Venice

canal traffic jam

rialto bridge

one of the many mask shops

st marks

cheeser!

best burger shop

insta shots - horror movie trailer or what

sams birthday pres in action

beach time

standard venice canals

This year for Sam's birthday, we decided to have a 4 day weekend in Venice! What a great idea! Even though London had been having a pretty rad heatwave, and I'd actually been up at Focus again (Jesus camp) which was really good, it was nice to get away (with work but it doesn't feel like it when we are out of  London) and go to some of the talks, and live in a campground by the beach etc. but getting out of the UK now that Sam had his visa (YAY!!) was a must. I've had super hectic work months due to the summer holidays, so I've been non stop all over the place - down to Cornwall for a week - back to London for a day - up to Focus camp in Mablethorpe - back to London for a couple days - back to Cornwall for two weeks - back to London for a night (or rather, for 5 hours) - then to Venice. Madness. So obviously it was super to get away with just Sam!!

We booked the first flight there on the Friday morning, which meant we had to get up at 2.30...yes, 2.30am. We left it a bit late to book and that was the cheapest option. Whatevs. So we got in to Venice Marco Polo at 9am or something very early. Straight from the airport we got on a water taxi, and an hour later rocked up to our hotel four hours early hahaha. Just to drop the bags and set off again. We booked a place last minute too, >Bridge Hotel< which is literally 5 mins from St Marks square. But surprisingly somehow in a not tooooo busy spot. Anyway, as we were so close, we went wandering and pretty much covered all the must see sights in the first few hours. Sadly St Marks had some restoration work happening or something, which meant half of it was under scaffolding and sheets. Boo. But the google images I just searched are amazing ahhahaha. St Marks clock tower was pretty cool too, they sure made an impression using the blue background with the gold over top. It has two people on the top that (slowly) ding the bell, and wikipedia tells me on two days a year halfway down some other figures come out and bow down to the virgin and child statue. Sweet. Rialto bridge? Somewhat a let down. I don't know what I was expecting. Probably just cos it was rammers with people, leading up to it, over it, under it, inside it even. The city is amazing to walk around tho. Once we got past the bridge, the crowds died down, and the tall buildings with narrow paths between mostly blocked out the midday sun, which was nice.

There's a little square right down from the hotel where we went for dinner, pizza/pasta obvs, but after we got a table it was funny watching other groups of people do that funny 'stand/look/should we take that table/are we allowed to/damn that other couple got it/lets look for another table' thing that people do on holiday. We'd just done it. It was amusing. The next day we went for a wander again, and then got our beach gears together and went to the island called Lido. Boy was it warm. We hired bikes, and as much as I complained and just wanted to get to the beach, Sam insisted we bike around like half the island to the 'wild' beach, which was actually a really good idea, thanks Sam, did well. Jumped in the water, good old Mediterranean, it was like a warm bath. Cue 6 hours of lying in the sun, swimming, and reading. Oh god what a perfect way to spend a day. And a couple beers. And a friend turning up who moved to Venice in March.

The next day was Sam's birthday (YAAAAAAY) so we slept in, and went for a wander down a part we hadn't covered on the first day, and happened to come across >Richard Mosse's< documentary 'The Enclave'. I'd been seeing these amazing photos in random blogs and tumblrs for ages, and really wanted to see it, and we managed to stumble upon it. Luck! It was amazing. And disturbing. Anywho, after we kept wandering, over the padlock bridge, past more of these art exhibitions, visited a couple more, and happened to pop out next to the water, and what doth mine ears behold? A blimmin NZ accent. Damo, from the beach day before. Just sitting outside a cafe having a beer. What are the odds. I'd like to add I've only once in two years bumped into some in London, and yes London is well bigger, but all my friends live in the same area and blah blah but hah! So we joined him and his friends parents for a beer in the afternoon 1000 degree full sunlight.

For birthday dinner we found a sweet little restaurant outside tourist central and Sam got lobster pasta. Now we were laughing as neither of us had ever ordered it before, and when the guy dropped off all the tools we were like whaaaat. Naive I know, but when am I going to order lobster really?  When the guy dropped off the dish I had to ask the order you go about doing things. Eat the pasta off the top then scrape crack and suck the shit off every bit remaining. Well alllllrighty then. Everything was delicious, even though I don't particularly like pasta. If they bottled the sauce mine was in, I think that I could drink a litre of it. Maybe two.

The last day we people watched in St Marks square again while waiting on Damo to arrive, and a pigeon shat on my shoulder. Good luck? Says who. I'm glad it wasn't my head/face/eye/mouth/drink that's the lucky part. We visited the island Murano to do something touristy, watched some glass get blown, boy they have that art down! Pretty cool, but how often does and blue orange and clear jumping dolphin ornament really go with your interior design? Back to Lido! This time we visited the other beach, the main one that's only a 5 minute walk from the ferry. On the way we walked past a roadside burger place we assumed was mexican YUM as the burger was wearing a sombrero and was beside a cactus, and planned to get it on the way back. Turns out it wasn't mexican but honestly THE BEST BURGER YOU'LL EVER TASTE! No lies, it was so good.

But rewind a bit. I bought a towel on the way since I couldn't use the hotels (we had checked out, as the ferry to the airport leaves straight from Lido) and then when we got to the beach I saw the guys selling them sarong type things. Seeing as my bag was already chocka, and sarongs take up like a quarter the space (fking easy jet cabin bag size reduction!), I managed to get a guy to swap my new towel for a sarong. Score. About 20 minutes later he tried to sell the towel back to haha, then I was like, I gave you that towel, we swapped!! He laughed and didn't come back. They come around with beers here too which was nice, even tho they aren't the bargain €1 like in Barcelona, and the jewellery/towel selling guys roaming the beach aren't too annoying or pushy. What is annoying is the private beaches. We set up our spot right beside the invisible barrier, the 'free beach' was packed, the private one had maybe two people on it. Hundreds of lounge huts just sitting empty. Meh. We stayed at the beach the rest of the afternoon, doing much the same as the other day, swimming, sunning, talking, another great day. Then I paid €1 to use the bathroom (WTF?) after I got stung by a jellyfish, but that went away pretty quick. Sam was stung too actually, but I didn't notice anyone else whinging about it like I was hahaha.

Then we are caught up to the best burger ever part, holy-delicious-overload, then the ferry to the airport, then the 9.30pm flight. Sad. Venice was lovely. If the boats were faster and cheaper it would be rivalling Barcelona for Alana's top destinations. We did find out that you can buy a 'locals pass' for €40 then €26 for unlimited for a month, which sounds like heaps but it would be well worth it of you were staying in Venice for longer than a week, as a single trip on a ferry is €7, and a 24hour  pass is something ridix like €23. So depending how mobile you wanna be?? I dunno, end on a handy tip eh?

Right well that's that. Tirra.