Venice Day 1

weather was really not that great on the first day
even though it was supposed to be 9 degrees, with the wind and pelting rain, it felt more like -9 or something.

what's worse, we had booked a tour on a boat ride to a few of the nearby islands.


meeting point was at san marco, about 40mins walk away. so we decided to take a "river taxi" there instead. which is really the equivalent of a bus, since there are no cars in Venice.

some photos taken while on the river taxi

these are the equivalent of taxis. where you can just hail one of these boats from a "taxi stand" equivalent and it'll bring you anywhere you want that it can reach.

reached the meeting point, and the tour was mostly a let-down.
the guide was supposed to be speaking in English, but the speakers were so soft and we really couldn't hear anything at all over the roar of the boat engines.

brought us to 3 islands.

1st was Murano, a place famous for their glass stuff.
we were led to 1 of those tok-carrot shops. watched some guy blow glass, and then had to stay in their gift shop for a while until someone bought something.

2nd was Torcello, where there is supposed to be some nice church 15mins walk in.
but we were so freezing cold we went into the 1st cafe we came by and stayed there till it was time to go.

3rd stop was Burano, which is the reason we were interested in the tour to begin with.
this place is famous for their colorful houses.

but we were again led to some lace making shop, which we quickly escaped from and went around exploring by ourselves

it was here we bought our magnets for Venice.
and found that like everything else in the universe, it was made in PRC -.-"

we liked this place, away from the main Venice area, very quiet and peaceful.
the saving point of the tour, cos it would have been difficult getting to this area, from what we read.


then a river taxi ride back to the hotel, and we were tired after being in the rain for almost the entire day.

night shots while on the boat

that bridge is the Rialto bridge, biggest bridge across the Grand Canal with shops on both side.
this is also the main shopping area of Venice.

dinner at a restaurant opposite the hotel, and we were both knocked out before 9pm. =X

Day 2 tomorrow!