Venice -> Verona
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
After another really good breakfast, we checked out and were about to walk to the train station, only to be asked if we wanted to leave our bags at the hotel whilst we spent the morning in the sun, enjoying Vience… To be honest the thought of spending a little more time in Venice really had been in the back of both our minds, so we willingly dropped our bags aiming for the door and into the sunshine. It’s been lovely slowing down; we really have been having a holiday the last few cities! Sarah still wanted to check out a few of the jewellery shops for some glass rings and other odds and ends, so it was going to be easy to fill in at least an hour.
One hour later we were ready to leave a little behind schedule, but was nice that Sarah got some cool funky jewellery, they really know their glass here. The walk to the train station was only five minutes from the hotel and we had just enough time to get a little something to eat for on the train and make our way to the gate. The train was another of those two story ones which I love, they give you a much better view and it’s a really smooth ride. I had just got the laptop and my book ready for some much needed typing when the ticket officer came thru the cabin, he checked our tickets and moved on only to find an issue with the people immediately behind us and another couple on the other side of them. As we are always a little nosey we wanted to know just what was going on, it turned out to be nothing but it got us talking to the couple behind us an we spent the whole journey chatting away, they were from Sydney and had been travelling about the same time as us through Ireland and Croatia, between us we had more than enough stories to cover the whole two and a bit hour ride. This seems to be a fairly normal occurrence - every time I get out the laptop or settle in for a good read we meet someone and chat the time away, it’s quite nice really.
We hadn’t been watching the stations as we chatted and suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw that we had arrived. Frantically we stuffed all of our things into our bags and raced for the door, not wanting to be stuck until the next stop. The station looked dead, almost a little worried that we had repeated Budapest, we walked under ground to the main part of the station and immediately found out that yes this was the main station, but there wasn’t an accommodation desk which was a bit of a shock, and really put a spanner in the works. But with the Lonely Planet in hand we walked to nothing other than a pizzeria for a snack whilst flicking through the pages, finding out that apparently Verona had the best Hostelling International Youth Hostel in Italy or even Europe, and it gave directions including what bus to take.
Finding the bus stop wasn’t too easy though as it was in the furthest from the station so once we found it we double checked with a couple of German girls who were waiting as well, and wouldn’t you know it, they to didn’t have accommodation either and were on there way to the same hostel. We found out that they had talked to the driver and he was going tell us all when to get off but we had a little walk from the bus stop though around 10 minutes up a little hill (it’s always nice to find people who are travelling to the same place as you!) The hostel was in an old castle and it had an exceptional garden, but as we waited in line to get a room I noticed that on the wall was a poster with a ridiculous amount of rules. I immediately felt a little worried and my fears were confirmed when the guy at the counter said that they didn’t have mixed dorms of any kind and that we couldn’t even put our bags in the rooms as they were in lockdown, but when they opened at five we could then put our bags in a locker that was beside the bed. What the hell is the point of putting a locker in a locked room? Even worse than that we had to be in the gates by 11.30pm (kinda ruins those night walks we've been having,) or we would be locked out for the night and we had to check out by 9am. To me this was like me being in a restaurant and ordering a pizza (this is Italy after all) only to have the pizza arrive but in a glass box, you can smell the pizza anytime you want, but you can’t eat it not for three quarters of an hour! Anyway Sarah found the funny side of the situation though and we got two beds, luckily they were on the same floor, we then only had to wait for the rooms to open so we could put our bags in the locker. I was a little angry at this and was in a real shit for a bit as I had really not wanted to stay but quite obviously don’t wear the pants in the relationship, at least not today at any rate, but cross and annoyed I followed Sarah down to the garden and had a chat to the German girls about there travels, passing the time rather quickly. The rooms were spacious and clean but had 10 beds to a room, I started making my bed as I was eager to get out into the city, to make the most of what time we had before being safely behind the gate at 11.30. As I was making my bed, in walked a young guy dropping his bag on the bunk below mine, we started talking and must been talking for a while as in pops Sarah, she had sneaked in feeling like a naughty schoolgirl and before you know it was an hour later, but he was a really nice guy called Otto and was from Finland. He hadn’t been travelling for long and was interested to learn little tips from us, and us from him as he had been travelling mainly through Slovakia, and Hungry, and I really still want to go to Bratislava at some stage as it looks like a really nice city, now confirmed by Otto.
