Leaving Selva for Venice

Story of this holiday - I wake up at the unholy hour of 2am and didn't get back to sleep until 5:30am. Because this was our last day in Selva and we had to catch a bus at 8:40am - it didn't give me much of a chance to get more sleep. My mum had a similar deal - she woke up at 4:30am.

It was fairly easy for me to pack (I basically live out of a suitcase when I travel - all I have to do to pack is just zip the bag). My mum knocks at more door to check if I'm awake - the irony.

We have our last breakfast at the hotel restaurant - when we say goodbye to Borat and Kindergarten Cop. Mum, Dad and Taeko were very embarassing - they were trying to pilfer as much breakfast food as they could into their pockets so they didn't need to buy any lunch on the train. Cheap skates...

While we were waiting for the bus - there were a couple of idiot Italian drivers reversing into each and doing a bit of road rage (eg: get out of the car and swear). The bus arrived on time - and we had no hassles. Mysteriously - the bus fare dropped from 5.50 Euros to only 5...

A bit more than an hour later - we said goodbye to my parents - who were on their way to Vienna (I seem to recall Ant and I deciding not to go there on our last trip and go to Krakow instead - I don't have any regrets). Tasha and I were heading on to Venice for five nights. We were originally going to book an apartment so we could share - but after doing rudimentary searches on the internet - neither myself nor Tasha could afford it. I had booked into a single room at the Hotel Delfino and forked out 70 Euros a night (which is heaps for me - especially when I'm the only one paying it!) and emailed Tasha the address and suggested that he book there too. I never got any response from him (his excuse was that the internet was too expensive - and I would agree with that) and he booked themselves into another hotel in a totally different location for 50 euros a night.... or so the story goes.

Anyhows - at Bolzano - Tasha were keen on seeing the Ice Man museum (there was a body found back in the 70s in the area of a frozen man) and were trying to find a left luggage service. It was kind of them to leave me on the platform with all of their bags for 15 minutes with a severe wind-chill and me having a lack of warm clothes on. Sacha finally reappeared saying that there was a left luggage at the nearby bus station - so we all traipsed over to the bus station with all of our crap. The baggage service was 3.50 euros per bag - but it almost cost Sacha his wallet. He has the uncanny knack of leaving things behind including wallets at old Woden cinemas - and he was on fine form leaving his wallet on the windowsill. I noticed it and promptly asked Sacha to pick it up.

We wandered into town in the vague direction of the museum (we were only working off a map which was on the Ice Man Museum brocher - which was in the shape of an ice pick). Bolzano (or Bozen - as the german speaking natives call it) is fairly pretty - with snowcapped mountains nearby and cobblestoned roads.

After about 20 minutes (and some dodgy orienteering skills provided by me) - we finally made it to the Ice Man Museum (can't exactly remember what it was called)... It was 10 euros to get in and to my horror - everything on the first floor was in Italian and German... Thankfully - on the second floor (the floor with the ice man mummy) - things had been translated into Engrish. The Ice Man himself was in a dark room - there was a small porthole window from the museum where you could have a look. He sort of looked like a big beef jerky - all rubbery looking. According to the museum - he was an old man for his time (mid 40s) and had a violent death with an arrow stabbing on his shoulder or something... kewl. Some of his clothes that had been preserved were on display as well.

On the next floor - everything was back to normal (eg: no Engrish translation) - but on the top floor - there was an interesting exhibit on Tattos and Body Art which was in Engrish. They had a couple of videos showing a pacific islander getting a traditional tatto. Of interest - one of the tatto artists was wearing a vintage Raiders top from the 1980s. Sacha thought it could have been Noa Nandruku (famous for punching out two women outside the now defunct South Pacific Rugby Club in Civic). There was another video of a Papua New Guinea tribe practicing a brutual scarring ceremony. Of interest - there were lots of errect penises - which seem to bemuse Tasha. At the end of the tatto exhibit - there was a glass wall where you could write your comments with a magic marker. I got to work and wrote a couple of Jonah "dicktation" tags - whilst Taeko drew some bizzare random things including a dog doing a poo. I then drew a picture of someone licking the excrement. Choice.

We had lunch at a nearby pizza shack - I thought I was going to order two slices with a particular meal - but it was pretty much 3/4's of a big Italy pizza (which made me feel a bit queasy afterwards).

