Day 2 in Venice

I wake up at 5am - better than the last couple of days but I wished I would sleep in a bit longer (say till at least 5:30am)...

Italian TV for the most part is fairly s##t - most shows seem to be as dumb as Hey Hey It's Saturday and I'm beginning to get second thoughts on the Italian version of MTV. They were playing non-stop serious news (eg: stuff about Soharto dying not about Heath Ledger or Britney Spears) - and had some really tedious special on some Italian kids going to Auschwitz (spl?) and heaps of news on it (although I'm not sure why). Where are the trashy american reality shows or MTV Exposed. MTV Exposed was a pretty slimy dating show where one girl or guy has a date with two other people. That one girl or guy asks them all of these bizzare questions - eg: "have you ever thought about being a woman?" or "do you wear women clothing" - obvious questions to ask a potential partner on a first date. Meanwhile - in a very non-subtle truck - there is that person's best friend who is hearing their answers thru a lie detection computer. At the end of the date - the single boy or girl announce that their questions have gone thru a lie detector machine and that they will go back to the surveilance truck and talk it thru with their best friend... What a great first date - I'm sure none of these relationships have ever made it to the second...

Also of note on this morning's MTV - was that the starsigns apparently say that Aquarians hate Leos today - great news considering I'm a Leo and Ant's an Aquarian.

I have breakfast downstairs at the restaurant and upon my return to my room - a big protest was brewing outside the hotel. I had overheard someone saying on the train the night before that there were going to be train strikes or something tomorrow and this could be it. It went on for about 1 hour and their were riot police and everything - although nothing ever got out of hand. I stayed in the safety of my hotel room - which had a good view of the proceedings. I noticed heaps of Japanese tourists taking photos out the front of the hotel.

I head to the train station after the protest disappears and catch a train to Venice. The cost is only 1 euro - which is fairly reasonable.

Because it was a monday - it was a lot less packed than the previous day. All of the locals appeared to have returned to work - and it was dead obvious picking out the tourists today - people wearing dodgy masks and capes - who sort of looked out of place today.

Because Tasha were catching a later shuttle bus into Venice today (they had to hang around Venice for 10 or 12 hours the previous day) - I wandered off to the Peggy Gugghenheim Museum over at Accademeia. I thought I'd be smart and try and find a short cut - becauuse going to San Marco then to Accademia was a bit of trek. Famous last words - it took me almost an hour to find my way using the LP maps. This place is like an absolute maze - you have a terrible sense of direction as you can't see any distinguishing landmarks and all the streets all twist and turn in non-logical directions.

When I finally made it - the entrance fee was only 10 euros. Peggy Gugghenheim was a famous art collector - and she left her collection to this museum for public display. According to LP - she has an interesting ecclectic taste. There were a number of famous artists including Picasso, Miro and Marc Ernst (her husband - a surrealist artist). There was a cool sculpture garden and the museum was positioned on the "banks" of the grand canal. I thought it was well worth the admission.

I make my way back to the general direction of the Rialto and I still haven't heard of anything from Tasha yet. When I had almost made it back to the Santa Lucia train station - I suddenly get a barrage of txts from Tasha - saying "We are having breakfast at Brek - meet you there", and "Where are you - its 12 o clock" and "we are getting desperate..."!

I text him back saying that I'll meet him at the train station - he immediately texted me back saying he was at San Marco Piazza... So I make my way back to San Marco - and ended up getting lost another half dozen or so times.

About 1/2 an hour later - I finally met him and Taeko near the bascillia. Sacha was saying that he was concerned because I was a no-show and was about to call mum - but I explained to him that I've been having trouble receiving and sending texted today.

