Day 29

We had decided last night that we would do a night cruise of Venice tonight so we didn’t plan on heading into Venice until late. Therefore, we completely wasted our morning – it was awesome! We didn’t get out of bed until 10:30 and just bummed around in our pjs reading and surfing the net. I know it sounds lame but it was just so nice to do nothing and not have to worry about dashing off to see something or do something for a change.

Steve’s parents got sick of us (they’d already been super productive in the morning and were bored) so we arranged to meet them near St Mark’s Square at 4 so that they could head into Venice. We went for a swim in the pool, which was chilly by the way, had some lunch, did some packing and then headed into Venice around 2:30.

By the time we had walked to the bus station (the shuttle bus didn’t run between 12 pm and 6 pm), caught the bus in, transferred to a water bus to take us to St Mark’s Square and then arrived at the meeting point, it was about 4. Steve’s parents arrived soon after us so we then headed down to St Mark’s Basilica where there may have been even more people than yesterday as a few cruise ships had arrived.

We decided to just grin and bear it so we lined up and the line ended up moving fairly quickly. Unfortunately when we got to the front we weren’t allowed to take our back packs in. Conveniently, there was a luggage service that St Mark’s offered around the corner – for a small fee of course. We decided to take it in turns wandering the basilica so that the two outside could babysit the packs.

St Mark's Basilica

St Mark’s was pretty cool. Lots of gold everywhere. There were signs all around saying no photography which heaps of people were just blatantly ignoring (not us though). The funniest one was an old dude with an SLR that had a MASSIVE lense. It was pretty hard not to miss but the attendants weren’t saying anything so he just kept on clicking away.

After the Basilica we thought we might check out the Doge’s Palace. The entrance fee was $13 per person so we thought we would give it a miss given that it was already after 5 and the place closed at 6 plus we, well, at least Steve and I, were starting to get a bit over old buildings. Very uncultured, I know.

Instead we walked down the waterfront until we reached a nice little area where we wandered around and explored the south east corner of Venice. We had dinner at a nice little restaurant, watched the sunset and then got on a water bus to Lido Island. We only had about half an hour to wander around before we had to get back on another water bus to take us back to the bus terminal

Sunset

Venice by night was lovely. As we had gotten on at the very first stop, we had prime seats outside at the front of the boat. The city was much nicer at night when you couldn’t see how run down some of the buildings had gotten and some buildings, restaurants and the bridges along the Grand Canal were lit up.

Grand Canal at night

We caught the shuttle bus back, got ready for bed and prepared for another day of travelling...

Day 28

We headed into Venice on the 9:30 am shuttle bus. Our driver was pretty crazy although not quite as crazy as the cabbie as he had a boxy van and was carrying twice as many people as the cab had. We arrived in Venice and he shooed us out of the car. We asked him if this was where he’d pick us up again later and he kind of grunted something that sounded like a yes.

Rialto bridge

We spent the next few hours wandering the streets of Venice, doing our best to get lost/find our way to the Rialto bridge. We didn’t do too badly in the end. After the Rialto bridge we made our way to St Mark’s Square. We stopped off for a drink at a lovely cafe in a little piazza before continuing our journey.

There were squillions of people in St Mark’s Square. Squillions. And it was hot. We decided that we didn’t want to wait in the heat to go into St Mark’s Basilica so we walked along the water front and found a shaded place to have lunch.

Venice waterfront from the water bus

We went to the information centre and found that the best way of transport around Venice was by the public transport system so we bought tickets that would last for 36 hours and then hopped on a water bus to Murano Island.

OH&S?

Murano Island was nice. We went to a glass making shopping and got to watch two guys make a vase and a horse out of the glass which was pretty cool. The room was stinking hot due to a massive furnace so the guys were just hanging out it shorts and T-shirts as they moulded the molten glass... We then had to walk through their show room to get out of course. I was terrified of breaking something.

We managed to get out unscathed (once we found the exit) and then grabbed a snack before adventuring on Murano. We wandered the streets and managed to get stuck at a few dead ends on our quest for another water bus stop before giving up and just coming back to the two we knew were there.

