Venice - Churches and pigeons

Before arriving in Venice, the bus stops in St. Johann in Tirol for a quick pitstop, fried breakfast, and a chance to walk around this little ski village.

First night in Venice was spent relaxing at our camping village. The days were spend walking around, seeing the sights.

Covered most of the main touristy parts - St. Mark's Basilica and Square, Rialto Bridge, went on a gondola ride, walked around the many islands. My random thoughts -

• Pigeons must be the official bird of Venice, they are everywhere in the square. They even sell bird feed for them. As much fun as it is to watch pigeons eating out of one's hands, they still fit the description of 'rats with wings'.
• There are over 200 churches within the tiny city of Venice, it's like Starbucks. But St. Mark's is beautiful with gold mosaic on the roofs.
• When is high tide, the square can become flooded, and so they use platforms to people can walk around. And life goes on like normal...

The 2nd night involved drinking grappa (think of it as rocket fuel with a hint of grapes), and cards. Staying in the campsite made it difficult to go out at night, so saying in was the order of the evening.

The Venice Marathon was run on the Sunday. Don't know who won, just annoyed that it blocked traffic, slowing our entry into the city. Run faster!

Gondola ride was fun. Turns out our young gondolieri (gondola oarsman) enjoys Italian club Roma play football, and listens to Guns n' Roses. Bit more outgoing then your average stiff gondolieri.

Venice was a lovely city, if you took away all the tourists and pigeons.

DN