Venice

21^st December - 22^nd December

I only spent a night in Venice, really. I got in at about 9pm, checked what time my train to Vienna was (1pm), and got to my hotel. Now, imagine wearing a 40 pound backpack, sitting on the edge of a crowded boat in the middle of the night. The canals were calm, but I was still a little nervous. Still, I got to the Lido (where my hotel was) still dry, which was a good thing.

I was feeling rather healthier by this stage, so I got a pizza for dinner, and then just went to sleep for the evening.

I got up around dawn in the morning to make use of what little time I had in the city. Now, I'd heard it said that Venice is the world's largest open air museum, but it took until that morning to understand how true that was. 90% of the streets are too narrow for traffic, even assuming you could get vehicles out there. The Lido does have a small road network, but it's pretty much part of the mainland. In the city proper, the main streets are only just navigable by foot, and gondolas can't carry that much, so they're stuck at a 15th century level of trade. Their one big export seems to be Murano Glassware, which to be quite frank reminded me of tacky 1970's paperweights. Other than that, they just rely on tourism. So I went to St Mark's Piazza and saw The Doge's Palace. That would have been the most beautiful building I'd ever seen, except that I'd been in St Peter's Basilica a few days before.

I also saw the Venetian Opera House, and generally wandered about the city. I had difficulty finding somewhere to have lunch, because it was a Sunday, and everywhere was closed until noon. So I went back to my hotel, got my pack and headed for the station. There was a cheap and slightly grotty cafeteria there, so I got some food, got to the till, and discovered that they didn't take credit cards. And I had no cash on me at the time. So I then spent all the remaining time trying to find a cash machine, and failing.

So I was feeling a little hungry when I got on the train, but fortunatly, the dining car on board could accept credit cards. And the food was delicious, too. I had pan-fried ostrich steak with cranberry, I believe. You don't get food like that on Connex, you know. We climbed into the Alps, and it started snowing, with drifts almost a foot thick in places. I decided that this was a good sign that I might get a white Christmas in Vienna. When I crossed the border into Austria, they didn't have any passport control, which is something I always find slightly annoying about travelling in the EU. Boo. But I get to Vienna with no more excitement and settle in for Christmas.