We caught what must have been the slowest ride ever back to Venice. We hadn’t realised how empty the water bus we caught to Murano was until we stopped at every single stop on the way back to pick up passengers heading into Venice. I think it took us an hour to get back in.

Peak hour in the Grand Canal

Once we arrived we noticed it was starting to get close to when the shuttle bus was booked to pick us up from the bus terminal so we caught a water bus up the Grand Canal. That was pretty cool although it got pretty squishy on board. The canal was very busy! I was surprised there weren’t any accidents with the number of boats and gondolas cruising around. Our bus driver/captain did have to reverse the engines a few times.

We landed safely and had about 15 minutes to kill so we just waited around where we had been dropped off this morning. We weren’t 100% sure if we were in the right place still, given the vagueness of the driver’s reply this morning but we weren’t sure where else to wait. Luckily some other people who had caught the bus in with us in the morning also showed up so we were somewhat reassured.

The shuttle arrived and took off back to the camping village. We insect repellented and then had a nice relaxing dinner at the restaurant after a long day of walking before going back and bumming out in the cabin for the rest of the night.

Day 27

The day started early with some last minute cleaning in the apartment before heading to the Metro to catch a train to Orly airport. When we arrived at the airport there was no check in counter for our flight yet and squillions of people checking in for other flights. We figured either way we would be waiting so we decided to wait in line. An hour later (worst check in ever), we finally checked into our flight. It was so depressing to have gotten to the airport on time, even slightly early, but by the time we had checked in we were just making the time limit.

We headed up through the airport security which also took a while and by the time we made it to the gate we only had about 10 minutes to spare before the official boarding time. I managed to get in one last Pain au Chocolat from Paris before we flew out to Venice.

When we arrived in Venice airport, there were buses waiting on the tarmac to take us to the terminal which was amusing as a number of people had rushed off to be the “first” off and then just had to sit on the bus and wait for others. I guess you could say that at least they had seats but it then meant that when we did arrive at the terminal, all the people standing near the door could get off first.

Venice airport

I had booked us into a camping village with self contained cabins that was 15 minutes away from Venice because Venice was very, very expensive. I had booked, or thought that I had booked, an airport transfer from Venice airport to the camping village but, alas, when we arrived it was not there. After 45 minutes of waiting and 3 phone calls to a very unhelpful operator, we got a cab which ended up being around the same price anyway! The cabbie was pretty cool, even if he did drive at insane speeds (I think he was up to 150 km/h in a 90 km/h stretch at one point...)

After all the hoo ha with transfers and stuff we arrived at the camping village mid afternoon. One of the downsides of the camping village was that there were mosquitoes. I somehow got bitten twice while we were checking in, which wasn’t so fun. 

Mosquito buffet

The cabin was nice though and had two separate bedrooms with their own ensuites. There was also a pool that looked fantastic, particularly as it was hot. Not hot hot but starting to get up into the mid to high twenties.

Awesome pool area

The camping village offered a shuttle service into Venice or you could catch the public bus in, which was about a 15 minute walk away. We dumped our luggage, insect repellented ourselves and then went for a walk around the neighbourhood to check things out and find the bus stop. The bus stop was just down the road from a gelati shop so we had some yummy gelati on our way back.

We bought a few items from the supermarket at the camping village and then had our first Italian meal at the restaurant- Italian pizzas are delicious! After dinner we chilled for the rest of the night and made vague plans for the next day.

Day 26

Express lane!

We had a sleep in today after our previous late night and then made our way to the Eiffel Tower. We took the metro. Dad managed to get his ticket to not validate on the way out (not the first time, and always tends to be him...). When we got there, there were armed military patrolling, lots of tourist, hawkers, and the largest line ever. It was huge! However, Sandra had bought tickets online earlier so we got to skip the line. Win! Although I’m sure the military had their own special entrance. I’d like to think it was a helicopter...

However, this wicked queue cutting only really got us as far as the second floor. At that point, we had to join everyone else to make it to the top. Fail. The line was so long that people weren’t sure if they were lining up behind the line or just groups of people looking at the view. But no, it was the line...

