Hi all its mike again writing from rome, we just got here today but this blog is about venice which we just came from.

We arrived on the sunday after being in munich for the night, we are there again at the end of italy so only stayed the night, where we went to the oldest beer hall called the hofbra huis where we had our litre steins and bek got her order of pork knuckle which was almost the size of her head. Had a few steins and back to the hostel for cheaper drinks then off to bed for the bus ride the next day, not early enough though!

We got on the bus at 8 and the drive was quite nice and scenic, first there were the snow capped mountains and huge hills with castles on top and once we hit wog land it was grape vines as far as the eye could see!We arrived at about 5 in the evening after a long day on the bus and checked in to our hostel. It was a huge camping ground with tents, cabins, bungalos, a huge pool, restaurant, bar,supermarket, gym, everything you could need, exept our bug repelant which we had just thrown out that morning cause it kept leaking in beks bag, so we retreated indoors pretty quickly. Our cabin was just the 2 of us wuth our own bathroom and aircon which was good because it was about 30 during the day so the cabin got quite warm, we relaxed for a bit and had dinner at the restaurant and went to bed.

The next morning we got up for breakfast at the restaurant and had eggs on toast. All of those who ever had nonnas fried eggs cooked in so much oil it almost made your heart stop would have loved them, very authentic tasting, so after this and a nice coffee we got the shuttle into the main city, the camp site was about 20 mins out of town and because there are no cars or bikes aloud in venice we get dropped on the outskirts at the train and bus station. We caught venices public transport, the vaporetti which are ferries that travel along the grand canal, so we caught this at a fraction of the price of a gondala and got to see just as much. There was so much activity on the water, gondalas, ferries, police and ambulance boats, even the fire dept use boats to get to fires, pretty cool. We got off at st marks square and headed to st marks basilica but as usual we were under dressed with exposed shoulders (question for those who have gone to the vatican in rome, can i where shorts or do u need long pants?) so we had to buy little capes for 50c each to cover our nakedness. Was very nice inside and quite impressive. After that we went in search for aranchini balls which were recommended in the lonely planet book, but due to beks mistake we searched on the wrong side of town and didnt find it. But we did find some very good gelati and bek says to tell everyone you havnt lived untill you have had gelati in italy...... it was very nice and cheap to, an extra bonus. It wasnt all bad, venice is probably the only place that you can enjoy being lost and we didnt even kill each other, we had a great time exploring the little side streets and hiden areas. We then got some 24 hour passes for the ferries which was ridiculously expensive but we knew we would use them, so we got one back to the drop off point and got the shuttle back to the camp. The plan was to get out of the heat before the old hives came back. We had a nice pizza for dinner and went to bed so bek could plan on the venitian glass she wanted from Murano the next day.

So we got up for some oily eggs again and got the shuttle and a ferry to Murano which is the birthplace of venitian glass. We watched a demonstration of the glass blowing and the making of a lamp which was cool even if it was 50 degrees in the workshop. We then began the hunt for beks perfect centre piece for a coffee table, for the house we dont have yet, after a fair while she found one that she liked and we got it, i wont mention the price but just know that a house may be further away than we thought! We got a call from Hil and Roger and bek mentioned that maybe, perhaps, possibly if we can get a DOG when we get back if it is aloud at nonnas(hint hint mum and dad is that ok, just remember it can be cousins with Jakey!) After murano We came back on the ferry and again hunted for the aranchini, this time in the right place but we were too late, they had sold out by 11, yes bek was very upset and only another gelati would cheer her up. Again we had to escape the afternoon heat so we headed back to the camp and had a little arvo nap and had some nice pasta for dinner from the restaurant and went on the net to check the last game of the round for the footy and to make sure that we are still above those purple jerks at fremantle, not hard really even only with 2 wins, and bek looked up some dogs we might like to purchase or save from the pound if we can. We then headed back to the cabin for a good night sleep before the 10 hour bus ride in the morning.

As i mentioned before we are in rome now and looking forward to exploring the city tomorrow, Hope everyone is well at home and we will be in touch soon!

Mike and Bek.