CONEJO DE PASQUA IN ITALY

School holidays - hooray - and we're off to Italy. Rise and shine at 6.00am for the 15 minute drive to Barajas Airport and before you know it our Iberian flight is heading east. We touch down on time and in the rain and snow at MILANO's Malpensa airport, collect our bags and board the train to Milano Centrale where we have 15 minutes to board the Eurostar to VENEZIA (Travel Tip: Milan has 2 international airports. The main one - Malpensa - is over 50km from the city and the connecting trains which run on the 1/2 hour take 1 hour to get to Centrale station. We had a 3 hour window between airport arrival and train departure and made it with 15 minutes to spare).


Las Chicas at theGateway to Italia - Malpensa Airport

 

Strangers on a train??

Will we ever get these in Australia?

It's a pleasant 2 1/2 hour trip to the 'island republic' in gloomy weather (it hung around for most of the week), and whilst it had no direct impact upon us, it was surprising to find numerous females boarding the train at various stops and begging for money (to make matters worse, they looked 'organised'). I know it's tough times, but this was unnecessary and we were surprised it was allowed to occur on a train with on-board conductors.

First view of Venice from the station

Venice railway station

On board the #1 vaporetto

Heading off down the Grand Canal

Right on time, we cross the causeway and arrive at Venice station and it's very chilly. We buy our tickets (very expensive - 7 euro each regardless of age and distance travelled) and jump on board the #1 vaporetto (water bus) for the 45 minute ride all the way down the Grand Canal to the lagoon and our stop at San Zaccaria pier. No amount of 'heads up' can prepare you for the magnificent vista of this amazing city. For good reason, Venice is reputed to be the most photographed city in the world - Don LegsyBoy did nothing on the vaporetto ride (indeed our whole stay!) to allay this claim! It's difficult to know where to look as palaces adorn either side of the canal, the domes of cathedrals dominate the skyline, and of course the gondolas elegantly cruising the various canals and waterways - exquisite.

Rialto Bridge

Gondola

Across the lagoon

Venice is very small and one of the beauties of the city is getting lost; that's lucky because, despite the assurances of our landlord that the apartment was a 5 minute walk from the pier it took us 20 minutes due to several wrong turns. Our apartment is on Ruga Giuffa, a mere 4 minutes from the heart of the city, Piazza San Marco. The apartment landlords, an elderly couple Carlo & Vanda, are delightful; they live upstairs and are very helpful. It's a renovated 15th Century building with wooden beams and the famous Venetian tiled floors - it is perfect.Vanda doesn't speak English but when we leave she makes it clear that she thinks Buzzy is a very handsome boy (obviously has a plentiful dose of his father's genes!). There's several restaurants around the corner and we settle on Osteria Al Pozzo Roverso. Dulcinea and I are treated to a complimentary campari aperitivo as we share a deliciously refreshing bruschetta (and after a lifetime of uncertainty, finally I can lay to rest the correct pronunciation is brusKetta - that's how Italians say it, so that's good enough for me!). Los ninos enter into the spirit and both devour a huge bowl of spaghetti carbonara, Dulcinea devours a steaming bowl of vegetable soup (so thick it almost needs a knife), whilst The Don enjoys a local specialty, Triofa - seafood and vegetables fried in a tempura-like batter (being a small group of islands, it's hardly surprising that Venice's culinary reputation rests with seafood). Amiee and choclate plus Buzz demolishing a hefty slab of tiramisu, along with a half bottle of local vino bianco, completes the feast and we walk the 50 metres back to the apartment. I did,of course, to honour my Quest, partake of coffee and was somewhat bemused by the Italian interpretation of caffe latte (never mind the coffee ettiquette of the country in general - more of this later!).

Outside the apartment with Vanda and Pluto

Venetian floor



Dining room

15th Century beams



Work bench

The LegsyBoys at play



Osteria Al Pozzo Roverso



Triofa

Vegetable Zupa

Starving!!!

 



Apparently this is a caffe latte in Venice!!

Buzz's Tiramisu

We've travelled by automobile, plane, trains and boat all in one day, not something that occurs too often, and we've two full days ahead of us. The LegsyBoys are excited about tomorrow.......