Speazialschulwhoche -- Venedig

Venedig, the German name for Venice. Venice, the city above the sea in Italy. When ppl mention Venice, gondolas come to mind. Venice, the destination I would defnitely want to visit one more time.

It was a good thing I chose Venice for my Spezialschulwoche ( special school week, it's compulsory to choose one of the items stated in the list. Things like ' Physics is fun !' is defnitely a no-no for me.So sue me) coz I really had a great time there.

I LOVED EVERY SINGLE MINUTE IN VENICE.

This time, I decide to cut my blog shorter coz (1) I'm too busy (yeah rite!) (2) THe 1st was just an excuse. I'm just to lazy, ok not lazy, but having spent 2 hours on the comp is not very healthy for my eyes ,ok?!

The 1st two days in Venice was not THAT exciting. It rained. For the 2 WHOLE BLOODY DAYS-- continously. Non stop. Never trust weather forecasts. Ok, not NEVER, but always play it on the safe side, coz I didnt bring much thick clothings for my Venice trip. I ended up having a buy a scarf(it was a must, it was freakin cold! WIth the wind, the rain and wet feet, you'll agree that the scarf was a must) and shivering my way through the 2 freakin cold days!

We were at San Marco Basilika, despite the rain -- & the flood. Not the real flood flood, but maybe more than ankle-deep flood. As floods are really common in Venice when it rains,they were all prepared. All of us had to walk on wooden panels or some kind of 'bridge' along the way. The Americans and the Japanese who had plastic bags with them tied them on their feet, walking boldly through the more-than-ankle-deep-flood. Ppl like us with normal sport shoes were vulnerable to the flood. Therefore the shops selling plastic or rubber boots were making tons of money, esp from the tourists. Infact, I accompanied a friend of mine to a shop to buy her boots and the sales girl was telling another couple that personally, she finds it not necessary to buy those boots.

Well, as European tourists are rich in a way and touring the city with wet feet isnt that comfortable, her advice was merely like wind passing by their ears. I bet the shop owners were showing mega-watt smiles coz tourists were willing to pay at east 15 euros for low quality- uncomfortable- not suitable for touring rubber boots. Tying coloured-waterproof- plastic bags on each foot is really not that flattering for most ppl. Therefore, it wasnt a surprise that the sales went up on that particular rainy day.

The weather for the next few days were better. It wasnt summer great or summer warm, that kind, but at least it wasnt raining. We toured the Doge Palace, Rialto Bridge different musuems, etc. OMG. The Doge Palace was magnificent. Really gotta see to believe. We visited tons and tons of churches. I think I''ve been in more churches in 1 week than I have been in temples for 6 months. The churches were really great. As in the decoration. Unbelievable. U see all these architecture and gold plated-less than 2cm square mosiac pieces all being built together to form those huge churches, all I could say was 'wow'. To show respect, we werent allowed to take any photographs in churches.

Venice is really a city above the sea. Instead of cars, taxis and buses, we travel by boat. There's boat taxi, police boat, ambulance boat, vaperretos (bus on water). Instead of seeing parked cars on perfectly mowed lawn, there's boats parked outside houses on poles.

Traveled through the Grand Canal. Beautiful. We were at the Campanile (big ben of Venice), San Giorgio Maggiore( great view of the whole Venice from the top), Murano (world's most famous glass making centre, damn expensive), Burano (each house has its own colour) and Torcello ( once, 20000 ppl live on the Island. 2005: less than 50 humans), Santa Maria de Salute, etc. Had a great time.

Oh ya, we were also at a fish market too. Well, being Malaysian, it wasnt anything special to me. For the Swiss, it was like a whole new place to take tons of pictures.As Switzterland has no sea, they have no fish markets like the ones in Venice. It was no surprise when they started taking tons of photos--of sea food! Well, cant laugh at them though, coz for me, I take photos at almost every river, every mountain I see in Switzerland. Therefore, it's just the same.Maybe the only thing worth taking photos in the fish market were the cute fish mongers. REally! HOt, young ones too.

We had a really great group. We spent most of our time together as a group. Doing stuff together. A tight 6 gal group. For our last nite in Venice, we went to a piano concert by Arcadi Volodos. I didnt know that he was THAT famous till I got home and Mami was like ' U went to a piano concert by Volodos? He's like world famous!' Ok, now I know paying the price doesnt always reflect the popularity of a musician. Prices sometimes are misleading.

After the concert, we decided to go once more to San Marco place again. It was such a romantic place to be. really...ahhh..... Classical bands were playing in some of the cafes. So romantic (and expensive). I really swear by this place... =)

It was really a memorable and enjoyable trip to Venice. The place was great, the group was great, the weather -- soso( I cant be always bitching bout the weather considering the fact that I had a great time there=P). In all, it is one experience I will never forget --ever.Unless I'm old and grey, or I have amnesia or something like that... choi ! choi! =P