Day trip to Venice

Today a bus load of TKD supporters and contestants went to Venice for the day. We had kiwis and USA (Alaska and Texas) on the trip with us.

The trip consisted on a bus to Venice then a ferry boat to take us directly into the main attraction – San Marco Square and Basilica. The trip normally takes 3 ½ hours but we got off to a slow start only getting to the square at mid-day. We had too many people for the coach so they had to get a second one and we passed a bad motor accident which held us up for 20 minutes… a motor cyclist had been killed on the motorway.

You may know how the Italians drive… crazy fast, pushy and expecting everyone else to get out of their way. Our bus driver was excellent but had to hit the anchors and blast the horn on several occasions. I saw cars passing us on the motorway at I guess 120kph texting on the phone while driving!

Venice was stunning. We had a guided introduction to the main attractions in San Marco Square. Then we had about 3 ½ hours to explore ourselves. Toni and I joined up and firstly went into the Basilica. This building is many centuries old and is heavily mosaic tiled. The floor was stunning and the walls and ceilings we’re amazing. All the images you can see in the not-permitted photos I sneaked are made with mosaic tiles. The golden ones get the glow by a sprinkling of gold dust on the surface of the glass tiles.

We then bought a map and traipsed through many small streets for the rest of the time. I finally learned how to order a coffee to my taste – the nearest equivalent to a NZ Latte is a Cappichino. It’s actually like our Latte only smaller and not as hot. The Italians consume their coffee in a minute or two – not taking ¼ of an hour like kiwis and others like to.

We shopped, map read, people watched, checked out a few churches, found a café for food and coffee and made it back to our starting point just in time to come home.
It is an amazing place but I can see why they are so worried about the sea levels rising.

The trip back was uneventful (fortunately) and overall we really enjoyed the day.
Cheers
Doug