Venezia

We have now done the 'beautiful' city of Venice

I say done because like most things in Venice, internet was ridiculously priced and we didn't want to spent €8 per hour for a blog update.

So, what did we think of Venice? Well, the smelly canals from the moment we arrived wasn't great, either was the way overpriced and slow public transport. But that aside Venice is still a very beautiful city with the canals, wide array of building and architecture and maze-like streets.

Jeni and I spent most of our one day in Venice just walking the streets with no purpose in mind except to explore the city. It was nice not to have to deal with traffic, but the local Italians and tourists alike could be just as annoying stopping in groups to look in the shop windows in the tiny streets. In the afternoon we went over to Lido to see the Italian version of beaches and their summer resorts that were reminiscent of those I saw in Malaysia in 2005.

Now, food. After getting some awesome food in Germany and Austria we were looking forward to some real Italian. Sadly we didn't find it in Venice. While the bakerys and cafes sold fantastic cakes, pastries and pizza during the day, our attempts for a good cheap dinner were fruitless.

The first night we had dinner with Brooke and Tash at a place run by some japanese girls - big mistake. While the chinese they had cooked themselves looked great, the risotto Jeni ordered was just rice mixed with sauce and the penne and pizzas were swimming in oil.

The next night Jeni and I ducked into a small trendy cafe. The prices were right and the food wasn't too bad but we got slugged with the service charge and tourist price for my beer.

Now an upside, the coffee here in good and cheap. After Dad asked about the coffee on the phone yesterday, I realised that I hadn't had one yet. The next cafe we saw had great coffee (rivaling anything from Brisbane) for only €1.50.

We also learnt a bit about the city too. It is sinking into the mud flats it was built on at a rate of almost 7cm per decade. We also found out that San Marco square is flooded 200 days a year. Lucky for us the tides didn't rise that high while we were there. However, there was a low cloud of fog and/or pollution over the city the whole time.

We are on the train now heading to Rome where we will see the sights and hopefully get some great food (and maybe the perfect Margarita pizza).