Anyhow - we have a little bit of a wander around the Piazza - which was considerably less busy than on Sunday. LP was right - there were 1000s of pigeons. Apparently - the city tried to get rid of them because they were being fairly problematic. The city tried de-sexing them... it didn't work. They tried posioning them... but the wouldn't take the bait - so I think they have just given up on trying to reduce the flying rat population of San Marco. We notice a couple of young girls who developed a method of getting the birds to fly off the ground... just wave your hands in an upwards fashion. Sacha and I took this to new extremes by flicking our jackets into the sky - you could get 100s of birds to fly off at once. We got Taeko to videotape our crime spree (which hopefully should be coming soon to youtube) where Sacha and I would quietly work towards a group of tourists in the middle of 100s of birds and then - with a simple flick of our jackets - the birds would go wild and people would scream.... It was a good way to kill off half an hour.

We check at the Basilica - which was free to get in - but extra if you wanted to do different things. We all took the free option. Taeko was asking all of these dumb questions about Christianity including - what country is Jesus from... and where are Jesus' bones. I answered New Zealand and she sort of believed me... There was a "praying only area" and I wanted to check it out. Taeko was afraid of going because she said "I'm asian and people would know I'm not Christian"... Despite her qualms - we all do it anyway.

We then check out the next door Doge's palace or Palazzo Duale - which was a former palace/courthouse/prison all rolled into one. It was 12 euro admission. I mouthed off Taeko for taking pictures - despite the no photo signs. She takes a few crazy shots of Sacha replacing his head with a stone statue head. We check out the courtyard - most of which was under renovation - then Doge's apartment. It was a bit confusing as there was a sign saying "Doge's Apartment - this way" - and the area was all roped off. Taeko goes around the rope - then attempts to open a locked door. Sacha and I fled the crime scene. It was all very pretty - and there were a few famous paintings including by Titian. After the apartment - you check out the court rooms, then the prison/dungeon. Sacha was a bit disappointed because he thought he would see a torture chamber.

Tasha were obsessed about the uglyness of the paintings and statues of Eve (eg: Adam and Eve). In one of the rooms - it first had a painting of Adam and Eve - and then one I thought of Adam and Steve (two naked guys wrestling) - but it was Cain and Able or someone...

On the way to San Marco - I found a McDonalds and Tasha wanted McDonalds - so we went to McDonalds for a late lunch. I order a 5 euro happy meal (complete with Connect Four set) whilst Tasha orders a big meal - at a whopping 8 euros (most. expensive. Mcdonalds. Ever). We play a few rounds of Connect Four - firstly me and Taeko then me and Sacha - I still am the undefeated champion of Connect Four...

Because of Taeko's motion sickness - she originally wanted Sacha and I to catch a Gondola and she would take a photo. I think Taeko is living in a fantasy world where Gondola rides don't cost 60-90 euros an hour. Sacha and I thought it was best if we took the Vaporetto option (eg: public ferry) which was 6 euros a ticket.I take LP's advice and catch a number 1 ferry (all stops down the grand canal) and get on at the back. We took some good photos - well Sacha did - my camera's battery died on me. Towards the end of the trip - Sacha and I sit down on some seats and watch the sunset from the back of a boat in Venice... how romantic... vomit.

We get off at Santa Lucica and make our way back to Rialto - where Taeko said she would meet us. Sacha wanted to have somewhere nice for dinner (what's wrong with Brek!) so we chose a touristy restaurant along the grand canal called Restaurant Florida. It was about 20 euros each for a pasta dish and a glass of wine (and 12% service charge) - it wasn't fantastic food and I got burnt alive by a nearby overzealous heater.

We head back to the train station where I get Ant a cheesy Catholic Priests of 2008 calander (grrrrr....) and of course - we get terribly lost on our way back and end up in the completely wrong area. We arrived at some big giant carpark - it sort of reminded me of a theme park carpark - where everything isn't real in the theme park and then you head to the carpark... sort of like Venice.

I say goodbye to Tasha - agreeing to meet at Mestre station tomorrow for a day trip to nearby Padua (or Podova as the locals call it). I get on the right regular train this time and head back to the hotel after a busy day sightseeing.