Our first vaporetto ride took us from our hostel near San Stae to the St. Mark's Square again. Our first stop, and yes, you should laugh, we did... many times... was Doge's palace (unrelated: http://dogecoin.com/). We took Rick Steves' advice and went to the Correr Museum instead of straight to Doge's palace to get our tickets (an ultra-wise choice... we skipped like an hour long line). While it was pretty inside, it didn't seem worth the visit.
Afterwards we got to view the decadence that was Doge's stately palace. We learned that the Doge is in fact a position and not a dude (and mostly importantly not a shiba) and his palace was more like an assortment of rooms for like two hundred various Venetian councils to meet. We saw his apartments as well (which, despite my impression that they were pretty lavish, were apparently a step down for most of the aristocrats that were elected Doge), wandered through the armory where we saw an absolutely terrifying chastity belt (it literally had spikes facing outwards), walked across the Bridge of Sighs (where prisoners saw their last glimpse of the lagoon before being thrown into the dungeons), and got lost in some dungeons. Unfortunately photos were not allowed inside, but we did take a couple in the courtyard.
We were also allowed to take photos from the inside of the palace to the outside (just not of anything actually in the palace) which gave us a pretty cool bird's-eye view of the water.
Afterwards, we headed towards Venice's Fine Arts Museum, Gallerie dell'Accademia where we were also not allowed to take photos and ate lunch at a cafe nearby.
I have literally gained ten thousand pounds already. Yes, I am using the definition of literally that means, quite paradoxically, not literally. Deal with it. Here was the cafe across the street... that we did not eat at. I almost (!!!) lost my 18 Euro bus pass which would have been a travesty but fortunately, I recovered it... on the ground of this square. Which in itself was ridiculous. :) I am a very lucky human.
It was incredibly beautiful. Our day wrapped up with a long vaporetto ride around the island, getting lost near calle dell'oro, and some pizza. Yum!
We... made the mistake of ordering two pizzas which was... a lot of food. And when we asked for a to-go box, the waiter told us they didn't have any. :( We were super sad... except apparently we just can't tell when Italians are messing with us. WHOOPS. Anyways, immediately afterwards we gathered up our things and made the long-ass trek to our next destination on the mainland. This involved a vaporetto to the bus station, a 20 minute bus ride to god knows where, and a much longer than expected walk with all of our belongings... it was... tiring. Especially after a day out. But we made it... and we spent the night in a $11 a night tent hostel. Lol. We literally... set up camp (har har) in a large tent, featuring three beds and electricity. It was... acceptable... that is until we realized that tents are ... NOT in fact very soundproof and loud drunk Australians were right outside. I ended up yelling (politely) at some hooligans to simmer down cos I was sleeping. I felt SO OLD. >< Hahaha. We did have a train to catch in the morning though.
Oh and a bonus photo.
tl;dr: Venice is freaking gorgeous.
Love always,
Maja
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