20160612 – Padua and Venice At Last

Take a stroll into Padua to explore. Not the most elegant of cities but it does have some impressive buildings, mind you it’s started to rain so that doesn’t help.

They may not know a lot about beer so no sin today. But they sure know about coffee. Stop at the famous cafe Pedrocchi. The green and chocolate lava on top of my caffee Pedrocchi is awesome and Frau Edwards has had her best cup of tea this side of the EU.

Finally find a decent restaurant for lunch. Yes, it’s lunch today as we’re not eating in the hotel again and most restaurants don’t open until 19:30, when we’re just getting ready for bed.

I have veal livers with polenta, they’re awesome and just mealt in your mouth. Very filling struggle to finish it. Frau Edwards has a unique tasting Lasgne.

Don’t we just love the hotel barman, all the charm and personality of a desiccated mushroom. Who employed him? Hannibal Lecter in his mask would present a more cheerful disposition. I suppose not speaking any Italian doesn’t help but do they not realise that we have a world of languages to choose from. We really can’t speak them all. Simple, they – Johnny Eu Foreigner – should be forced by the Eureaucrats to learn English.

I’ve cracked this Italien food thingy, just smoother everything in olive oil, and they smile and think you a local.

Wot no Tuti Fruiti on TV, no wonder the Italian economy is nearly as insolvent as Greece? Watch this space ready for the next bailout

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Trip Advisor Review of Hotel Galileo Padua – 4 Stars.

Hotel was bright and cheerful with handy underground car park, where our excellent and helpful receptionist said we could leave the car whilst we visit Venice. Unfortunately the hotels about a mile outside the town Centre, but it’s a pleasant walk.

Room was modern, clean, comfortable and all round good. Although there were no tea making facilities, essential for us Brits, they soon bough one up,when asked. Sadly the bed would probably best be described as firm. It’d probably escaped from a German prison, like sleeping on a concrete floor.

Breakfast was mediocre, mainly spoilt by the same stale bread and rolls they foisted on us in the restaurant.

After another mediocre breakfast we set off like a couple of decrepit backpackers. All our essentials for the next 3 nights crammed and rolled into our haversacks. This is minimalist. Wendy forgoes her multitude of lotions and potions, and hair dryers, straighteners and thingies. I even leave my MacBook. Car and none essentials are left in Padua hotel.

Long life sandwiches for sale on the train platform. It’s 13th June and sandwiches in the machine have a best before date of 12 July. You may well wonder what they’re made of but they’re bread and meat. I don’t believe it. They’ll probably walk out of the machine well before then.

Catch the train to Venice, just under 30 minutes and about €4 each.

Arrive in Venice in glorious sunshine. What a spectacular first impression as we walk out the station.

Then it’s a 1 mile walk through the back alleys and bridges to our hotel. Hotels very comfortable and only 100 yards from St Marks square. Rooms are ver chintzy and regal, not really our style but clean, roomy and well fitted out.

Have a stroll around and some lunch with a sinful Paulaner for me.

First impressions are vibrant, decaying, scruffy back streets, a lot of it well past its demolish by date, and spoilt by too many tourists. It’s heaving, we really do spoil it. But then you see the grand canal and St Marks square and are awestruck by the magnificent architecture.

After 6 miles, and more bridges than hangers onto the Evil Union gravy train, we go back for a rest before heading out for tea.

After having some awesome Italian food in Australia by our friend Peter I just have to eat MELANZANE ALLA PARMIGIANA again. We scour the 1,000’s of restaurants and amazingly the one next to our hotel does it. Go in but no one there, so we vote with our feet. Never mind one round the corner has cannelloni on the menu board, order some drinks and Cannelloni. “Oh I’m sorry sir but we don’t have that”. “But it’s on your menu black board”. “Yes, I know but that’s out of date”. “Well why don’t you update the board”? We walk out in disgust. Finally find a place that does MELANZANE ALLA PARMIGIANA as a starter. Check that it’s on today. Great starter, but nowhere near as good as Peters. Sadly I resort to a pizza, it’s fine, but really must be more adventurous.

Back to hotel and watch the Apple update. Sadly no hardware announcements. I “want” a new MacBook.

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I’m up at the crack o sparrows and join the street sweepers for a pleasant stroll around an unspoilt Venice. Definitely the best time of the day. You can actually photograph places without the selfie stick hoards getting underfoot.

Breakfast is good. Plenty of choice, even strawberries and champagne. I’ll save that retirement sin for tomorrow.

We’re off on a cultural trip, Dogs Palace and the Basic Church. Sadly it’s raining and St Marks square, where we have to meet, is a nightmare of bodies and umbrellas. Fortunately I’ve got two eyes so to all the idiots who still had their umbrellas, up even when under cover, in an attempt to blind me, tough I managed to survive. Just.

Pick up our tickets and audio gizmo so that we can here the guide. Very knowledgeable but she had no red flag to follow, we kept loosing her. She kept asking inane questions like “are we all here”. Not that she’d bothered to count us.

