Day 24 - 15th November 2016

We weren’t going to get up to shoot sunrise as we were leaving early to head to Venice. I had the alarm set for 5.40am, but at 5.20am I was awake due to the trucks driving past.

Got up and looked out the window and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky (no use shooting sunrise).

I was up at the window again at 5.40am only to see the “super-moon” setting just behind the Island!! OMG Steve, you want to be up shooting this!!!

As Steve very slowly made his way to the window (all of 2 steps), I showered and got ready. By the time I could get to the window the moon was just hiding behind the tree’s. I am glad we got to see it, even if the photos aren’t “award winning”.

We tried to check out, but alas no one comes to the front desk until after 8am.

Steve rang numerous bells on the counter, whilst I took the opportunity to run around taking last minute photos of Lake Bled with heaps of mist coming up off the water!!! I didn’t care that it was minus 6 – all that running about kept me warm! Ha ha ha ha

I saw a man rowing his boat across the lake in the mist - it looked amazing!

A lady suddenly appeared out of no where and let us check out early, and before we knew it, we were on the road by 7.30am.

Bye-Bye Slovenia….. we will be back – we aren’t finished with you yet!

We drove through the Slovenian Countryside and then before we knew it, we had crossed the boarder and we were back in Italy!

Steve was a bit worried having to navigate his way through Venice airport etc, but it was a dream. Venice airport is AMAZING!! It could be that is well signposted and it is a small airport. Keeping in mind, we were only at the rental car returns area to the Water Transport area. But there was hardly any people, and everyone was awesome!  (We gotta travel in low season more often!)

Steve found the ticket counter and asked for 2 return tickets to Guglia. He pronounced it “GOOGLY”!! ha ha ha ha – OMG, the look on the guys face behind the ticket counter was hysterical! I was laughing at Steve and I asked the guy to pronounce it for Steve “Guglia” - basically the middle G is silent – so “Gulia”, but not in an aussie accent hanging on the a at the end of the word….anyway, you get the drift. I was laughing and apologising to him and he said “it’s ok, we get it all the time”! Ha ha ha – great that he had such an awesome sense of humour….if we were in France, it would have been a totally different story! Ha ha

So from here now on, Gulia will now be affectionally known as "Googly"!!!

So now we were in posession of two tickets to “Googly” and off we went. We got on board the boat within 10mins and we were on our way! YAY BABY – Venizia here we come!

The “water bus” was basically empty which meant we should stretch out. The trip took about 40mins and before we knew it we had arrived at “Googly” pier and then the fun began – trying to find our way to the Apartment to meet our host Vale.

Vale’s directions were spot on to the letter. No trouble to find the apartment and all and first impressions were WOW Impressive!! It is right on the Grand Canal, and it has the most amazing courtyard (there aren’t many homes with courtyards in Venice)!

Vale met us and she is just lovely! She took us to the private pier and then showed us up to our lovely room on the 4^th Floor! OMG – the views are just to die for – up and down the Grand Canal!

The apartment has a generous sized bedroom with the most AMAZING bed (the best we’ve slept on in our whole Italian/Slovenian/Croatian Adventure! We have a dining room and a lounge room and kitchen and the bathroom is appointed in Italian Pink Marble!

We love the touches of Murano Glass everywhere! (Well, I did… I think it was lost on Steve, except for me reminding him every 2 seconds to be careful of the low hanging Murano glass light fittings! I don’t want to have to pay for one of them when we check out!!) lol

Once Vale had us settled in, we dropped our bags and Steve said he wanted to get a carton of Milk so he could have a coffee.

