Inter Rail 1984 Day 17
Tuesday 18th September 1984
We arrived in Venice just about on time. The weather was little iffy. We put our bags in the special rucksack
only baggage place and set off for the bureau de change. Jon changed his German marks so we had the equivalent of ££23 to spend. Set off
on the number 1 waterbus. 53p bought a 30 minute ride down the Grand Canal under the Rialto Bridge to St Marks Square. Bought ourselves a map
and explored the square.We went into St Marks Basilica but it was full of American and Japanese tourists and was very commercialised. You even
have to pay to look at the altar and the treasures it contains.
We spent a good two hours browsing through the shops in the area looking for a pressie or two of Venetian glassware. A lot of very nice,
relatively inexpensive crystal and Murano glass pieces were everywhere. I bought a hand made perfume dropper with gold leaf for Gran. We then
headed off into the side streets and just wandered for 2 or 3 hours until we came to the Rialto Bridge. We made our way back to the railway
station in the same manner, passing through the market at the end of the Rialto Bridge. There were pizza houses and glassware shops everywhere
you looked.
At the station Jon changed some more money and we eventually went to the loo as there was much difficulty in working out which was the ladies
and which was the gents. There was no loo paper but at least we didn't have to pay. We sat on the steps of the station to plan our next move.
Decided that would be to buy some postcards and stamps and a "cuppa" of delicious Italian icecream. We got 6 different flavours, nut,
chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, lemon and banana. They all tasted exactly like their name suggested, especially the banana.
Sat in a nearby park and wrote silly postcards. As we had had lunch about 12 noon after succumbing to an Italian mam's smile (we had pasta
bolognese and salad plus a cup of cappuccino) we felt a little peckish so we headed off past the Church of St. Nicolo da Tolentino towards the
St Marks Square area. Stopped and had a shuftie at the Chiesa di San Rocco and the next door Scuola Grande di San Rocco which are chock full
of paintings by Tintoretto including some on the ceiling.
Dinner was a pizza with anchovies and a glass of Coke. Returned to the Rialto Bridge market and bought two crystal balls, one for me and one
for Ma and Pa. St Marks Square was as busy at night as by day, with lots of people attempting to take pictures. We paid 50p and went up to the
bell chamber of St Marks Tower. The view was beautiful, if a little too dark to take photos. Gorgeous views over the Lido and of all of Venice
itself. Watched night fall, then came down, bought our waterbus ticket, got our InterRail ticket stamped and a Daily Telegraph. It confirmed
the birth of Prince Henry/Harry on the previous Saturday.
Caught the No 2 waterbus back to the railway station which goes by a slightly different route down Rio Nuovo past the fire station. As we
reached the station after a gorgeous ride, the heavens opened and the bloody thunderstorm that we reckoned was following us re-appeared. We had
to do the short distance from the landing stage to the station in 2 goes to shelter from the worst of the rain. Bought some food for tomorrow
morning as we would be up at the crack of dawn plus a beer, and sat on Platform 7 playing cards with an audience from time to time.
When the rain became absolutely torrential we had to evacuate to the waiting room where the only seats to be had were next to a horrendous man
with a snorting twitch. Made our way onto our train as soon as they had finished cleaning it. We bagged a compartment to ourselves and tried
to go to sleep but were rudely awakened just before we left at midnight by a party of raucous Yanks who thought it wonderful to be on a
European train like in the movies. Talk about loud. They thankfully got out at Mestre.
We were woken at 1.30am by a bolshie ticket collector who because the guy at the Venice ticket desk had the wrong date on his stamp made us
write out our destination again so she could stamp it with the right date and clip it. Got checked again at 2.30am - so much for getting a
good nights sleep. Decided we want to go back to Venice with lots of money
 Arriving in Venice |
 Venice |
 Jon St Mark's Square |
 St Mark's Square |
 Jon Venice |
 Venice |
 Grand Canal |
 Bridge of Sighs |
 Gondola |