We headed off and out into the city around 6.30ish, it seemed like a much smaller walk without the packs and was actually quite nice to see the city from across the river. Verona is actually a really pretty city, there are lots of nice old buildings and even a fully working 2000 year old Amphitheatre that is the opera house. Getting around the city is a bit of a mission though, all the little streets and allyways, but that make it more fun really. We stumbled across a little square surrounded by little cafes and restaurants, which was good as we both wanted to get something to eat, we found the most affordable one and got a table. There was a couple of girls at the next table, who recognised us from the hostel and we started talking after ordering nothing other than a margarita pizza, and a couple of drinks. The girls were from America and had been travelling through France, and they to found our hostel to be the most difficult out of any they had stayed at, but over the time of about an hour we chatted away about the many things that Verona has to offer. It was getting dark by the time that we left the café and we headed for the centre of the city.
It’s got to be one of the best things to do, just wander around a completely new city to you, no idea what will be around the next corner, often we don’t even use a map keeping it in our pockets until were completely lost. Verona however isn’t that bigger city and we managed to make our way to the Amphitheatre unassisted just as nightfall was upon us, in the distance we could here an opera rehearsal, it really sounded cool such an intense atmosphere that it was hard not to want to go and see it. We were in a nice square overlooking the Amphitheatre with a fountain and lots of restaurants opening out onto the carless cobbled road, all lit up and with the singing and music in the background we just sat there people watching for the better half of a couple of hours, agreeing that this city had the best night atmosphere of any city we had been to before, and it was such a shame that we couldn’t stay longer as we had to get back to our ridiculous hostel.
Getting back to the hostel was a bit of a hike, but we made it in time but I went to the reception keen to let whoever was on that I was relatively unimpressed about the curfew, and found there to be a young British guy that had been working at the hostel for a couple of weeks on an exchange, so all of his time off involved getting out and seeing the sites so consequently instead of talking about the hostel we started talking of the things that we could do around Verona, he recommended a lake that was quite close and we could get to either by bus directly or train and then boat. Three quarters of the way around the lake was a cable car that took you the entire 1750 meters to the top of Mt Baldo. It sounded amazing but a little difficult to get to so I dismissed the idea as we had already decided to go to Milan and I thought that there was something that Sarah really wanted to see.
After telling Sarah about what I had been talking about to the office guy, she immediately took to the idea saying that she didn’t have plans for Milan other than to see the original last supper which to be honest wasn’t a huge deal to either of us, and we could see it later if we wanted to. Therefore it was decided, we would be heading to Riva tomorrow, but for now it was off to bed in a room full of snoring Guys.
One hour later we were ready to leave a little behind schedule, but was nice that Sarah got some cool funky jewellery, they really know their glass here. The walk to the train station was only five minutes from the hotel and we had just enough time to get a little something to eat for on the train and make our way to the gate. The train was another of those two story ones which I love, they give you a much better view and it’s a really smooth ride. I had just got the laptop and my book ready for some much needed typing when the ticket officer came thru the cabin, he checked our tickets and moved on only to find an issue with the people immediately behind us and another couple on the other side of them. As we are always a little nosey we wanted to know just what was going on, it turned out to be nothing but it got us talking to the couple behind us an we spent the whole journey chatting away, they were from Sydney and had been travelling about the same time as us through Ireland and Croatia, between us we had more than enough stories to cover the whole two and a bit hour ride. This seems to be a fairly normal occurrence - every time I get out the laptop or settle in for a good read we meet someone and chat the time away, it’s quite nice really.
We hadn’t been watching the stations as we chatted and suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw that we had arrived. Frantically we stuffed all of our things into our bags and raced for the door, not wanting to be stuck until the next stop. The station looked dead, almost a little worried that we had repeated Budapest, we walked under ground to the main part of the station and immediately found out that yes this was the main station, but there wasn’t an accommodation desk which was a bit of a shock, and really put a spanner in the works. But with the Lonely Planet in hand we walked to nothing other than a pizzeria for a snack whilst flicking through the pages, finding out that apparently Verona had the best Hostelling International Youth Hostel in Italy or even Europe, and it gave directions including what bus to take.