So we left all our gear and just went for a walk. 7kms and 3.5hrs later we finally made it back to the apartment! WOW – Venice is just amazing! We weren’t expecting to enjoy it as much as we have done initially. We thought it would be very hard to navigate our way around, but no – there is a method to getting around (just follow the crowds!) LOL

There is something new to see around every corner, so you keep walking to look around the next corner and there you go – 7kms to get a carton of Milk!! lol

On our Travels we ate Gelato (just by our apartment and it is supposed to be the best in Venizia and the locals go to eat Gelato there) – Vale was horrified to think I would want Gelato at this time of year…. ‘we stop eating Gelato in September! - they only stay open now for the tourists! I am more than happy to be a tourist, and the Gelato was enormous…. A big waffle cone, 3 huge scoops and all for 3.50 Euro – Bargain!!

a few hundred meters up the road was the most amazing Patisserie, but serving more home made wares than just pastries - “Rizzo”. I ate a  Mozzarella in Carfozza n Proscuitto - just like Nonna used to make!!

Our travels found us at Marco Polo Piazza where we saw the “ Palace” (We had just been to the movies before we left Australia to see “Inferno”, so it was cool to see this in real life after seeing it all at the movies).

I saw the Basilica off in the distance! Ooooh I want to get closer!! ha ha ha – I had no hope, not now!

Walking in and out of the maze of streets and alleyways was amazing! So many things to see…. So many things to buy, but alas no room in the suitcases.

We did see some Creme Limoncello – OMG we had to buy some….. t’s THE BEST!! (sweeter than the standard Limoncello – like Baileys – you can drink a whole bottle in one go!) lol

We stopped off at Rizza again to get some lunch. Steve had Pizza with Spek & Brie. I went beserk and had an Arancini, Polpetta & a skewer full of prawns! Hmmmm…. The Arancini & Polpetta were authentic to a T! (I wasn’t sold on the prawns, but thats ok, I think we are spoilt in Australia with them!)

Steve then went to buy his Milk. With all the shopping & food etc, I stayed outside and let him get it on his own.. He wasn’t 100% sure it was actual milk from the cow. I gave him some doubts and thought I’d tease him a little if I could!

We finally made it back to our apartment 3.5hrs later! WOW, now that was a journey to get milk!

We cracked open the Creme Limoncello after we got it icey cold in the fridge….hmmm… yummy!!!

We rested…..but not for long. The sun was beginning to set! It sets at 4.30pm and it was 3.40pm. With no time to walk anywhere (and no energy) we decided to stay on our private jetty to photograph.

Actually, I tell a lie…. We initially set our camera’s up in the bedroom & lounge-room windows!! ha ha ha But we couldn’t get the tripods out far enough (there are no balcony’s here – its a sheer drop down to the water).

So then we decided to stand on our little pier for sunset.

OMG that Grand Canal is very busy! I think we are also right on the corner of one of the “major intersections” - as traffic was coming and going like no bodies business!

Not much of a sunset – barely any clouds, so no real colour in the sky. We had to contend with the huge water traffic and light trails, but it was nice – and even nicer not to have to hike 10kms to be where we needed to be and then have to hike 10km back carrying a heavy load! :)

We went and had dinner at a local restaurant just behind the apartment. Being full already from our late-ish lunch, we just had pasta…. “just had….” - yeah right – it was an “entree” on the menu, but it came out big enough to feed a small army! OMG Steve had…. Yes….. Spaghetti Carbonara, and I had Penne with Bacon in Tomato Sauce – Very nice!! Again, very authentic and cheap too, they were 8 Euro each! Bargain!

We decided we would go for a long walk after dinner – maybe leave the apartment around 10pm once the crowds had died down, so we could take more photos at night to get some atmosphere.

On our way back to the apartment and full as eggs, we thought we’d walk the extra 20m to “Googly” Bridge to see if it was lit up at night, so we could come back in a couple of hours. No, alas it wasn’t. Bugger.

We walked past the Gelato shop and asked when it closed and the man said “in 8minutes”! OH NO – I wanted a Gelato later, but as he was closing in 8mins, we ordered one each!! ha ha ha – can’t let an opportunity like that pass you by, no matter how full you are!

Once we got back to the apartment there was no way we were heading back out! It had already been a big day and we decided that laying in our very comfortable bed was a lot more appealing.

Buona Notte Venizia – very lovely to meet you Bella!

xxx