Day 13 - Venice

After watching everyone enjoy the gondolas for the past two days we decided today was the day that we'd finally try it out! Gondolas are quite overpriced we did the shortest route and it still set us back 80€ altogether. However it was definitely worth it, it is the best way to experience the city of Venice. All except ceremonial gondolas are black, due to the "Sumptuary Law" passed in 1563, decreeing that all Venetian Gondolas must be black to prevent lavish displays of wealth. This is one thing I found particularly strange as like most things I was expecting each gondola operator to have different colours and branding but it was all very homogenous. The Gondoliers all wear traditional dress which consists of a straw hat, striped shirt and black trousers. 

The Gondoliers all appeared to know each other, I kept wishing I could speak italian so I could understand the gondolier banter lol. At one point we got stuck in a traffic jam, which resulted in a bunch of italian men shouting at each other, I don't speak italian but I'm pretty sure there were profanities involved given all the excessive hand movements. From what I could gather someone called Paulo was blocking the bridge, so no one could pass, though enventually it all worked out haha!! The best part was drifting down the Grand Canal of Venice, the views were breathtaking. Our gondolier offered to take a photo of us, I was pretty worried he'd accidentally drop my phone, but it was all good and he got some good shots (clearly an expert haha!)

After lunch we decided to have a walk around and hit the shops. Naturally we started at H&M, Alise told us beforehand that she could not do anymore shopping as she couldn't fit anymore into her bag...3 purchases later that rule changed haha! I didn't bring much jewellery w me so I bought some cheap Venetian style earrings and necklaces, from a small jeweller. 

Before dinner we set out to look for wifi (as the wifi at our apartment is super slow) we found a restaurant/wine bar and chose to sit outside in a small alleyway, which was uber cute!! I had a chilled sparkling wine which really hit the spot after a long day in the sun as well as some Chips (whenever you go for drinks in Italy, chips or similar are usually provided free of charge). We then headed to this new concept store for dinner. Basically you can choose your pasta (all homemade) and sauce, which is then placed in a takeaway style box, so you can enjoy it on one of the beautiful Venetian bridges, Campos or Piazzas! Such a great idea, and a nice change from sitting in restaurants (cheap too!) However Alise and I weren't mad on our pasta sauce, we chose pesto but it was way too creamy for our liking... I much prefer my mum's pesto, which was such a disappointment because the pasta tasted beautiful we had just picked the wrong sauce :( !