Vienna to Bologna via Venice

Tuesday

Buffet breakfast at the hostel, then checked out but left our luggage in storage as we were returning for a night train. Went on another walkabout of the historical centre for the benefit of L, before repairing to a coffee house for lunch. Viennese coffee houses are for people to read their newspapers and although we didn't do any of that - they only had papers in foreign languages - we did try a Viennese coffee, a Sachertorte (chocolate cake with a citrus layer) and a few dishes on offer by the house. All pretty good stuff.

We took a brief look at the art noveau Secession House before returning to the Natural History Museum which was unfortunately closed on Tuesdays. Ended up getting a pretzel, while L tried a gluhwein. He was asked how old he was (!), which he apparently gets quite often. I don't know that I've been id'd before...

We walked up one of the main shopping strips then searching for a particular type of hat that we'd seen on a few people over here. Finally found one in a sports store, but was a little pricey, so we returned to the area of our hostel. It was still a little early, so we spent a little time in the hostel's lounge area before deciding we were hungry enough to hunt up some dinner. We picked up our luggage after that and headed to the train station where our train was waiting for us.

Night trains are kind of odd. We had a compartment to ourselves - a cosy fit. Once again, it is nice to be small. Being larger would be such an inconvenience. Brushing your teeth in the toilet compartment is kind of odd - the train sways and the water goes everywhere. Didn't sleep too badly, all things considered.

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Wednesday

Got woken for a light breakfast. Couldn't stomach food that soon after waking, so I only consumed half. We had a bit of trouble getting our stuff out and were the last to leave the train. Thank goodness it was the last stop. Even as it was, I was practically throwing our stuff off onto the platform. Left our luggage at left luggage >_< before trudging the alleyways and bridges of Venice.

Venice is an interesting place. There were a few very small traces of the effects of the flooding that occurred a few weeks ago. It was early so not much was open when we first walked through. The fish market we stumbled across smelt really fresh though. Finally we reached the Rialto, from which we proceeded to Piazza San Marco, where we inspected the Basilica di San Marco - an ornate building that left me feeling that I like cathedrals and temples better - a bit too quiet for my taste. But the architecture and art was really interesting. The piazza also held the Palazzo Ducale with it's Bridge of Sighs.

The city is an interesting place to visit. It's easy to get lost in many of the unmarked streets. It's highly pedestrian, mostly tourists even in winter and the streets are lined with shops and vendors selling souvenirs. The things in Venice of note are the famous Venetian masks and glass from Murano, with some lace from Burano. The glass creations are really amazing, while the masks can appear quite creepy. I think it's the holes where the eyes should be.

We ended up getting lunch from a bakery - their olive bread was tops! - before taking the next train to Bologna. It was a couple of hours of smooth journey, passing some interesting geology and through patches of sunlight; weak but welcome. It was good to see some sunlight today after a while without.

Got a bit lost inside Bologna's train station searching for the right exit. In the end we walked around the exterior; easier. Got to the hotel, settled in, then went looking for dinner. Took us a while to realise that Italians eat quite late here, so we were the first customers for the place we ended up at. They gave us some complimentary bread which was nice. I had to have pasta al ragu (bolognaise) and marscapone for dessert - regional specialities. Both really good. The pasta was really fresh and the dessert interesting: kind of ice creamy/creamy with chocolate and almond biscuit. Might have been improved with a little liquer though...>.< or perhaps not considering what happened after that Croatian one.