Versailles

Mum and Dad met us at the apartment on our first proper day in Paris and we walked to what would become our local train station, Javel. It pretty much runs along the Seine from our stop through the main areas in Paris, so it was very useful in terms of getting around and we soon became very adept at working out which train was ours, times, getting tickets from machines and so forth, but I digress. Also the Paris Statue of Liberty is nearby!

The ride from Javel to Versailles was about 20mins and we walked another 10mins or so to the palace. It was a cool day and the clouds looked threatening. It didn't take long to get tickets, which was great, we had heard awful things about queues...in fact so far we have hardly had to queue for anything.

The first view of the palace takes your breathe away, magnificent and opulent, larger than I even imagined, and soooo much gold.

We decided to check out the garden before the weather turned, which was a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it!

The gardens are remarkable and quite simply huge. Ponds, fountains, statues, hedges, all the sorts of things that make me smile. We were quite a distance away from the palace, yet we hadn't even touched the surface of what we could see. It started to rain lightly, so we put up umbrellas and continued wandering, it was simply magical. We decided to head back for the palace, and it got very windy and much harder rain, the kind you cannot walk against, nearly blew my long time trusty umbrella inside out, but she is made of tougher stuff than that.

We stood under the shelter at Versailles like drowned rats with everyone else with the realization we would be touring this amazing palace looking a little bit ordinary!!!

What would Marie Antoinette think?

Well, we had no choice, and looked better than some.

The palace starts with lots of rooms dedicated to paintings and models (with other memorabilia) of Versailles and showcasing it's history and physical change over the years. And then we went up a stunning staircase and walked along a corridor of statues and painted ceilings with windows overlooking the courtyards and other parts of the palace.

From there we entered the actual rooms of the palace and there are no words to describe the beauty, amazement and pieces of furniture and history that we saw. It was unrelenting, room after room, corridor after corridor, gold, marble, statues, paintings, ceilings and that was before we got to the hall of mirrors and the Kings chambers!!

I took many, many photos, it was very crowded and difficult at times to get close to what you wanted a closer look at, but what an experience.

We left in the mid afternoon, still drizzling with rain and a very cold wind. Hungry, we did a Maccas stop in the town of Versailles before heading back by train.

The weather still on the cold and ordinary side, we settled in for a quiet evening with Chinese takeaway. The local Chinese had a huge range of fresh dishes on offer, you choose and paid by the 100 grams, they would heat it or you could take it cold to heat yourself...very tasty.

And so completed our first full day in Paris, snuggled up warm in bed with the knowledge we were here for some time!

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Venice...floating in my heart

We left Florence for Venice via Ferrara, an old city with a gorgeous castle from the 14th century, first we have seen with a moat too. We had lunch there, explored the streets and lovely buildings, then continued on to Venice.

We arrived mid afternoon, and changed from bus to water taxi, our luggage coming separately. Was quite amazing arriving via boat and seeing this enchanting floating city appear. The water was very busy, as was the city itself. After a short walk from the water to our hotel, we checked into our rooms. The hotel itself was on the water and in a good location, but was very small and a bit run down...the worst hotel we stayed in while away. But that was ok, we were not in Venice for the hotel!

We had a late afternoon tour, so left for a short walk to the Gondolas. I was very apprehensive, they were so small and the main area seemed so busy. I was sure I would end up in the water! But I need not have worried, we took the first turn into the canals, and it was peaceful, slow and stunning. There were about 8 Gondolas all up for our group, with the main one having a singer and guitar player on board and they serenaded us the whole trip...this was truly magnificent. It was the perfect introduction to this unique city, we sat back, marveled at the buildings, the water, the busy areas, the quieter back passages and sipped our champagne while listening to light Italian arias and fun Italian classics being played and sung to us.

When the ride was finished we had a walking tour of the back streets of Venice, this sealed it for me, what a very special place this was. I had not heard great things about Venice, dirty, over populated, dangerous, easy to get lost in, plus the whole boat/water thing made me apprehensive...always experience things for yourself before you judge!! The back streets with their ups and downs, ins and outs reminded me what I love so much about those lane ways in Melbourne. You never knew what was around the corner, little shops, square with elderly Italians having a drink and a smoke, bustling cafe areas, tiny alleys, churches, and those spectacular bridges. We ended at St Marks square, which was jaw dropping. The cathedral, palace, tower and the buildings around the square were all magnificent, I didn't know where to look. It was not too crowded, we wandered around for a whole, the met our guide who took us back to our hotel by water taxi.

We landed back to at hotel doorstep and found our luggage had arrived. Then we had a lovely dinner at the hotel restaurant by the water. Visually this was amazing, but the smell of the canals can be whiffy, which is not great when eating dinner. We went to bed late and exhausted, but very happy to be in this enchanting city.

The next day was an early start with a ride to the island of Murano for a tour of the glass factory, this gave us a great view of other parts of the many islands that make up Venice. The glass factory was exceptional, we saw how they made the items, including a beautiful, prancing horse. Then we toured the factory, wow, so much beauty. I bought some earrings, pretty blue drops. Would have loved to buy more, but it was all so expensive.

We then returned to St Marks for some time to look around better, shop etc before our next tour. It wasn't really enough time to go into any of the buildings and had been raining slightly all day. We had morning tea at a cafe overlooking the palace, then did some shopping. Then we did a bit of people watching at the square before heading to the water again.

This tour was optional, so only a small group, we took a cruise around the lagoon, again seeing even more of Venice, it really is huge! We arrived at the island of Burano in the early afternoon. It is a fishing town and all the houses are painted pretty colours, most with potted plants and flowers on window sills, door fronts etc. It was a whole change of scene, especially on such a drizzly, overcast day. We walked through the village and the quaint shops to this amazing restaurant where we had a 5 course seafood lunch. It was fresh, amazing and really filling, plenty to drink and then cookies and fruit. We then had to walk it all off and explored the little town, with it's own leaning tower (there were a few in Venice actually). We the headed back to our hotel in our boat, where we met up with Mum and Dad who were headed out for dinner, we went with them, but were still pretty full for lunch.

We shopped some more, everything is open late there, had a final look around and were very sad to be leaving. The next morning we got water taxis to the airport where we were collecting our car for the next leg of our journey - the road trip! The taxis collected us at the hotel with our luggage and we had a bit of a hairy ride, they go fast. We thought our luggage would end up in the water for sure, they didn't! What a magical place Venice was, I know I will be back, there are many, many more streets and canals for me to explore.

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