Italy - Part V - Venice and Milan...

After another long and painful 7.5 hr train ride...I arrived in Venice. I wasn't sure what to expect as 50% of the people I met on my travels didn't like Venice at all and 50% loved it...so I had to find out for myself.

And so I did. To me...Venice is one of a kind! I have never seen anything like it before.


Now I didn't fall in love with Venice...I think I'm one of those rare...OK...maybe odd people that was in the middle ground. I was impressed with Venice, but didn't see it as this fabled, romantic city some people describe it as.

Every building, except maybe two, desparately needed a paint job. I don't know if it was the salt water or the dirt and grime, but all the buildings looked desheveled.


If my memory hasn't failed me...yet again...I believe Venice is made up of 117 individual islands connected by little bridges. How cool is that. But the really cool thing about Venice is how the residents have adapted to this one of a kind city. Almost all travel is done by some sort of boat...I know...no big surprise.

But to see boats carry all sorts of products such as computers, fruit, water, machine parts, and everything in between is just so vastly different than the tractor trailers that I'm used to.




There are garbage boats, train boats, fire boats, police boats and of course the famous gondolas. Unfortunately, I didn't get a gondola ride. I was feeling cheap and wasn't willing to fork out the $75-$90 dollars for a 50 min ride. But those gondola "drivers" do earn their money as larger boats and ferries zip by them in the small canals.




Lately when I have a long travel day, I treat myself to a restaurant or cafe instead of street vendors or hostel food. Hey, I'm worth it. But I have changed my mind lately. After finding my hostel on Guidecca island...no small chore, I decided to sit under and umbrella on a cafe and overlook Venice. A wonderful view, but then I realized they wanted 7 Euros for less than a pint of beer. That's almost $11Cdn. I almost didn't order it, but it was a hot day!

However, after sight seeing for hours the next day, I became the frugal backpacker again. I entered a supermarket about 150 metres from the cafe and proceeded to buy two 500mL (each containing more beer than the one at the cafe) for only 49 Euro cents a piece. No that's what I'm talking about. And proceeded to drink them less than 10 metres from the cafe so I had the exact same view.

And while I was drinking my beers and chatting with some fellow backpackers...I had a chance to redeem myself from Dusseldorf. We heard a commotion and saw a very drunk guy (and no it wasn't me) push a whole garbage bin into the waters of Venice. How sad as I was very impressed with how clean the water was. (I had heard horror stories about the waters in Venice). And then the drunk stumbled towards us cursing and kicking at everything.

He stumbled down a small corridor and vanished. I started to follow him, but since he was quite a large man...I didn't see the need to confront him in a back alley on his home turf. But when the cops showed up about 30 minutes later...I was on my way to tell them where I had last seen the guy when he comes out of hiding...stumbling to a point of humour and then walks past where the cops are talking to other witnesses and attempts to push more garbage into the water.

Man...bad timing! I saw 5 police officers tackle this guy, throw him down and put the boots to him. They had him pinned to the ground for at least 30 minutes until they finally took him away. So even though I didn't get the chance to inform the police where the guy was hiding...I felt my intentions were definitely civil minded and felt like I redeemed myself somewhat for letting the perp in Dusseldorf run by me.

I took a picture of the masks(above)...Venice is famous for it's carnivale as well the obvious...to show my good friend Bo what to expect his attire might look like on the day of his stag...which luckily for him is after his wedding due to my travel plans.

Bo...don't think you're off the hook yet dude. You're going to look great in a Venetian mask, German suspenders, a European speedo bathing suit, fake Heidi pig tails, forced to sing the theme song to "The Sound of Music" all day covered with Maori tatoos all over your body. Didn't you realize my trip was just in preparation for your stag? It's been fun knowing you!

Then it was on to the fashion capital of Europe...Milan.

And unfortunately I found myself in many more stores than I would have liked...and no I didn't buy anything. But then again...I found Milan didn't have much to see outside of their main square...but it was definitely an impressive main square.

The cathedral is the second largest Gothic cathedral in the world...so once again...it's hard to get a picture that does it justice.

But what really amazed me was the fact that it had a capacity to hold 40,000 people it in. That's crazy! That's more than everyone in Woodstock going to church at the same time in the same building.




OK...that was probably a bad example. I know Woodstock is almost completely filled with bad people who wouldn't step inside a church for fear of being struck done. Isn't that right Pam and Mark?

Well...this segment of my trip is starting to wind down. I'll find myself in the Black Forest, Munich and back to the middle of Switzerland before heading back to Canada.

But for those of you who haven't already heard...I've decided to head back to Europe after about a month and a half stay in Canada to finish off my sightseeing.

But before that happens...I'll see you in the Bavarian beer halls of southern Germany.