Our Trip to Venice

Nat and I took the train on Thursday morning to Venice, we tried to catch the 11:15 train which was only 22 euro. However it was sold out, so we bought tickets for the 11:05 train which wasn't sold out. for 44 euro... However when we went to get on the train it was so full people were standing shoulder to shoulder. Which makes me frightened to think what the 11:15 sold out train must have looked like. Anyway in the end we took the 12:15 train.

We arrived in Venice at around 3:15ish and found that our hotel was a very short walk from the train station. So we didn't need to pay for a water-bus. We checked into our hotel, and then decided to go walking looking for St. Marco square.

Venice is a very maze like city, when you're walking around it feels a bit like playing the original Wolfenstein 3D game. However we were never attacked by the Nazi soldiers, which is good because I didn't find a single health pack along the way. Half way there, we stumbled across a church which had replicas of some of Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions. We had a whirlwind tour of them because they were closing. After making it to St. Marco's square we wandered around and enjoyed ourselves before taking a water-bus back to our hotel. We decided not to buy tickets for the water-bus and just sneak on. This has worked since we got here in Milan for the regular bus. We haven't paid once since arriving.

The next day we ate some food before heading out again toward the Rialto Bridge. We decided to take the Water-Bus, again without paying. Anyway as we were hoping off we noticed that people were having their tickets checked and hooray! We were asked. Right there on the spot Nat and I broke into a improv routine of, No you have the ticket in your pocket... Not I'm sure you do, etc etc etc. After a few minutes and being told that we would have to pay a 70 euro fine. Our routine worked and we were told that if we just bought another pair of tickets we could go. It was a skit worthy of who's line is it anyway, if only Colin Mochrie and Ryan Styles were there, they would be proud. If you're ever in Venice I suggest you buy the tickets unless you're as convincing an actor.

The Rialto Bridge is the largest bridge that crosses the Grand Canal, it's so wide that there are shops the whole way down the middle of the bridge. We checked out some of the shops and wondered around until we found the thickest slices of pizza I've ever seen... So we ate some!

That evening we ate at a small mom and pop restaurant filled with Italians celebrating Saint Ambroggio Day. It was much better than the tourist restaurant we had eaten at the day before.

It rained like crazy over night and when we woke up in the morning the water level was significantly higher than it had been the day before. We took the water-bus to St. Marco's square (ticket's in hand) and had fun laughing at the people wearing ridiculous boot shaped plastic bags. But as we approached Saint Marco Square we noticed why. There was water covering almost the whole square which was almost 2 feet deep at some parts. The water made it impossible to access St. Mark's church which was one of the reasons why we had come. We remembered that we had seen Rubber boots for sale on the Rialto Bridge so we decided to make our way in that direction, We had to take several detours because of flooded areas. But we finally found the store and each got a pair of Rubber Wellies we paid 15 euro each which was perhaps expensive however the fake plastic bag boots were 11 euro... From this point on we could walk where ever we pleased, and we were able to access the church.

After that we rushed back to make our train back to Milan, we managed to get the 22 euro train instead of the 44 euro train.

Visiting the South of France (La Cote d'Azur) with Norm and Sue.

On Friday (Nov 24th) after work Nat, Norm, Sue and I set off to go visit the south of France. Again they had their car rental so we drove. We started out by driving through the centre of Milan so that we could hop on a highway that headed south toward Genova. Norm and I toyed with the idea of plotting an alternate route along one of the highways, however we decide against it after our extra long trip to Ikea a few days earlier. (They don't always mark highways north, south, east, or west here in italy so you have to know what major city you're heading towards instead.) So we took the route that google had suggested and drove through the centre of town on a friday evening...over an hour later we were on our way to the south of France.

We stayed in a nice hotel a few minutes from the Medieval town of Eze which cooked us a tasty Dinner upon our arrival. I had a steak, I hadn't had steak since I left Canada, and it hit the spot.



The next morning we woke up to find that it was pouring outside. So not to worry because we had a car, which is like a raincoat with wheels which seats 4 comfortably. We decided that we would see the sights until the weather cleared up which happened right around Cannes (where they have that film festival). So we parked the car and went exploring.

I decided (after some coaxing) to wander around in the sea with my pants rolled up.. It wasn't as cold as I'd expected. There were also several people brave enough to swim. We explored the town a bit and headed to the old town of Cannes at the highest point of the city, where we discovered that those pay 25 cents per use telescopes can be used to add a telephoto lens to your regular digital camera.

After exploring Cannes we set off for the Medieval town of St. Paul. It's a small to town with cobble stone streets. There are many artists who have set up shop in the town selling their paintings. We explored the town and then headed out for dinner and back to our hotel.

The next day we packed up our stuff and headed down towards the Medieval part of Eze which is a stunning little stone city perched on top one of the peaks of the mountain-side. There were very few people in the town so it gave you the feeling that you'd stepped back in time. Apparently at one point Eze had been considered it's own country. It had a fort a the very top to defend itself. However once Eze became part of France the king ordered the stronghold destroyed. Now there is a stunning garden in it's place with many different varieties of cactus.

After Eze we set off to check out Monaco which is the second smallest country in the world. (Vatican City #1) Monaco has two cities, Monaco and Monte Carlo. We stopped in Monaco first and took a walk from a Ocean Museum to the Royal Palace. Everything in Monaco is clean, the buildings, the streets, and even the Sea gulls much more Majestic than their French or Italian cousins. After wandering the streets we headed to Monte Carlo and stopped for a look in their fancy Casino. But after finding out that we needed to Pay a cover charge just to go in we decided not to bother. They probably have a cover charge because the rich people don't want us commoners ogling them, their plan worked perfectly.

Next we stopped in Menton, which is right on the border of France and Italy. We strolled up the beach before heading back on to italy.



On the drive back Norm was clever enough to figure out how to get us around Milan instead of straight through the middle, however it wasn't easy.

Here is a video of our trip... It's mostly a montage of all of the video of waves we took, mostly...

• All of our Photos of La Cote d'Azur


• Photos of this trip and Belagio that Sue took

Trip to Belagio with Norm and Sue

We just had a nice visit from Nat's Parents... They rented a car and drove into Milan. The first weekend they were here we took a trip to Bellagio which is on Lago Di Como. On the way we stopped in the town of Como where we visited the Duomo in Como.

We spent the evening and part of the next day in Bellagio before driving up the mountain to eat lunch.

More Pictures of Bellagio