"They've changed the motorway around!"
Day 14
We had a different bus driver today as Sam was legally required to have a day off from driving ours bus. Apparently the driving laws in the EU are really strict, so a French driver named Christian drove us from Rome to Venice... and proceeded to get us lost. We all saw the exit for Venice but I don’t think he did, and we ended up half an hour away from where we were supposed to be. So after some disagreements and lots of talking on the phone and a few "the motorway is different, they've changed it", we backtracked to Venezia Est (East Venice). We’re staying at the Crowne Plaza in Quarto D’Altino and it’s such a nice hotel, very spacious and newish. It’s right on the train line too, so it’s only a 20 minute train ride into Venice itself and it’s also very cheap to ride the train. A return ticket only cost me 4 €.
We finally arrived at the hotel late afternoon and then dumped our bags, got changed and met in the lobby to go to Venice. Ryan told us yesterday that it’s the end of Carnivale, so it was going to be crazy busy and fantastic at Venice tonight. We caught a double decker train into Venice and then had to run after Ryan to keep up with him as we made our way to Piazza de San Marco (St Mark’s Square). It took us about half an hour on foot, mostly running, through the masses of people. Everyone was dressed in fancy costume and the traditional Venetian masks, drinking in the streets and generally being loud and cheery. There was lots of celebrations, singing and dancing, it was great!
Ryan let us do our own thing that night as it would have been too hard to keep 50 people together in such crowded areas, so we all set off to do what we want. Amy, Nicole, Kayla, Marcarla, Anna, Claire, Courtney and myself just went to look around, grab some dinner and join in on the festivites. Amy, Nicole and myself ended up splitting up from the group and met up with Sophia and Stu, a couple from New Zealand who are some of the nicest people I have met, and we looked around some stores before getting dinner. Amy and Nicole wanted to go shopping, so Sophia, Stu and I went to a tiny Italian restaurant off a side street where they had pizza and I had spaghetti. Sophia and I got red wine too-and yep, it wasn’t that great. Again it was drinkable but I am hanging out for a decent red wine; think I may have to get some Virgin Block shipped over to me!
We stayed there for a while just watching people celebrate Carnivale, drinking wine and talking to the Italians who came up to us when they heard us speaking in our accents. We were also near Megan and Montanna, two girls on the tour with us who were from Arizona USA... they were sitting at the next table over from us. The street we were on was quite busy and quite a few of the young locals would walk up and down with big microphones yelling out Italian sayings etc and getting the crowd involved. Lots of confetti was also thrown around all the time as well, I’m sure we all had it everywhere in our hair by the end of the night. I feel sorry for the poor bastard who has to clean it all up once the festivites are over.
Amy and Nicole came and joined us at the restaurant and after a while we walked back to the main square and most of us got some real gelato. It was far too cold to eat it but seeing as it was our last chance to have real Italian gelato we just had to do it. I had peppermint choc chip and it was so good. I think I was frozen through afterwards though but it was worth it... it is definitely better over here! We bought some more wine and ended up dancing and singing in the square with our Contiki group with the locals, all the while trying to stay warm. We would drink some more, dance some more, then duck into the local bar to warm up quickly before doing it all over again. The bar people were quite happy to let us stand inside while getting warm-I think we gave them quite a profit that night!
My brand new ballet flats are ruined though. The water has soaked them through so they smell like Venice water... aka quite possibly pee. All the confetti has matted together on them as well. I am going to have to give them a good clean. Did I forget to mention it rained almost the entire night? I had crazy hair by the end of it.
Once the whole group joined us, we spent a bit more time dancing, drinking and laughing before finally heading back to the hotel late that night. We all piled onto the train and it was another silly affair, everyone was in good spirits... a few of us went back to the bar and drank some more until the early morning, which I paid for the next day. Cheap red wine gives you the shittiest hangover.
It was a great night, can’t wait to see Venice in the day time though!
x
We had a different bus driver today as Sam was legally required to have a day off from driving ours bus. Apparently the driving laws in the EU are really strict, so a French driver named Christian drove us from Rome to Venice... and proceeded to get us lost. We all saw the exit for Venice but I don’t think he did, and we ended up half an hour away from where we were supposed to be. So after some disagreements and lots of talking on the phone and a few "the motorway is different, they've changed it", we backtracked to Venezia Est (East Venice). We’re staying at the Crowne Plaza in Quarto D’Altino and it’s such a nice hotel, very spacious and newish. It’s right on the train line too, so it’s only a 20 minute train ride into Venice itself and it’s also very cheap to ride the train. A return ticket only cost me 4 €.
We finally arrived at the hotel late afternoon and then dumped our bags, got changed and met in the lobby to go to Venice. Ryan told us yesterday that it’s the end of Carnivale, so it was going to be crazy busy and fantastic at Venice tonight. We caught a double decker train into Venice and then had to run after Ryan to keep up with him as we made our way to Piazza de San Marco (St Mark’s Square). It took us about half an hour on foot, mostly running, through the masses of people. Everyone was dressed in fancy costume and the traditional Venetian masks, drinking in the streets and generally being loud and cheery. There was lots of celebrations, singing and dancing, it was great!
Ryan let us do our own thing that night as it would have been too hard to keep 50 people together in such crowded areas, so we all set off to do what we want. Amy, Nicole, Kayla, Marcarla, Anna, Claire, Courtney and myself just went to look around, grab some dinner and join in on the festivites. Amy, Nicole and myself ended up splitting up from the group and met up with Sophia and Stu, a couple from New Zealand who are some of the nicest people I have met, and we looked around some stores before getting dinner. Amy and Nicole wanted to go shopping, so Sophia, Stu and I went to a tiny Italian restaurant off a side street where they had pizza and I had spaghetti. Sophia and I got red wine too-and yep, it wasn’t that great. Again it was drinkable but I am hanging out for a decent red wine; think I may have to get some Virgin Block shipped over to me!
We stayed there for a while just watching people celebrate Carnivale, drinking wine and talking to the Italians who came up to us when they heard us speaking in our accents. We were also near Megan and Montanna, two girls on the tour with us who were from Arizona USA... they were sitting at the next table over from us. The street we were on was quite busy and quite a few of the young locals would walk up and down with big microphones yelling out Italian sayings etc and getting the crowd involved. Lots of confetti was also thrown around all the time as well, I’m sure we all had it everywhere in our hair by the end of the night. I feel sorry for the poor bastard who has to clean it all up once the festivites are over.
Amy and Nicole came and joined us at the restaurant and after a while we walked back to the main square and most of us got some real gelato. It was far too cold to eat it but seeing as it was our last chance to have real Italian gelato we just had to do it. I had peppermint choc chip and it was so good. I think I was frozen through afterwards though but it was worth it... it is definitely better over here! We bought some more wine and ended up dancing and singing in the square with our Contiki group with the locals, all the while trying to stay warm. We would drink some more, dance some more, then duck into the local bar to warm up quickly before doing it all over again. The bar people were quite happy to let us stand inside while getting warm-I think we gave them quite a profit that night!
My brand new ballet flats are ruined though. The water has soaked them through so they smell like Venice water... aka quite possibly pee. All the confetti has matted together on them as well. I am going to have to give them a good clean. Did I forget to mention it rained almost the entire night? I had crazy hair by the end of it.
Once the whole group joined us, we spent a bit more time dancing, drinking and laughing before finally heading back to the hotel late that night. We all piled onto the train and it was another silly affair, everyone was in good spirits... a few of us went back to the bar and drank some more until the early morning, which I paid for the next day. Cheap red wine gives you the shittiest hangover.
It was a great night, can’t wait to see Venice in the day time though!
x