Finding the bus stop wasn’t too easy though as it was in the furthest from the station so once we found it we double checked with a couple of German girls who were waiting as well, and wouldn’t you know it, they to didn’t have accommodation either and were on there way to the same hostel. We found out that they had talked to the driver and he was going tell us all when to get off but we had a little walk from the bus stop though around 10 minutes up a little hill (it’s always nice to find people who are travelling to the same place as you!) The hostel was in an old castle and it had an exceptional garden, but as we waited in line to get a room I noticed that on the wall was a poster with a ridiculous amount of rules. I immediately felt a little worried and my fears were confirmed when the guy at the counter said that they didn’t have mixed dorms of any kind and that we couldn’t even put our bags in the rooms as they were in lockdown, but when they opened at five we could then put our bags in a locker that was beside the bed. What the hell is the point of putting a locker in a locked room? Even worse than that we had to be in the gates by 11.30pm (kinda ruins those night walks we've been having,) or we would be locked out for the night and we had to check out by 9am. To me this was like me being in a restaurant and ordering a pizza (this is Italy after all) only to have the pizza arrive but in a glass box, you can smell the pizza anytime you want, but you can’t eat it not for three quarters of an hour! Anyway Sarah found the funny side of the situation though and we got two beds, luckily they were on the same floor, we then only had to wait for the rooms to open so we could put our bags in the locker. I was a little angry at this and was in a real shit for a bit as I had really not wanted to stay but quite obviously don’t wear the pants in the relationship, at least not today at any rate, but cross and annoyed I followed Sarah down to the garden and had a chat to the German girls about there travels, passing the time rather quickly. The rooms were spacious and clean but had 10 beds to a room, I started making my bed as I was eager to get out into the city, to make the most of what time we had before being safely behind the gate at 11.30. As I was making my bed, in walked a young guy dropping his bag on the bunk below mine, we started talking and must been talking for a while as in pops Sarah, she had sneaked in feeling like a naughty schoolgirl and before you know it was an hour later, but he was a really nice guy called Otto and was from Finland. He hadn’t been travelling for long and was interested to learn little tips from us, and us from him as he had been travelling mainly through Slovakia, and Hungry, and I really still want to go to Bratislava at some stage as it looks like a really nice city, now confirmed by Otto.
We headed off and out into the city around 6.30ish, it seemed like a much smaller walk without the packs and was actually quite nice to see the city from across the river. Verona is actually a really pretty city, there are lots of nice old buildings and even a fully working 2000 year old Amphitheatre that is the opera house. Getting around the city is a bit of a mission though, all the little streets and allyways, but that make it more fun really. We stumbled across a little square surrounded by little cafes and restaurants, which was good as we both wanted to get something to eat, we found the most affordable one and got a table. There was a couple of girls at the next table, who recognised us from the hostel and we started talking after ordering nothing other than a margarita pizza, and a couple of drinks. The girls were from America and had been travelling through France, and they to found our hostel to be the most difficult out of any they had stayed at, but over the time of about an hour we chatted away about the many things that Verona has to offer. It was getting dark by the time that we left the café and we headed for the centre of the city.
It’s got to be one of the best things to do, just wander around a completely new city to you, no idea what will be around the next corner, often we don’t even use a map keeping it in our pockets until were completely lost. Verona however isn’t that bigger city and we managed to make our way to the Amphitheatre unassisted just as nightfall was upon us, in the distance we could here an opera rehearsal, it really sounded cool such an intense atmosphere that it was hard not to want to go and see it. We were in a nice square overlooking the Amphitheatre with a fountain and lots of restaurants opening out onto the carless cobbled road, all lit up and with the singing and music in the background we just sat there people watching for the better half of a couple of hours, agreeing that this city had the best night atmosphere of any city we had been to before, and it was such a shame that we couldn’t stay longer as we had to get back to our ridiculous hostel.
Getting back to the hostel was a bit of a hike, but we made it in time but I went to the reception keen to let whoever was on that I was relatively unimpressed about the curfew, and found there to be a young British guy that had been working at the hostel for a couple of weeks on an exchange, so all of his time off involved getting out and seeing the sites so consequently instead of talking about the hostel we started talking of the things that we could do around Verona, he recommended a lake that was quite close and we could get to either by bus directly or train and then boat. Three quarters of the way around the lake was a cable car that took you the entire 1750 meters to the top of Mt Baldo. It sounded amazing but a little difficult to get to so I dismissed the idea as we had already decided to go to Milan and I thought that there was something that Sarah really wanted to see.
After telling Sarah about what I had been talking about to the office guy, she immediately took to the idea saying that she didn’t have plans for Milan other than to see the original last supper which to be honest wasn’t a huge deal to either of us, and we could see it later if we wanted to. Therefore it was decided, we would be heading to Riva tomorrow, but for now it was off to bed in a room full of snoring Guys.
Sarah on the Train
Where the hell are we?
posted by Maarty @ 12:00 pm,
