We catch the 9am shuttle into Venice and begin to wander over the bridges and through the sometimes very narrow paths that connect this amazing city. It was a very important trading city and mainly traded with the east (hence the Moorish influence in it's architecture) and this made everyone very wealthy. They were also quite liberal, meaning that there were things the upper class could do in Venice that they couldn't do back home. This is the origin of the i
nfamous Venetian masks. Foreigners would wear them to disguise their identity in order to indulge in these pleasures. Masks are also worn for Carnaval (carnival) which still occurs in March each year. Everyone is an equal during carnival as the mask hides your true identity. Mike thinks the masks are kinda creepy, whereas Shona loves them and our mission today is to find some to bring home. Trying to translate that we want a male and a female mask that is similar is rather hard. It means
that the search literally takes all day and it's not until 6pm on our way back to the bus that we find exactly what we are looking for. Finally says Mike! Our day wasn't just spent shopping and wandering around the streets of Venice. We found St Mark's Square with the infamous basilica. Half the square was roped off because there was some firefighting thing going on. It meant that they were not letting anyone into the basilica at the moment and we were really confused as to where we were allowed to go and what we were allowed to do. We watched for a wee while before heading away to find the Rialto bridge. The
rialto bridge is one of the three bridges that crosses the Grand Canal (the main road in Venice). It is also one of three bridges in the world which has shops all the way along it. It is cool to walk over even though we have to dodge countless other tourists checking it out too. Lunch was at a little side street restaurant because we want a place with toilets (and because Mike was getting sick of the relentless press of the crowds along the main streets). You have to pay 1.50 euro to use the public ones! Our pizzas are delicious and we meet an American couple who are well travelled so converse with them as we all eat. Back at St Mark's square we line up to enter the basilica to check out the inside. No no, in Italy they don't tell you if it is closed until you have waited 15 minutes in the queue and walk into the foyer to be told. Wouldn't it be easier to walk down the queue, say closed and then shut the front door? Instead we watch people feed the many pigeons on the square and listen to some of the bands play outside the restaurants - each restaurant has it's own string quartet and they play to their customers, however you can stand around and hear the music too. We are now tired because you can't sit in Venice as there are no park benches anywhere and it's an offence to just sit on the ground. As such we
head back to the bus station, which is an interesting journey in itself as we didn't really take notice of it when we departed. Our aim is to be there for the 6:30 bus, which we totally miss as Venice is much bigger than you think. Our focus becomes the 7:30pm bus and we arrive at 7:10pm only to double check the timetable and find there is NO 7:30pm shuttle. Instead we find a nice restaurant to have pasta for dinner (also because we are not sure what time it all closes in the campground). We must mention here that we had to pay by credit card too. During the afternoon we tried three times to withdraw money from our various accounts and cards. National Bank, ASB, BankDirect on Visa, MasterCard and EFTPOS card - NONE worked. We knew there was adequate money available, but we couldn't get at it! However the same cards worked for credit payments so we were still able to eat :-) The ATM at the campsite later gave us some money, so all was good. We made the 8:30pm bus which was a bun fight to get on, pretty much because despite it being a 50 seater bus there aren't actually enough seats for everyone. People ended up on others laps just to make it home. Before leaving this morning Mike had heard a family that was left stranded in Venice (needing a 20 min Taxi ride to get them to the camp ground) because they couldn't get onto the last shuttle because it was full. Despite some of the frustrations today it was a pretty cool day in Venice!
nfamous Venetian masks. Foreigners would wear them to disguise their identity in order to indulge in these pleasures. Masks are also worn for Carnaval (carnival) which still occurs in March each year. Everyone is an equal during carnival as the mask hides your true identity. Mike thinks the masks are kinda creepy, whereas Shona loves them and our mission today is to find some to bring home. Trying to translate that we want a male and a female mask that is similar is rather hard. It means 
that the search literally takes all day and it's not until 6pm on our way back to the bus that we find exactly what we are looking for. Finally says Mike! Our day wasn't just spent shopping and wandering around the streets of Venice. We found St Mark's Square with the infamous basilica. Half the square was roped off because there was some firefighting thing going on. It meant that they were not letting anyone into the basilica at the moment and we were really confused as to where we were allowed to go and what we were allowed to do. We watched for a wee while before heading away to find the Rialto bridge. The 
rialto bridge is one of the three bridges that crosses the Grand Canal (the main road in Venice). It is also one of three bridges in the world which has shops all the way along it. It is cool to walk over even though we have to dodge countless other tourists checking it out too. Lunch was at a little side street restaurant because we want a place with toilets (and because Mike was getting sick of the relentless press of the crowds along the main streets). You have to pay 1.50 euro to use the public ones! Our pizzas are delicious and we meet an American couple who are well travelled so converse with them as we all eat. Back at St Mark's square we line up to enter the basilica to check out the inside. No no, in Italy they don't tell you if it is closed until you have waited 15 minutes in the queue and walk into the foyer to be told. Wouldn't it be easier to walk down the queue, say closed and then shut the front door? Instead we watch people feed the many pigeons on the square and listen to some of the bands play outside the restaurants - each restaurant has it's own string quartet and they play to their customers, however you can stand around and hear the music too. We are now tired because you can't sit in Venice as there are no park benches anywhere and it's an offence to just sit on the ground. As such we 
head back to the bus station, which is an interesting journey in itself as we didn't really take notice of it when we departed. Our aim is to be there for the 6:30 bus, which we totally miss as Venice is much bigger than you think. Our focus becomes the 7:30pm bus and we arrive at 7:10pm only to double check the timetable and find there is NO 7:30pm shuttle. Instead we find a nice restaurant to have pasta for dinner (also because we are not sure what time it all closes in the campground). We must mention here that we had to pay by credit card too. During the afternoon we tried three times to withdraw money from our various accounts and cards. National Bank, ASB, BankDirect on Visa, MasterCard and EFTPOS card - NONE worked. We knew there was adequate money available, but we couldn't get at it! However the same cards worked for credit payments so we were still able to eat :-) The ATM at the campsite later gave us some money, so all was good. We made the 8:30pm bus which was a bun fight to get on, pretty much because despite it being a 50 seater bus there aren't actually enough seats for everyone. People ended up on others laps just to make it home. Before leaving this morning Mike had heard a family that was left stranded in Venice (needing a 20 min Taxi ride to get them to the camp ground) because they couldn't get onto the last shuttle because it was full. Despite some of the frustrations today it was a pretty cool day in Venice!
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