Tuesday 3rd June

Hello beloved friends and family!

We are in Venice and it is marvellous

We checked out of the hotel early in the morning and jumped on the bus to travel to Venice via Bologna. After our two-hour bus drive we arrived in Bologna to meet Mrs.Maver’s Italian friend who gave us a tour around the city. First, we visited the main piazza and saw the King Neptune’s fountain. From here we toured the main basilica, which was once meant to be made the biggest one in Italy, even larger than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This did not end up happening, however, due to lack of funds and other buildings that were constructed in the area.

After this we visited the famous four corners, situated in the piazza. Here you can communicate with other people by whispering into the corner and people standing at the other corners can hear you and reply. After briefly visiting another church we found a gelataria!

We walked through the streets of Bologna observing the local food markets and stores and then we found a nice self-serve restaurant where we could all buy some lunch. Most of us got our first taste of the famous spaghetti bolognese that originated in Bologna. Mathilde, Mrs Maver’s ex exchange student from Italy, met us after lunch and showed us more of the city. We went to the library, which had glass floors to enable visitors to view a newly discovered historic site underneath the building. The ruins date back to before Christ and were discovered after the library was reconstructed.

From here we walked to the town hall where we climbed the original stairs of the building which were specially constructed to allow horses to use them. By 3.00pm we were back on the bus and began our journey to Venice.

The bus dropped us off at the furthest point possible as no cars are allowed into the city of Venice. This meant we had to wheel our big, fat and heavy suitcases to our hotel, a trip that included many stairs and bridges. This was quite funny and many tourists and locals found this amusing as we pushed and pulled our luggage up and over the stairs. Our hotel is extremely nice and very close to the Grand Canal. By now we were all very hungry but before going out to dinner we all caught a water taxi to have a look at the Piazza San Marco.

Everyone was amazed at the city and loved the atmosphere of the canals as boats and gondolas made their way past us. At the piazza the pigeons were attracted to us and liked to sit on our arms, (or in Ms Forsyth’s case – her hair!) Finally we headed back to the self serve restaurant, Brek, and had a yummy dinner before going back to the hotel to rest our very tried bodies.

Ciao Ciao Ciao

(From three of the Hobartian backpackers, Ella, Megan and Katie.)