September 14th - The journey to Venice

Well the holiday was nearly drawing to a close, just one final stop, Venice.

I was up early and got the bus down to the train station. There is no direct train to Venice, so I had to get a train to Villach and then a bus to Venice. The train journey took about 2.5 hours and the bus journey took 4.5 hours. The journey was long, but the views were great along the way, The bus finally crossed the huge, long road into Venice bus station at about 4:20pm.

I then got a boat taxi (ferry) to San Marco, the views along the way were out of this world. I arrived at my hotel and checked into my hotel. By this time it was about 5pm, I had a walk around and took some photo's, to be fair I was in awe of the place. I then went for some dinner in a recommended restaurant from my guide book.

Now as always when I eat, this is were the fun begins. Firstly, I sat at a table next to a middle age couple, who were from England. They were the most boring, timid couple I have ever met. Firstly after deciding what to eat the waiter came over and took their order. The waiter was at their table for about 20 minutes as the couple changed their mind about 5 times, and the waiter kept scribbling out their order and starting again. Finally they ordered their meal and the waiter asked them what they would like to drink, and yes you guested it, they didn't know. At this point, the waiter, clearly pissed off as he had wasted a whole pad of paper, said he would come back in a couple of minutes!!!!

Anyway, eventually they ordered everything and surprise, surprise they had confused the fucking waiter that much that he actually brought out the wrong food for them!!!!!

Then to finish the story, as this couple were eating, the wife said to her husband, ' Well that was a good pick hun, as always!!!!'

I was tempted to lean over and say, sorry hun did I hear you right then, your husband didn't pick the meal, it was a random meal because he confused the waiter that fucking much!!!! But I resisted. Lol

Thankfully my meal came and went without incident, it was very nice. However, the drama did not end there. Seriously folks, this was like an episode of Faulty towers. Later on the couple next to me started to have a big argument and then the waiter who had served me lost his temper in an unrelated incident and ended up kicking a table and throwing a towel on the floor and storming off into the night.

Eventually I paid my bill and left the restaurant, I did not want to leave, as I did not want to miss anything else exciting!!! Maybe my guide book was referring to the restaurant being a great place for drama, but somehow I think not!!

By this point it was getting dark as I headed back to San Marco Piazza. I bought a half bottle of red wine from an open bar and headed out into the square. It was superb, fancy restaurants around the square had live music bands outside on little stages. Some were jazz bands, others were violin players and piano players, it was fantastic.

I then walked to the edge of the square and sat down on the steps were the water was lapping at my feet, and sipped my red wine from a plastic glass and admired the scenery. Other cities around the world have one or two stunning buildings and sites, Venice had an infinite number. Everything was magical, even the so called normal buildings, were the waves lapped at the front doors made me smile. At every turn there was a canal, with a gondola gliding past, or some other amazing site.

This place was built to endure and will be still standing long after we have gone. They don't make places like this anymore. They don't make structures like this anymore, it's not efficient or practical and takes too much space for the compact world in which we live in now. But who cares, because it is a majestic, timeless place full of wonders and joy.

As I sat on them steps drinking my wine, you could feel the history in the air. If you blotted out the tourist stalls and billboards it was as close as you could get to looking back in time, glimpsing an era of creativity and stunning beauty that we will never see the like of again.

It made me think of a song by Jack Savoretti called 'Dreamers'. One of the lines in the song is 'Whatever happened to the dreamers, they always looked beyond the stars'

I wonder what the dreamers who built this place would think of us and our way of life and what we had done to Venice and the world in which we live!!!!