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McDonalds with a view...

McDonalds with a view
Thankfully, there wasn’t much of a hangover to speak of the next day. I think this has a lot to do with some sleep, and the amazing purity of German beer. We were on the bus at the usual 8am, and were in store for a long day. We had an interesting lunch time stop, at a McDonalds with the most amazing view you have ever seen. It was really busy, and it took me almost 25 minutes in line to get food. Because of this I almost missed the bus. I had quickly ducked to the toilet, only to return and find everyone gone.

Busabout Bus!

Our accommodation for Venice was a campground, right next to the airport, and about 20 minutes drive from the actual city. We faced a massive line when we checked in, due to the large number of us, and the ‘relaxed’ processing time of the desk staff. The campground was alright, but had clearly seen better days. It had its own supermarket, but no kitchen, wifi, but facebook was blocked.

Venice Water Taxi

Sleep In
I was supposed to get up at 8, to get the 9am shuttle bus with Kelly and the two kiwi girls, but I slept right through, and ended up catching the bus with a few friendly faces, like the couple from Eltham who I met in Lauterbrunnen. There were a few new people from Busabout, like Kym from Melbourne, and Sarah from New Zealand. It was a good 20 minute drive from the campground, to the main bus and train terminal, on the west side of the island. Now for those who don’t know, Venice is completely car free, and when you see the photos, and understand the city you will know why.

Floating Fruit Market

St Mark’s Basilica
We entered the maze that is Venice, and thanks to the numerous signs, we made it to St Mark’s Square. This is the tourist centre of Venice, and a very useful navigation point. I had read up on Venice in both my Busabout guide, and my online guide, and it seemed that the main attractions were churches, bridges and the city itself. One thing that caught my eye was the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, mostly because it was contemporary art, but also because the Guggenheim Gallery in the US is where a majority of Dan Flavin’s work. The line to get into the Basilica was stupidly long, so we decided to wait until later.

St Mark's Basilica

Our group got smaller and we headed along the ocean towards what looked like a really nice church. We got distracted on the way by an information office, and ended up back in the square. We noticed the line to the basilica had disappeared, and upon inspection, it actually had. We took the opportunity, and it was an amazing experience. Photos were not allowed, but I snuck just one to give you an idea of this amazing church.

Me in front of St Mark's Basilica

We headed out to see the Rialto bridge, important in Venice’s history, as it was the trading centre of town. We found a nice café in a nearby street, and all ate Panini’s. We justified the café’s service charge, by taking advantage of their toilet. We split after lunch, as Kym didn’t want to come to the Guggenhiem Collection. Sarah and I got nicely lost on the way there, and discovered some awesome spots.

The Rialto Bridge

Random Discoveries, Guggenheim Collection, and the Church of Santa Maria
I found the home of the Interpreti Veneziani, who played at the Melbourne International Arts Festival last year, the Accedemia Bridge, a nursery Venice style, and some awesome street art. One work of street art was by Shepard Fairey, creator of that famous ‘Obama Hope’ picture. You can read more about his most recent project at www.obeygiant.com

Street Art by Shepard Fairey

We managed to find the Peggy Guggenheim Collection after a while, paid our ticket, checked our bags and headed in. There were some amazing works, and I was surprised by the range of art displayed. After visiting galleries like the Tate Modern, and the Pompidou Centre, a few names had stuck in my head, including Andrew Calder.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

There was a work of his displayed in the back part of the gallery, pretty much in the middle of a foyer between two doors that led outside. Google his name, and you will see the sort of work he is famous for. It is mainly large metal mobiles that are very well balanced and designed to be quite fluid. I stood in this foyer area for a long time, watching the interaction people had with his work, and the effect of the wind from the doors. It was a pretty awesome thing, to just stand and watch, and I found it hard to draw myself away.

Work by Maurizio Nannucci

Another work that caught my eye was located in the courtyard. It was called ‘Changing Place, Changing Time, Changing Thoughts, Changing Future’, by Maurizio Nannucci and was made with neon tubing. I also loved a work by Yoko Ono, called the wishing tree. Visitors were given pieces of paper, and told to write a wish and hang it on the tree. I wrote one out and hung it on the highest branch I could. I liked my wish, as I was inspired from the gallery, so I had something to wish for.

Looking towards Santa Maria Church

We ended up making it to the large impressive looking church that we had seen from St Mark’s Square. It was called Church of Santa Maria della Salute, and was a bit of a disappointment on the inside. We randomly ran into Kym on the steps, and took a water taxi across the grand canal.

Me on a gondola!

True Tourists, Surprise Light Sculpture
We met up with a whole lot of the other Busabout people, to take a gondola ride as a large group, with the main hope to save money. Someone stupidly asked the gondolas near St Mark’s Square how much, and we were then given a steady stream of offers and general hassle as we tried to walk away. For some reason, I was given the job of head negotiator. We walked away from St Marks Square, and the prices started getting cheaper. I negotiated 80 Euro for 5 people for 35-40 minutes per gondola, and everyone agreed. We set out, on a gondola in Venice, truly touristy.