We finally made it to the top after maybe half an hour of waiting around. With the romantic view of Paris in the background (ignoring all the people around us), I asked Sandra to marry me. She said yes, so yay! After some congratulations from the folks we continued to enjoy the view of Paris. Mum spent a lot of time away from the edge.

We caught the elevator down to the second floor and had another walk around and then took the steps to the first floor. We stopped off at the restaurant on the first floor to get some lunch as it was close to 2. It was decently priced (for a restaurant on the Eiffel Tower) and had a nice view over the Trocadéro.

The view during lunch

The rest of this day was relatively relaxing. We left the Eiffel Tower and walked around the Champs de Mars and then over to Trocadéro before catching the Metro back to the apartment where we spent the rest of th afternoon chilling (and blogging...). Later, the folks went to the Artist’s Square at night. But like I said in China, I’m a bit over the art scene. The rest of the night was spent packing, getting ready for the travel to Venice the next day.

Day 25

Since the line for the Louvre was so long yesterday, we did it today instead. Sandra found a thing on the net that said to get the tickets and enter the Louvre from the subway station that was next to it. So we did. The line was far far shorter than the one we saw yesterday. Go Internet!

This museum was massive. Just massive. There was no way we could give it the full time it deserved. Plus, these things tire me out. Since we all agreed, we decided to hunt out the most famous stuff only. The Mona Lisa was a good example of this.

The whole architecture of the place was amazing. And the artwork on the ceilings made for good viewing.

We also came across this piece of famous artwork Portrait présumé de Gabrielle d'Estrées et de sa soeur la duchesse de Villars or otherwise known as Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters.

Now, I can't say as I don't have any sisters but I asked mum and Sandra and they both said that they definitely don't hang out with their sisters this way...

Once we were full of culture and history, we decided to balance it out by going to the Paris 2010 Manga and SciFi show (which ended today)! We found the address online the night before and found it wasn’t far from our apartment. Surprisingly, the folks weren’t interested in this, so Sandra and I went solo (like Han. Come on, get in the spirit!).

A train ride later told us that we were sadly mistaken about the address. Turns out this was the address of show next year. These are not the buildings you are looking for. Defeated, we went home to find out the real address (and get some Panadol. My head had started to hurt).

After getting some more accurate information, we set out again. This time, we hit the jackpot. Since we’d never been to something like this, we weren’t sure what to expect. But the atmosphere was pretty awesome. There were people in costume everywhere, video game stations, mass group “Dance Central”, karaoke, karate (although they weren’t displaying while we were there), quizzes, wrestling (WWE style), and loads of stores selling ninja swords, DVDs, and figurines. Awesome.

We went home and chatted with Jeff (Sandra’s brother) via MSN and then got ready for a night tour of Paris. Being the city of lights, this is something that had to be done.

The tour was good, except for one big fail. The commentary system (or the driver) kept stuffing up. Rarely did the monument line up with the dialog. Usually, the dialog would get interrupted or we would hear an interesting fact of something that wasn’t there. Other than this, the city at night was pretty good. The bus parked next to the Eiffel tower and waited for it to light up like a sparkly Christmas tree. Very cool.

Unfortunately because the tour didn’t start until ten we didn’t get home and in bed until around one which wasn’t too fun.

Day 24

Turns out that the Artist’s Square was also close to our apartment so since we had an artist amongst us, we just had to have a look. For me, it was alright. Just another square with lots of art. We lost Sandra for a little while too – she had decided to walk around the square without telling anybody (apparently she told me but I didn’t hear her). And we thought that was going to happen in China.

A little further past the Artist’s Square was the Sacre Coeur (famous church). This place was pretty cool. Out the front, it also had an awesome view of the city.

Outside the church we started to get a feel for the scams/begging that were common in France. Every city seemed to have a different flavour. You know they are, because you see them again and again at different tourist attractions. France had the following:

• The woman comes up to you with a head scarf, and says ‘Do you speak English’. Tourist says ‘yes’ (to hich I did). She shows you a note saying they just migrated from country X, and needs money <PUTS ON SAD FACE>.
• Dude comes up to you with string, and unless you are quick enough, starts tying it on your fingers. They never managed it with us, so we can’t say what eventuated from this one.