We head back to the bus station - pick up our bags and then buy some train tickets to Venice Mestre station which were slightly cheaper than the ones I had bought coming up here. Must have something to do with the type of train we were going on.

The train to Verona (we have to change there in order to get to Venice) was a total bum fight getting on. There were a stack of people trying to get off at Bolzano - but it was fairly obvious that they weren't organised.... which meant everyone (in true Italian style) was all very aggressive trying to get onto the train. The train was a little different than the one I had come to Bolzano on. It had individual compartments and felt a bit grotty.

About 1 and a half hours later - we arrived at Verona station. My mum had suggested that we go and see the stadium and the Romeo and Juilet balcony whilst we were passing through Verona - but Tasha and myself agreed that we would prefer to just get to Verona (after doing a bit of sight seeing at Bolzano). Taeko and I discover a McDonalds were I get a bottle of diet coke (I mean coke light here in Europe) and Taeko gets some icecreams for Tasha.

Because we had paid for our tickets separately - the crazy woman at the Bolzano train station had booked us in different compartments on the train from Verona to Venice. Getting out at Mestre train station - Taeko was a bit scared - mostly due to how sleazy everything is (but it ain't no New Plaza Guilin Hotel in China!). Tasha and I make our own separate ways to our respective hotels. Because I was just going to the same hotel as before - I had no problems finding it (if I did - I would probably seek medical help). I made a bit of a screw up with my booking this time - I had booked it over wotif.com and accidently added an extra night to the booking (was supposed to be checking out on 31 Jan - but I had booked it until 1 Feb). I explained my situtation to the front desk guy - who coldly said that I needed to go through the travel agent in order to change the booking. He was fairly frosty (was the same guy who checked me in last week) so I was feeling a bit pishy. However - I had a different room than that divey room I had a week ago. Hotel Delfino had signs up saying it was under refurbishment and apologies for any inconvience. I fortunately - was now staying in a bling bling refurbished room (which looks like the ones on its website). It had a really flash bathroom and a big big room - so I was pleased with it. I gave Ant a quick text asking him if he could call wotif to cancel the booking. I was pretty sure I would have to pay a 15 euro fee.

When I was unpacking my stuff - I noticed my Venice LP was missing - so I gave Sacha a text and ask him if he had seen it - to which he replied yes (thief!).

I head in the general direction of the La Barche shopping mall (the one with H&M there - I did a bit of research before leaving Australia and printed off the address of the H&M in Mestre). I didn't really have any troubles finding it - even without the map - but to my horror - the H&M at La Barche didn't have any male clothing. Only womens and childrens (childrens!!). Feeling a bit pisshy - I decide to explore the rest of the mall - but it was fairly small and only had a couple of other shops - one being Coin - an Italian department store that stocks pretty nasty clothing.

I head outside and explore a nearby piaza. It was kinda atmospheric - lots of people - some nice shops - a few markets... not too bad. Hell it was a lot better than the sleazy station.

For dinner - because I was getting sick of Italian - I decided to go chinese. I broke the first rule that Ant and I have about restaurants - don't go to a restaurant which isn't busy... This one didn't have anyone in it. I had ordered Chilli Pork - but it wasn't very spicy (story of Italy) and had some bizzare chilled red wine. I guess it was fairly cheap (11 euro) but not all that cheerful.

I walk back home to the hotel (it takes about 15 minutes by foot from La Barche) and enjoy a "Maxibon on a stick" ice-cream. With all the great galati in Italy - and I order a Maxibon on a stick.

Upon arrival at the hotel - there was a sea of Japanese tourists all checking in at once... Aggghh!

I watch a bit of TV and notice that the German MTV has been replaced with an Italy version here in Venice. It seems to play more clips - although every Italy clip seems to be some 50 year old Italian version of John Farnham. I watch this incredibly old bad gay looking cartoon from the 60s dubbed into Italian. It was a bunch of guys in skimpy outfits prancing around in the forrest together - only before inexplicably taking off in a phallic rocket ship.... I think they mentioned one of the character's names as being Rocket Robin - and low and behold - when I search it in google - I come up with a really gay looking picture... This is gayer than He-Man...