Gondolas on the grand canal

It was actually quite a fun experience, and I was amazed at the skill of the boatmen. Needless to say we took hundreds of photos, and got to view the Rialto Bridge, Grand Canal and random places, like Gothe’s House. The driver kept his part of the bargain, and we all enjoyed the ride. We were the first boat back, and as we waited for the others, something caught my eye in the foyer of the hotel next to us. I walked into their foyer, and was greeted with an awesome piece of Light Sculpture.

The Virtual Ladder by Federica Marangoni

It was called “the virtual ladder” and was by Federica Marangoni. It was an interesting work, that used red and white compact fluro tubes attached to a ladder frame with two screens at the top showing pictures of the fluro tubes. I liked it automatically for its use of fluro tubes, and was intrigued by its little screens. We followed Brent, the Melbourne guy to a place virtually on the other side of the island for some cheap and authentic food, and it was didn’t disappoint.

Mmmmm Pizza

Biennale Discovery
On our way back, we stumbled across an installation called Season Sorrow, by Evelina Deicmane. It was a clever work with a heavy use of technology to give its message. My favorite section, featured a train that was being powered by a solar panel, that was being charged by a flood light. The train had a large A4 piece of paper with clouds on it, attached to it’s top, and occasionally it would block the flood light, causing the train to slow down and only just make it past. It was part of something called the Venice Biennale, and I was intrigued. As it turned out, there was an art festival that had just started in Venice, featuring works by countries and independent artists from around the world. We managed to find one more on the way back to the bus. I was determined to find more of these installations and vowed to find a map the next day.

I am not here... Venice Biennale

Lunch, Biennale Map
We had had a few drinks the evening before, complete with the random D&M’s and a few people peeling off together. I ended up getting the ins and outs of midwifery from another girl on Busabout, very strange. This meant however, that we slept in. I ended up sitting and chatting with Kelly, and the two kiwi girls, Niki and Kate. We all wasted the middle of the day, then realized that the shuttle bus wasn’t until 3pm, and the supermarket was closed, so we were forced to eat overpriced food at the restaurant. It was reasonable food, and once again, I managed to devour a whole pizza.

Venice Police Boat!

We eventually got into town, and immediately located the local supermarket and its opening times. The plan was to buy all of our food for the next day, breakfast, lunch & dinner. I found the tourist centre and obtained a Biennale map. We headed into the city, of course getting lost after about 5 minutes. We managed to figure out where we were, and I figured out that there was an exhibit from the Biennale nearby, a submission from the Ukraine.

Ukraine Exhibit, Venice Biennale

Ukraine Biennale Exhibit
The girls and I followed the signs, and were very surprised. We first walked into a beautiful courtyard, with a large building in front of us. The path did a little S bend, and we found ourselves in a corridor between the two buildings. Ahead of us was a foyer area, and as we approached the ground changed from old pavers to very white sand.

Ukraine Exhibit, Venice Biennale

We entered the foyer, the floor was completely covered in white sand, there was a hazer gradually puffing away, and four lights in each corner lit the room with spots of light on the white sand. The lamp fitting in the centre of the room had coloured globes instead of the normal white. To our left was a staircase leading upstairs, which we followed. The building was quite old, and very enchanting.

There Is No Art Here... Venice Biennale

We entered the first room, where a large metal frame suspended a can of red paint, a paint brush and a dress. It was mechanically controlled, and performed a series of movements, almost splashing the dress with red paint. The were three more rooms, all of which were dimly lit using coloured carnival globes in the original chandelier fittings. The lights faded up and down in intensity, whilst an abstract soundtrack played from numerous sources around the room. One room feature a display similar to the dress and red paint from the first room. We were all pretty enchanted, and spent a while just standing in the rooms listening to the soundtrack.

Not Here Either... Venice Biennale

Closed exhibits, Pizza & the Supermarket
Eventually we regrouped downstairs and after such a good experience, headed to the next closest exhibit. Unfortunately because of our late start, the main part of it was closed. We were still able to wonder around the rest of it. We tried to visit a few more of the exhibits, and we did stumble upon a very strange one that used glass and stuffed animals. We were all a little freaked out by it.

I Will Not Make Anymore Boring Art... Venice Biennale

We set off to get some food and gelato, of course getting lost on the way. We found some awesome pizza, and I found some great street art related to the Biennale, mainly two posters that read “There is no art here” and “none here either”. We made it back to the ‘Coop’ Supermarket, and brought yogurt and fruit for breakfast, rolls with cream cheese, salami and rocket for lunch, and pasta for dinner. A total cost per person of 7 Euro, a backpackers dream. One funny thing we did find in the supermarket was traffic lights at each register, see photos further up the page!

