be able to tell when we entered Italy by the mountains. Sure enough, the alps suddenly turned into the Dolomites and we were driving past acres upon acres of vineyards. They scaled the mountains covering every surface with rows upon rows of grapes. We passed castles on mountain tops and little churches centering towns. And I couldn't help but notice that every shade of green imaginable was right in front of me.
Italy had us spellbound and then we got out of the bus, boy was it hot in Italy! We didn't really know what to expect of Venice, we had been told that it smelled bad and that there was a lot of theft, but we figured it's Italy, who doesn't like Italy!
As we loaded our bags into a less than desirable cabin at the campground we had to quickly eat dinner and catch the shuttle bus into town so that we could utilize as many hours as we could before catching the last shuttle bus to the campground. Our goal was: find a gondola and sit in it.
Venice was beautiful, we happened to get there just before sun set so we were able to watch it set on the canals, however it also meant we couldn't take many pictures while on our gondola due to darkness. There were six of us sharing the boat so we hoped that the price wouldn't be too high each. We found a very nice driver... um... paddler... um... gondola man named Alex and it cost us 100 Euro (which was just over 15 each). He ended up being more of a tour guide than just a driver, showing us historical landmarks and famous buildings. He explained to us how to improve tourism the city was draining a portion of the canal once a day and letting in fresh water to clean it out. And how nobody lives in the main floor of buildings due to many instances of flooding. He pointed out the Opera House and the only church that can be seen on all four sides, he even paddled us backwards so that he could show us inside that same church.
His boat had three names, all female. And while that sounds wrong, the three women were his wife and two daughters, so really it's quite sweet. And when he turned corners he yelled funny things to warn any boats that might be ahead. I sat on the side of the boat that is closer to the water. While the bottom of the boat is flat the one side is lower to make it easier to steer and paddle. I showed us how it didn't flip no matter what, and I nearly had a heart attack thinking that I would fall into that nasty water! Everyone laughed at me as I released my girly squeal.
After we said good bye to Alex we got lost trying to find the bus, but apparently everyone gets lost in Venice so we just did what we were supposed to... right?
Upon returning to the campground it was still quite early, so we hit the bar and ended up sitting on the patio until early in the morning drinking and listening to one of our guides, Jules, play guitar.
Italy had a lot in store for us, this was only the first day of many that we would spend eating Italian food and drinking wine with friends.
Pictures so far
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Very nice site!
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