Venice and beyond!

 At the moment we are whizzing through Italy towards Paris. A 6am departure from Milan has us, at this moment, staring out the first class window at the start of the Alps, can see some snow at the top!

But I digress. Three days ago we took a train from Verona to Venice. Unfortunately , on arrival in Venice, we took, as we later found out, the wrong way from the station to our hotel and had to cross a 'zillion' bridges - not much fun with cases. Luckily we found the hotel and are next to a quiet canal.

We wandered around Venice seeing the various major sites. It was very hot - wouldn't like to be here in August! As always there were many tourists. We heard lots of German and Russian spoken but not much English!

It is very beautiful with so many little canals branching off from the Grand canal. You really have to try to stop taking photos!! So glad to see that the Italians have stopped allowing the cruise ships into the city area.

A day of constant walking led to Aperol spritz stops!

Our hotel provided breakfast and we sat in a lovely courtyard unaware of pigeon problems! There were no signs on the door to say 'Do Not Leave Food Unattended'! Unfortunately we did and they descended on our used plates causing a right mess!

As were no longer novices we only had to cross two bridges to reach the bus station.

A 90 minute bus trip took us to Lido de Jesilo. This was a bit of a reminiscing trip as as Kerry, Justin, Al and I camped here in 1990! We had a hotel right next to the beach and spent the day lazing and having dips in the Med. We had to go and buy a towel first!

It is a lovely area with plenty of restaurants. 

We caught the bus back to Venice on Wednesday  and once again walked our legs off! 

Thursday afternoon we were back on a train to Milan. And now we are on our way to  Paris and London.

Our train trip took 7.5 hours but it was fabulous looking at all the beautiful scenery! We passed areas we'd skied in years ago, beautiful lakes and mountain villages! The small additional cost for first class was well worth it with all the extra room.

Unfortunately arriving in Paris was a manic nightmare! We had to get from Gare de Lyon to Gare de Nord - could you find any one to help - no, get a ticket - no, machines had run out! Finally, through Kerry's  perseverance, we got tickets and arrived at Gare de Nord. We headed out of the station and across the road for lunch before joining the throngs for the Eurostar. That's when life became even more of a nightmare! We were herded and held in 33C heat with scanning machines breaking down, passports not being recognised, more herding, inadequate numbers of baggage screen areas and people getting more and more disgruntled! Finally we got to the train and St Pancras. 

The terrible time at the Eurostar check in etc in Paris has put us off ever coming back to the UK from there!

Finally arrived at our hotel and plan to have a lazier time in the next few days!

Verona

 After a good sleep we were ready to start the day. We were going to spend our time wandering around Verona. Our host, Gigi, gave us instructions on how to get to the old town but we must have deviated. Whilst standing in the street trying to work out our route a young man was sustaining his bike and asked if we needed help. Following a quick chat he decided he had time to walk some way with us. It appears that he is Australia/Englis, now living some time in England and some time in Verona, where he is learning Italian.

We finally entered the old town and proceeded to  zigzag from church to church, plaza to plaza before reaching the arena. We did go inside - it has the original features but has modern seating (in parts) and seems to be used for Operas etc. Kerry tried to venture to the top of the arena ( I wasn't game) and came back saying how scary it was - she found it very difficult to get up the high steps.

We sat and people watched for a while before the walk back to our abode - we found a quicker way back. We ventured to a nearby restaurant, which had some outdoor seating. The food was delicious- best gnocchi I have ever tasted! There was a downpour which left the locals scurrying indoors even though we were all under huge sunshade and grapevines. We stayed out and the staff had to deliver our food whilst holding and umbrella!

Saturday saw us venturing to Lake Garda.  We had to go to the Tabac to get tickets for the local bus - a bus stops metres away from here. Once we reached the train/bus station we bought tickets to Lazise with the idea of walking along the Lake to Garda. 

The bus trip took about 90 minutes going through little villages which were surrounded by vineyards.

Lazise was a lovely little place on the lake. The walls of a ruined castle were still present. We had been told that the walk from Lazise to Garda would take about 1.5 hours - we'll that's not exactly true! We called a halt at Bardolino, just over 5 kms away. It was very hot 32C, no shade,  and sore feet didn't help.