St Mark's Basilica

I am off to Rome tomorrow, to enjoy some more great Pizza, Pasta, Gelato, and that old stuff that’s there.

Back on Busabout's Blue Bus!

Quick Stop Over
It was back on the bus, for a one night visit to Munich. We did the usual small stop, this time at Lucerne. We were then given a bonus stop, and the ability to tick another European country off the list. Liechtenstein is the sixt smallest country in the world, at just 25km in length and 6km in width. It is also the world’s largest producer of dentures, and has had a status as tax haven. The guide on the bus gave us some silly fact, which I will try and verify, but for now, take it with a grain of salt. Apparently, Liechtenstein has more registered companies than it has residents.

Castle on the hill in Liechenstein

It was a quaint little town, where we indulged in a kebab, and took a wonder down the main street. Kelly and I took the piss a little, by posing at the ATM, taking a photo of a ‘local’ (a man reading the financial times), and got our passports stamped at the tourist office. After just 45 minutes, it was time to go, and continue the journey into one of my favorite cities, Munich.

A local in their natural habitat...

The Crawl
We arrived pretty late, just enough time to check in, grab some pizza for dinner, then ‘doll up’ for the pub crawl. The Insider tour’s ‘The Crawl’ is the same tour that I did two years ago, with Inger and Mary. Back then, we had an amazingly cool guide called Ollie, who was from England. Unfortunately he had moved on, and our guide Felix, was no where near as knowledgeable, or funny. We had the hour of power at the Euro Youth Hostel down the road. I had regretted not buying a t-shirt two years ago, so this time took advantage of the opportunity. The shirt reads, ‘The Crawl. The best night you will never remember’.

Random currency in Euro Youth Hostel

Our second stop was Augustiner Keller, and I indulged in a giant stein (1L) of brilliant German beer, and a pretzel. It was nice to wonder along the same streets and it brought back some serious nostalgia from two years before. I may have rubbed it in a little by messaging Inger.

Geordie with a stein and pretzel...

Our third stop was Lowenbrau, a grand old beer hall, with an outdoor garden, which is a particular favorite of mine. We only had a half stein, and it came in a really cool bottle, which I wanted to keep, but forgot to. I managed to get chatting with a neighboring table outside. There were two local German women, one of which was married to one of the guys, who was from New Zealand, and his mate was from London. They were a very stange bunch, and the conversation made it clear that the beers had been flowing.

The beautiful Lowenbrau beer hall...

The Closer
We moved onto our fourth stop, the original home of Augustiner, which was a cute beer hall. To be honest, I don’t remember much about it, but I do know that I had a beer put in front of me, and politely divided it between the others around me. Our Busabout guide, Ben, was heading back to the hostel with one of the other guides, I took advantage of the free directions, and followed suit. I left the others to thrash it out, as the last stop was a return to the first stop, the Euro Youth Hostel. On arrival, you recieved three Jager shots. Not really my cup of tea.

Amazingly good beer, and awesome bottle

In a strange series of events, I actually ended up running into Ollie, the English guide from two years ago. I was so excited and he claimed to remember our group. The only reason was because of the American guy, whose stein he smashed after he didn’t look him in the eye when performing a Prost (cheers). Once again, Munich brings out the surpirses and makes even a one night visit brilliant. Onto the bus again, heading to Venice, with just 4 hours sleep.

Geordie & Ollie, the original Beer Guide

One of the Busabout Busses

Monday – Busabout, Rosti and Contiki
I got on the bus with a little bit of time to spare. I stated chatting with a few people on the bus, which is what happens on Busabout. By our first stop, I was pretty hungry, so it was a baguette for breakfast. By that stage, I had really started chatting to people on the bus and was quite enjoying the journey. We stopped in a small towns industrial estate for lunch, and the only option was McDonalds. We embraced it, and enjoyed a Royal with Cheese. They also had free wifi, which as you may know always make me happy.

French McDonalds, Royal with Cheese!

We arrived in Bern late in the afternoon, and I encountered some confusion in relation to my bookings. The driver told me that I was booked to drive through to Lauterbrunnen, but I was pretty sure I had booked Bern. Unfortunately my computer was out of batteries and I was unable to check. I ended up staying on the bus, and subsequently forfeit my deposit for the Hostel in Bern. It worked out in my favor, as I had a few cool people to hang around with, including Kelly from Melbourne, Alissa from New Zealand and Matt from Perth. (more…)

Inger and Mary woke up for the breakfast, but once again i was too lazy. I got up a little after 9 and met them by 10. They were planning to do the tourist trail and I agreed to do it again, after all i needed to test out my remembering of facts from the tour they day before. We started by getting food from the local supermarket as we planned on having a picnic for lunch somewhere along the way. We got a 1m long bread stick, 300g of Camembert (for 1.50 Euro), fruit, chicken loaf, and Pringles. (more…)

