I was in Venice back in January with Wendy and i’m only blogging about it in March. Wau, procrastinator maximus.

We nearly miss our flight because Wendy’s train got delayed and we were rushing through the gates of Liverpool airport to barely make it but manatau the stupid plane got delayed for 20mins. By the time, we got to Venice mainland, it was already dark, ya, thanks to winter, the days are so much shorter. Breath-taking view from the plane.

Snow Mountain ahhhh…!! Looks something like my imaginary heaven.

Our hostel is located at St. Stae vapretto station, and when we got there, we don’t know how to get to the hostel because the instruction was to call the caretaker. So after asking around for abit, coincidently we ask the correct person because he IS the caretaker! haha so lucky and so we made friends with 1 hongkie and 2 taiwanese girls.

It’s kinda cool that although the uncle speaks only Italian and we know 0% italian, we could still understand each other. Our room…which is the best hostels ever! It’s like hotel..

And the bathroom….hairdryer provided.

Wendy, remember the uncle kept asking us to go dine at Luca’s place? Luca luca…and we found out Luca’s pizza parlour damn expensive.

Best pizza i’ve ever had. And considering the prices in Venice, this is a very cheap place to dine. Ae Oche and they have alot of branches throughout Venice. 1 pizza will cost u about 7 Euro and that 1 pizza is HUGE.

Luckily the hongkie gal, Joanne came along with us and we had 2 pizza that is shared among 3 of us. For comparison purposes, obviously the pizza is bigger than my face…haha..and cheese and ham and mushroom..all my favorite ingredients! That pizza that i’m holding is the usual serving for 1. Best of all, the waiter is cute and speaks with a slight italian accent

The next day, we wanted to rise and shine very early, but i guess traveling is tiring and age is catching up, so we slept like piggies till kinda late..HAHAHA .

The Basilica di San Marco . The gold part is really made of gold. If it’s in Malaysia, the next day already habis dikorek by scavenger.

Inside the basilica, the interior was really amazing and alot of gold ceilings. Then there’s a signboard showing ” To the Treasures” Me and Wendy was like WOW! To the treasures..so we followed the arrow…………to a guard which we had to pay 2Euro each to see the treasures -____-

One of the many treasure. A sword emblem with gold, pearl, emerald, ruby, jade dan lain-lain. Kinda Grand right.

Doge Palace and the basillica. The palace was dubbed as the Pink Palace. Where is the pink, my dear?

Venice’s famous gondolas. 40Euros each. Any takers?

Dorsudoro area. My jumping protege AHAHAHA Somehow after crosing the Accademia Bridge ( a similar one was seen in cambridge!) we accidentally ventured into this area and its totally deserted except for the occasional tourist.

More sight seeings

Phantom of the opera bought his mask here.

Italian Fashionistas. Fur coats with perfectly groomed hair deck complete with LV bags. Banyak sekali, people like this. It’s a surprise PETA people doesn’t come after them.

Then we went all the way round the whole island to Zattere >> Gelateria Nico; apparently the most renowned gelateria in Venice…. All for the giandiuotto, consisted of large slabs of chocolate & hazelnut gelato (hazelnuts roasted and chopped very finely) squished into tall glasses with the rest of the available space filled with soft-as-a-cloud freshly whipped cream. I’m still amazed at just how much cream they managed to cram into the glasses and balance on top!

Sunset view from vapretto.

Oh..after that…started our hunt for LV, Gucci shops. Damn hard to find in the winding and confusing dark alleys of Venice. Our tea. Italians like to have lil snacks with caffe expresso randomly. YUMMYLICOUS!

Then got nearly lost when we tried to go back to St. Stae. Seriously, the place looks so different during day and night >.> The grand canal at night.

Then after dinner of pasta in one of the restaurant (forgot to take photos) we went back to Ae oche for 2nd round of dinner. It’s simply too delicious, de pizzas!! I miss it soo sooo much T___T
FYI, most restaurant have cover charge. So that’s something like their service charge and it’s not really cheap. This is the first time i see pizza in the shape of karipap. And it’s so tasty most probably because it’s cover up…hmmm

My tiramisu…

And we went back to the hostel, 2 very stuffed tourists. AHAHAH

The view from Rialto Bridge in the morning. The weather was wonderful on the last day we were there.

The only souvenir we got from the Venetians. He’s only the conductor of the waterbus. Imagine the abundant of look-alike in Italy.

The guy that sold me the last gelati i had in italy is by far, the most good looking person i’ve seen in my life. I’m too lost for words in his gorgeousness that i forgot to take a photo of him. Such a waste~ I miss u alot, gelato boy…

Tip # 1: for those traveling to Venice, actually you don’t need to buy the vapretto ticket. Maybe just buy 2. We bought the one that valids for 48hrs and then we found out that most of the places are within walking distances. And if you board the vapretto from smaller stations, you don’t actually have to PAY! So the smart and cunning way to save money is buy the one way 6Euro ticket when you enter Venice island and then another 6 Euro when you leave the island with your luggage. However, be careful not to be caught without the ticket(biglietto), or else you might be fine heavily. HAhaha.

Tip # 2: The wine there are really cheap and you can get 1 liter of them for 1.5Euro. So if you really love drinking wine, you can bring you own bottle over to a tratoria or a shop with alot of barrels and get them to fill it up for you. It’s really cheap. 1euro for a bottle of water. 1euro for a can of beer too. and they sell wines in kebab stores. =__=

Verdict: Venice is so cold during winter i think because of the narrow alleys that turns into wind tunnel. SEJUK SIAL! and it;s not as smelly as summer. The water in the canals are kinda dirty and they gondolier did not sing also.

After all being said, it is still a very romantic place and i love the feeling of getting lost in the ancient alleys and stumbling into lovely areas away from the hoards of tourists. It’s a very slow pace city and it’s littered with cafes, and small shops, a lot with masquerade masks.

I would love to go back there one day, before it sinks, and explore more of it; as even if you spend a year there, it’s impossible to finish exploring the beauty of Venice.

The B&B i stayed in

• B&B in Venice, Flat CàCorte
• Flat Ca’ Corte Santa Croce -,
• +393474351065
• flatinvenice@hotmail.it