After Castelfranco we spent a day in Verona - very pretty and lovely and old, you will see once Jade puts the photos up! Here we did lots of walking around. Obvy lots of references to Romeo and Juliette, including a building they've turned into her "house" with a balcony, museum and big statue outside it. Supposedly touching Juliette's right breast will give you luck in love, so we all did a bit of that and are now waiting for the magic to happen!
One night in Verona and then we headed to Venice proper. Stayed in a lovely lovely apartment called BB-Venice in Favaro - about 30 mins on the bus from Venice proper, but SO nice and pink it was worth it!
Two days were spent getting lost amongst the many canals and rios and alleys and pontes in Canal - it all looked the same! Luckily Sparrow was a master map reader and so we were never really lost, just a bit lost now and then. Still, even the skills of the mighty Sparrow couldn't find us the excellent gelataria we went to randomly on the first day but then couldn't find at all ever again despite searching desperately for it. Sigh. I miss ice cream. But not all the scary masks and things in the shop windows, check this one out, how much do they wanna cram in there?!
Best way to see Venice was taking the Number 1 vaporetta (public water bus) from Pizziale Roma down to Campo San Marco, thus catching all the highlights along the Grand Canal, then taking the day to stroll back up. Spent a good amount of time (and money!) drinking cocktails in Cafe Florian, a fancy schmancy famous place in St Mark's Square. Also had lovely pizza in the hard to find Ae Oche, with the Queen Goose logo. It seems very Americanised, but the food's great, even if the waiters were rushed off their feet!
We played cards at a cafe by a canal, sat in the same random square lots of times (forgotten which square!) and soaked up the sun and prettiness. Venice is so pretty and a pedestrian's dream - plus since it's so heavily dependant upon tourism, people are really friendly everywhere! Perhaps a little more expensive than other European cities, but definitely worth a visit if you've not already been. I'm sure Bertie would love to have you!