             

Finally got a bus back to Verona where I managed to get us on the right number bus but going in the wrong direction! We made it through by doing a complete loop, which took far longer than expected - lesson learnt!!

Yesterday we caught the bus back to Bardolino to continue our walk to Garda which, according to Google is 3.5km away. It was lovely walking beside the lake which was heavily populated by ducks, ducklings, swans and cygnets! We passed many campsites on both days - camping is really good over here - with amazing numbers of motor homes!

   

We were determined to have a swim in the lake and we actually did. The water was beautiful and actually quite warm but getting in and out of the water was another matter! Around the lake it is all pebble 'beaches'! You can't get into the water in a very dignified manner you just plunge in. Getting out was even worse! The pebbles were horrific to stand on but then the waves pulled you back as you tried to get in. We found the best way was to sit down with your back to the shore and sort of boost yourself backwards before trying to stand and the take a few steps on unsteady pebbles. Luckily we made it out! 

Verona

Arrived Italy

 After meeting Kerry in Birmingham another train took us to Jake and John. We had a great few days with them - swimming, walking, shopping, visiting interesting places and eating!!

I did harvest my first crop from my seed planting which happened last October!

My onions and garlic are growing we'll!

Pictures of places visited:

Why am I always placed in the stocks!!

Our next adventure was getting to Italy. Once again our trusty drivers took us to the station. Being ' seasoned ' travellers we got to the airport easily. The whole check in etc at Birmingham was painful. Staff were openly bitching about co workers, they were walking away from their positions with no concern about passengers! It was very busy which was strange as schools had just gone back after their half term holidays.  This all led to a late departure. 

I suppose when you are on a cheap airline - Ryan air, which Kerry calls Scare air - we should have expected it! 

A taxi ride took us to our accomodation and we then set out to look for dinner. The first place was just closing at 9pm - that puzzled until I realise I hadn't moved my watch forward an hour! We were then directed to a pizza place. It was a warm  so we opted to sit outside. After taking our order we were given a glass of Prosecco this was to welcome us to Bergamo! We were also given limonchello and a melon flavoured drink at the end of the meal - we were definately liking Bergamo!

The morning saw us walking to see where the station was and the we just followed our noses wandering around the different streets. Found the funicular and Took a ride to the upper town. Great views. 

With our feet sore and aching we returned to our accommodation and with our bags once again headed to the station. Two trains later we arrived in Verona!

 

Here we go again!

 You've heard the saying "it's about the journey not the destination" we'll I can tell you mine was long and boring! 

This was my journey in order  - Walk to bus stop, bus to station, two trains to airport, walk around airport, QF1 to Singapore, walk around airport, QF1 to London, walk to train, underground to Euston, train to Manchester, walk to tram, tram to what I thought was final destination but no! I had gone too far so I had a further long walk to my hotel. I had finally arrived 39 hours after setting out!

My feet were burning and legs were weary - only a maximum of 4 hours sleep from leaving home didn't help! 

After a shower and reviving cuppa I headed back out - no peace for the wicked! I had another longish walk to get to the gallery to see the work of Lowry. Luckily it was a lovely afternoon as I walked around Salford Quays - this area used to be part of Manchester docks and when operations ceased to exist in 1982 it was redeveloped. 

I like the work of Lowry and as this was a special exhibition, ending in a few weeks it was an ideal time to visit. One of his most we'll known works is 'Going to the match'.

By now my feet had really had it so I hopped on the tram, 2 stops to my hotel. I was now waging a war with myself not to fall asleep as it was only 5pm! A G&T, some food plus a glass of red kept me going until 7pm and then I gave in. As you can guess I slept until 11pm - typical of me! A few hours tossing, turning and reading eventually sent me back to sleep for a couple more hours!  I head back into Manchester this morning and will work hard on retail therapy - we'll my case only weighed 9.9kg! I then catch a train to Birmingham where I meet Kerry and we catch another train to Kidderminster where hopefully sister Jake will be there to pick us up!