venetians blind…

Venice was fantastic – a stranger mix of water, buildings and men in silly hats I will never see. We were a little overwhelmed when checking into our hotel – a proper hotel, not a hostel, you see – and having a porter carry our bags upstairs was kind of … nice (but wierd). Our hotel was on the Lido, so every time we went anywhere, we had to get these boat-bus things, which were surprisingly punctual and frequent (hey, there’s an idea, South Central Trains!).

The weather was cold (expected) but gorgeously sunny with blue skies (most definitely not expected). The gondola man was hatless, which wasn’t nice, but he showed us some lovely, quiet bits of real Venice. The water was smelly, in parts, but pretty and reflective in others. The churches were big, and cold, and the people were … well, lets not go there.