I couldn’t really be bothered getting up and going down for breakfast as it was way too early for me. I instead walked down to the local bakery and grabbed a small bread stick and a croissant. It was a satisfying breakfast and I topped it off with a coffee from the local cafe. I walked back to the Hotel and decided that today would be a day of washing and Internet blogging and maybe a wander up to the Moulin Rouge! I did my washing at a local laundromat and whilst it was on, i checked my flight for the next day… (more…)

We woke very early as breakfast is only served from 7-9am! It consisted of a croissant, a bread roll, spreads, tea, coffee and juice. Quite simple, but none the less, free. Veronika decided to join me on the bike tour, so we set out to have our first experience on the underground. We had been given a very good map from the Hotel, so i knew where we needed to change train. We went down the stairs and i used the ticket that the American girl had so kindly given me in Munich (She had spares). They have a bizarre system here. You walk to a validator style thing, put your ticket in, it sucks it in, spits it out the top and then you walk through a turn style, and then a swinging wall device, clearly to prevent you from jumping the barrier. The ticket worked thankfully, and we waited a few minutes on the platform for our train. It was very speedy and efficient, it took us a little under 25 minutes to get to the Eiffel Tower (Bike Tour Meeting Point) including change over and walking. I’ve said it once and i will say it again, take that Connex! (more…)

I woke up a little late, but i had packed the day before, so i got down stairs pretty quickly. I redeemed my free breakfast, thanks to the reception girl in Vienna who had given me a voucher. It was a good breakfast like Vienna, although they lacked a sandwich press, which was annoying because I was late and wanted to do a bit of a take away. I got out to the buses (yes two) and was slightly confused, then remembered that the Southern Loop bus also left from here. I made double sure that i got on the right bus and then we were off. There were very few people on the bus as most transfer to the Southern Loop. We had a lovely Busabout guide, she was Italian, and very funny as she tried to make jokes that were lost in her thick accent, so she would always end with an awkward silence that followed with her giggling and then sighing. We all found her very amusing. For the first time since Berlin, I was on the bus without anyone i knew. (more…)

I woke up quite early and headed out to the centre square of the town, the meeting point of the free bike tour! The two Canadian girls (Laura and Steph), the Canadian Boy (Adam) and his American friend accompanied me. We got some of the last few spots. The idea of the bike tour is that you pay at the end, what you think it was worth, so if you don’t like it, you don’t have to pay. It is a good concept, one i very much agree with so i planned to tip as much as i could afford. We set out from the square and headed to where the bikes were parked. It was almost comic when i got there as the bikes weren’t locked to anything, just each other, all 30 of them. If you could figure our a way to actually steal them, you probably deserve them. He unlocked them and handed them out. There were two different types, silver ones and blue ones. They all had fat tires, cruiser style handlebars and thankfully hand brakes, which were the wrong way around, but better than the back pedal brakes of the bike tours previous. The blue ones were slightly bigger, so i managed to angle for one of them. After a quick ride around the street to get used to the bike, we set off. Our first stop was the Glockenspiel Clock which was a wedding gift from the king at the time to his son. Every hour the bells chime and the figures at the front of it dance. It was also under repair so it didn’t make for the best photos. We rode through the busy streets, whilst cars patiently trailed; something that i severely doubt would occur in Melbourne. (more…)

Well it wasn’t the best way to have a morning in Munich, but yes, i did wake up with the worlds worst hang over. I got out of bed, filled my water bottle and then stayed un-conscious until about 1pm. My room mate was worse, she had also gotten very little sleep. We both decided to fight it, so we got our bags and water bottles ready and headed out. We regretted it as soon as we boarded the tram. I managed to eat a bread roll and two panadol, but they didn’t really help. By the time we had got out to the Winter Castle, we were both quite ill. We spent about half an hour just lying on the grass in the shade complaining. We regained ourselves a little and then, like magic, the hang over lifted… Best feeling ever… I hate beer! For now… (more…)

The bus left at the usual painful time of 8am. We enjoyed the Hostel Breakfast, in the brightly coloured cafeteria, and boarded the bus with the masses. The bus was almost full for the first time, so we were forced to sit next to people. So far, all of the journeys i have taken, i have had a spare seat next to me. The trip into Salzberg was pretty short at just over 3 hours. Inger and Mary had a bit of a crisis when they realized how low they were running on funds, so they couldn’t afford the Sound of Music tour. I paid for both of them as their birthday presents, because in all honesty, Inger is the biggest musical buff i know, and I couldn’t allow her to go past the town where Sound of Music was filmed and not go on the tour. They were extremely grateful, and Inger cried. The Busabout guide, a girl from Sydney, shouted me a drink later that night, because she thought it was so sweet! (more…)