Just 5 minutes into the tour and sure enough some feeble minded and weak bladdered adult women wanted potty.

By the end of the 90 minute palace tour we’ve had enough culture to last a year.

But hey ho there’s more culture to come as we troop into the Basic San Marco church. What a mistake this was. By now we’re both suffering from anaphylactic culture shock and in need of some intravenous caffeine. Strikes me Starbucks and MacDonalds are missing a real opportunity in this church, a coffee shop with free wifi would go down a treat and drag the church into the 21st century.

Finally escape the clutches of our not so organised guide and head for a well deserved coffee and lunch. Yet another 3rd world toilet, this time not just a hole in the ground, but the added advantage of a door with no lock. When opened it will knock you off your feet. Just what you need when you’re draining the snake or having a crouch. And they want us to remain in the EU when they can’t even ban 3rd world toilets.

I suggest a gondola ride. It’s something you have to do, when Frau Edwards learns the price she baulks at it and does a hasty conversion as to how many hand bags she could buy with that. We pass and instead have a 5 mile hike around Venice.

Wendy’s, typical Brit abroad statement, “why do they misspell Venice”?

Greed and stupidity are common bedfellows, nowhere more so than here in St Marks square, famous for it’s overpriced coffee. It’s actually only €1.50 for a coffee to go, but you want to sit down then it’s €6.00. Now any manager with any sense would look around and see that less than 10% of the chairs are occupied yet the whole of Europe is milling around in the square, not even standing room. Does that not tell them that stupidity has taken over from rampant greed. Reduce your price a tad and you’ll get more punters.

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Champagne for breakfast, now that’s decadent.

Took the FREE hotel trip to see the glass factory at Murano. There and back by private water taxi, a great experience. Very pleasant and lovely expensive glass ware if you’re into that sort of thing.

Back in Venice we succumb to a Gondola ride. We pass on the €2, 2 minute ferry option, and go for the full Monty even under the bridge of Sighs – very romantic. What a superb way to fritter away your kids inheritance. I think we’ll have one on standby 24 * 7 just in case Frau Edwards needs to nip to Aldi or buy another new handbag. Expensive but I’m the one who said we should do it and dam the rip off.

Then it’s a spot of fodder for her in doors and a sinful beer for me before we buy a 24 hour valporetta ticket and take the long cruise all around the island and over to Lido, then a trip down the Grand Canal and back. Great way to see Venice but by the end of it Wendy’s lost the will to live.

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Trip Advisor Review Hotel Monte Carlo – 5 Stars

Great location, just a 100 yards from St Marc’s Square.

Quality Best Western hotel, they’ve certainly gone up yet another notch in my estimation and we’ll be using them more in the future. All staff were friendly and very helpful. Arrived early, no problem. Can we have a double bed room rather than a twin, no problem. Can you change this room to a 1st floor room, no problem.

Room was spacious, clean and well kitted out with quality fittings, including tea and coffee making facilities. Furniture and style was very regal and chintzy, very much in keeping with the Venice experience, but not really our taste.

Breakfast was great. Good choice of quality hot and cold food.

Wifi is excellent, just a shame it needs the password palaver, but more understandable in the close confines of Venice.

Even managed to save €200 on a 3 night stay by booking on booking.com rather than direct with Best Western. Pity their web site doesn’t treat customers with the respect their hotel staff do, but €200 is better in my pocket to pay for the excesses of Venice.

Highly recommend this hotel.

After another great breakfast we catch the valporetta to the station for the train back to Padua.

Well we’ve enjoyed Venice. It lived up to my expectations – spoilt by hoards of tourists. Selfie sticks of the vain and eye gouging umbrellas just add to its charm. It’s one of those places you’re glad you’ve been there and done it, but wouldn’t ever want to come back again. We both agreed, even if we called in on a cruise I think we’d be tempted to give it a miss and stay on board all day.

Get back to our Padua hotel and pick the car up from the secure underground garage, so much better than taking the car to Venice and parking up. All credit to Hotel Galileo, it was ok with them and free. Best Western go up again in my estimation.

Then it’s a 3 hour drive to our VRBO home for the next 10 days, just outside Siena. As per their photos it’s lovely. After all our travels it will be a well deserved rest.

When we arrive I carefully inspect my exhaust pipe. I’m sure there must be something of interest up it. All these Italian drivers are a load of screaming exhaust bandits, as they hurtle down, and then seem determined to crawl up my exhaust pipe like a boll weevil trying to lay its eggs in a cotton boll.

Sadly it’s then a trip to the local supermarket for supplies. I soon loose the will to live once I’ve chose my coffee, beer, wine and breakfast cereal. Amazing how different the goods are in different countries. Gladly outside our everyday sphere of comfort and one of the joys of travel is to adopt a “when in Rome approach”, even if it does take us 5 minutes to figure out which milk is whole and which is Frau Edwards white water. Strange though not a tin of baked beans in site but walnuts, dates and more aubergines than muslims at a stoning.

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