To Venezia! After a quick hotel buffet breakky we set off – in the direction of Venice This is the bridge that takes traffic to Venice: This road is shared with cars, motorbikes, buses, monorail, train and pedestrians! We’re in Venice! We booked a motorbike bay in a commercial carpark prior to leaving Monselice (no one can take their vehicles into Venice - just the entrance from the bridge of the city only) and were wondering how we’d get our 2 panniers and top box 1.5km to our hotel…hard work carrying them…plus there are stairs...cobblestones....narrow lanes...a ton of people... It was a smooth process entering the car park – although cars were everywhere, entering, exiting…it was a mess – cars/bikes are not allowed into most of Venice so the area we rode to reach the carpark is the only available entry/exit for vehicles. We were told at the entrance what level we were to go to and once we were on our level another attendant was waiting for us to show us the bay. We saw cars parked 2 deep and keys left on their dashboards (in case cars needed moving for people to get out) and the building was attended to 24 hours of the day, so we decided to leave our panniers and take a backpack instead. Phewf! The crowd as we exited the carpark…chaos!! Even more chaos in the main canal – pics taken as we were waiting for our waterbus to take us to the hotel. …more chaos – passengers disembarking and an equal (if not more) number coming onboard…the skipper of the bus honks his horn when it takes the deckhands too long to load passengers! Pics from the waterbus: (Water ambulance!) Original bridge – Rialto bridge Gondola parking There were so many amazing buildings. Pol was really excited!!! Our stop! Check out the water levels – they are rising Ros found another great deal on bookings.com and we ended up in a 4 star hotel! It was amazing! We arrived in Venice around 12pm and couldn’t check in until 2pm so we left our luggage in the hotel and went exploring: Back on a waterbus toward San Marco - (our stop is the one that is coming up – check out all the gondolas – they are so close together yet they don't run into one another…amazing control!!!!) San Marco Square: This place was crowded! Check out the pigeons on holiday too!: This is St Mark's Basilica (we didn’t end up getting a good close up of this one…there were people…EVERYWHERE..and the line to look inside the church was way too long…it looked like a tourist visa office. …so we decided to go down the main lane of the square... Glassware – we couldn’t get away from these shops! ..also a lot of masks too! Amidst the shopping chaos, we occasionally walked past a quiet lane which looked to be where some locals live. Check out this wine dispenser! Prime pooping position for the pidgeons! ...A very busy part of town…Rialto Bridge. Shoulder bumping, selfie taking central... people just stop and take photos while the rest of the crowd try to make their way around them. ..another quiet lane... …and back to chaos! We bought a quick afternoon snack and found stairs that lead to the canal to sit on…we were watching the crowds of people walk by..some with heavy luggage bags..dragging them up and down the steps of bridges. They don’t have any other option to get to their hotel other than by gondola or private taxi as there are no method of transport than by water and foot around here - sucks to be them (that's what we were worried about when considering our panniers and topbox!!) …repairing buildings looks to be expensive here!! We found our waterbus ticket had run out and were only one stop away from our hotel. Long story short…we needed to cross the main canal but didn’t want to pay 15 euros to go one stop… Exhibit “A” – this is the canal we need to cross! Ros thought that there would be a lot of brides crossing the main canal so we set out to find one… and… After Ros lead us in a big circle… Pol helped with navigating the many laneways and canals with a paper map we acquired from the Hotel. Actually, Pol is usually not so good at navigating and wanted to show Ros her learned skill of navigating...until Ros got her bearings (which didn't take long) On our way to the hotel: Found a bridge! 4 star Hotel!!!! The shower was an interesting experience – the shower head was fitted directly into the ceiling and when the water is turned on…so do disco lights surrounding the 30cm by 30cm shower head that change colour! It was just like standing under a lit up waterfall! After a little rest…we set out to get lost into the streets of Venice: The people and dog on the boat next to the gondaler appear to be locals going out – in their boat (instead of the typical car) to the nearest fruit and veggie stall…!... How many lazy kitties can you spot in this pet shop!? We decided to take a Gondola ride – when in Venice…. The Gondalier that took us on a 30 min tour is a vetran of the job – 30 years or so! When Brian May from Queen got married this guy did his gondola ride! …just like being in someones lounge room! Check out the carpet! When you get near a corner of the canal the man shouts 'HORAYE' as a warning that we are coming and is anyone else around the corner! Pol had a go at rowing!!! Main canal – rough waters! Police boat! When our tour was over, there was already a gondola parked so our gondolier parked next to the gondola and we both had to step into the already parked gondaler to get off! – It was a little unnerving with everyone from the restaurant adjoining the steps we exited on watching!! Back up to Rialto Bridge to find a bar nearby for a drink before dinner (This place also serves dinner late and the restaurant we chose to go to was not open until 730pm!!!!!!!) It was hard to find bars! There were a lot of restaurants…but not bars! This is the only one we came across in our 20 min search! Interesting experience: When the waitress (who was also smoking and drinking in a group in between serving) came to us to get our order she already had a tray of drinks in her hand..she asked what we would like to drink and we ordered red wine…next second…she grabbed 2 glasses of red off her tray and gave it to us! There was a drunk guy on a raised stool close to us who looked so drunk that he was falling asleep and falling backwards at the same time only to catch himself falling and wake up …. Then casually begin talking to his friends again! JazzCafe - This is a cute café tucked away from the touristy areas – we found it on Tripadvisor. The staff barely spoke English…but we managed and the food was great! Note on Ros’s navigating skills – absolutely brilliant after the first little incident earlier today (going around in circles trying to find our hotel – with a map in hand too!) – Ros managed to get us from the other side of Rialto Bridge to this café (we did go there earlier to see if it was open)…Pol was completely lost. Ros saved the day!