Keeping with the theme of famous churches, our next stop was the Notre Dame. We took the Paris Metro stop closest and headed further into the city. The line at Notre Dame wasn’t too bad and we got in relatively quick. This place was awesome. The most impressive one we’ve seen so far. The ones in London could have been better but since I didn’t want to take out another mortgage to look inside, I’ll never know. Maybe one day when I’m old I’ll be happy to pay 17 pounds to go into a church.

We then walked across the Seine and got some drinks at a french cafe. Expensive (it is Paris), but really nice atmosphere. We then walked along the waterfront to the Louvre. 

The line here was nuts, so we decided to do it tomorrow instead and just go for a small walk down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. I made a new friend along the way although I don't think he appreciated my jokes.

The Champs Elysees is a busy street (as said by Art vs Science), as well as long. It took us a couple of hours to get down it. This did include a food break and the most expensive toilet stop so far (2 Euros each). Apparently the women’s toilets were awesome but I certainly didn’t see my 2 Euros worth.

The Arc de Triomphe was pretty cool. Massive monument in the middle of a massive roundabout. As recommended by all travel websites, we didn’t cross the roundabout via the road, as french drivers are crazy. Luckily there is an underpass but it took us a little while to find it as there were some street performers performing right in front of it which meant that there as a huge crowd in front of it so we couldn’t see it.

The Arc itself was awesome. They also had a ceremony on as well. This was both good and bad. Good because we got to see something new. Bad because it prevented us from standing at the front and underneath.

After such an epic walk it was home time. However, a subway accident made this more difficult. Finding out that it was a subway accident was a little harder. From our point of view, we all got on the train, heard a voice over the PA say something in French and then saw everyone who could speak French get off the train again while the rest of us looked at each other with question marks above our heads. When this happened again with the next train, we found an attendant who could speak English and got them to tell us what was going on. By the way, for all those with in iPhone, the MetrO app is useful for dealing with subways in other countries.

On our way home, we stopped by the supermarket to pick up some grub and also stopped off at the Moulin Rouge to see if they had any tickets available while we were there. It turned out that every tourist and his dog wants to see this show (even though it’s 80 Euro minimum each) and they were booked out for a month. Next time!

Day 23

Today was pack up day, getting ready for the big trip to Paris. Row met up with us at the apartment in the morning to say goodbye and to swap photos and stuff. After saying goodbye, we trained and bussed our way to Luton airport. This was a lengthy bus ride, which therefore meant many of us felt a bit average by the end.

The flight to Paris was uneventful. For a flight, that’s probably a good thing. When we landed, Sandra called the apartment people to organise them to meet us at the apartment. The lady said that she’d meet us there in one and a half hours. We thought, well, that’s a while, but ok, sure lady. We’ll wait out the front for her.

We had arranged a private car to take us to our apartment. We found the drivers easily, and they were friendly guys. Going down the highway, we came across heavy Paris traffic. Balls. The driver told us that on the weekends a number of Parisiens head out of town so traffic on Friday’s is hideous... There were many motorbikes cruising down the highways between the cars. The driver told us that it’s so common in Paris that they even have motorbike taxis from the airport for the businessman who needs to get to his meeting on time.

The traffic was pretty bad. The GPS said we had about 11 minutes of travel time to get to our apartment but it took us over an hour. In the end, this worked out well, as the apartment chick arrived 2 seconds after us. Hooray for good timing!

The apartment was nice. Small, but nice. It also had the best WiFi speed out of all the apartments so far. After we got our stuff sorted, we went for a walk around the block to have a look and find a supermarket. It turned out that our apartment was really close to the Moulin Rouge which had been completely unintentional. Finding the supermarket was harder than we thought, as it was a bit late. However, while dad went down to find some wine underneath another store, he found one.

It was a Friday night, so a lot of people were out. We had our dinner, and went to bed. Going to sleep was a little hard, as our apartment was on the ground floor next to the street. You could pretty much hear everything that went on outside.