st mark’s |

day 1 & 2 (Frankfurt), day 3 (Frankfurt & Switzerland), day 4 (Switzerland), day 5 (Switzerland), day 6 (Milan), day 7 (Padua & Venice).

welcome to day 8!

Day 8 started with light streaming in through the overhead window of our apartment room and light pitter-patter on the roof.

our balcony was wet the entire time. it'd had been nice to spend some time out here having a meal or some drinks. (we tried to have brekkie out the next morning, only to retreat into our warm room 5 min later)

that's pretty much all we see of St Marks' Square from the balcony...not the scene we pictured in our head from the description given when we were booking the place..

neighbours

at breakfast. this is normally where i'll make a mental note of the route we will go that day.. though i always like a little detour.

*heart*

Thus begin our grand exploration of Venice city.

we made ourselves something for our new home.

we couldn't resist any other italian hot chocolate after that one in Milan!

it wouldn't be the best, but it was perfect for that foggy, rainy morning.

hello kitty invasion

befitting for our honeymoon since it was our wedding march-out song

before my fingers drop off from that 2-3 hours walk, we sat down at a venetian cafe in st mark's square

catchy live music was playing...

ow-ow seemed to be enjoying himself..

.. but this has got to be the single most ridiculously expensive limoncello gelato i ever had in my entire life.

is it any wonder he did not look pleased?

the bird whisperer

late lunch near our apartment

we were the "dandolo".

lights were already being switched on... it was still early!

a boat ride later, and it was dark.

i call that one "smurfeccini"

i wanna bring them all home....

a convenience shop of vending machines. you can have a pizza, drinks and popcorn, all directly from the machines. and if you ran out of ciggies, tissues or any other kind of sanitary products, fear not! the machines are here!

guess what's for dinner

Well, that has got to be the worst meal we had during the entire trip. Always, always stay clear of restaurants that hide its cooking staff away from view and resort to touting. My personal observation and ought-to-be-trademarked theory: In Italy, spend your money at a restaurant where you can see an open kitchen and preferably someone flipping a pizza in front of the oven. That’s where all the good food are.

That concludes day 8, be back for more! ciao!

day 1 & 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6

day 7, we depart the Italian fashion capital after a complimentary breakfast at the hotel for Venice. Along the journey, we stopped by Padua – 30 min away from Venice.

We arrived into Padua train station, dropped our bags at the baggage storage and then discovered that the tourist information counter was closed. We ended up getting lost in Padua without a map nor any inkling where to go. We survived, though with little success, on bushyhead’s sense of direction with the help of his phone.

I love getting lost!

this will be the first of our many encounters of what we now refered to as "the abandoned city - did we miss the evacuation signal?" during this duration of our winter honeymoon in Europe.

there was barely anybody around, and of course, that made bushyhead very pleased!

we stopped for lunch

i still think i had the best italian meal here

bresaola pizza

St. Mark's Lion Column

Torre dell'Orologio astronomical clock dating from 1344

arriving into the largest square in italy, Prato della Valle, after exploring aimlessly for the past 1 hour

by the small canal that runs round this small island that bushyhead is standing on

countless statues bordering the square

sculptor at work, though i prefer my grimmer take that involves a torture devise

this poor guy not only had his wings clipped but also have to bear the weight of a giant stone book on his face

Basilica of Santa Giustina

nativity scene. every year it's different. and it involves moving mechanical parts and sunrise/sunset simulation! it's quite amazing

we started to see signs of life here....

in fact, a lot! where did all these people go to when we were getting lost in the afternoon! It was like a whole different city altogether.

shops are open.. where they were previously closed. nobody told us the siesta lasts a whole afternoon!

red carpet on the waling street! glamorous people started pouring into it... this city itself really is as different as night and day!

We hurried across the city to get to the train station with our jaws open to catch our next train to Venice. We still couldn’t believe that the city came alive after a whole afternoon trying to figure out where everybody was.

arriving into our Venice apartment after a long boat ride and snaking through its many alleys. Door was locked and we have to try a few calls before we reach the landlord, who told us to get the keys from the bar beside us

our room was on the 3rd floor and it opens up to this stairway that leads to a small kitchenette. t's also here on this stairway, with an exact image like this that was the last i saw before i slipped and fall with my overweight backpack while we were checking out 2 days later

out for dinner

we decided to have our dinner here at the smallest hard rock cafe in europe.

We went strolling round Venice’s alleyways for a considerable while after dinner.. only because we couldn’t find our way back to the apartment. It was drizzling wet and cold, but i thoroughly enjoyed its quiet, lonely maze at night.

Next day, we set off intending to lose ourselves in Venice! Stay tuned for the next post! Do drop me a message too, I love discovering your messages in my comment page!