Ciao Venezia!

Atter a disasterous 35 hour journey I have arrived in Venice. La Serenissima - as it is so rightly called - is truly an enchanting place. I hoped to land in Marco Polo airport yesterday at 1:30pm as scheduled, but due to an impromptu strike my plane from Dubai was diverted to Malpensa, an hour out of Milan, from there it was a 4 and a half hour bus journey to Marco Polo. I arrived safely at Piazzale Roma in Venice thanks to the kindness of Roberta, the lady who sat next to me on the plane, who thought that it would be dangerous to try an navigate my way from the airport alone and jet lagged at 9pm. Although, I thought it more dangerous speeding along winding motorways in a tiny Volvo driven by an Italian woman who was jet lagged herself and preoccupied with her phone. Haha. 

Trying to navigate your way through the canals and alleyways of Venice is difficult at the best of times but when you haven't sleept properly in 30 hours and you're lugging a heavy suitcase in the dark it can be impossible. I'm lucky to have found my hotel last night, I almost gave up after an hour of what should have been a 20 minute walk. 

But anyway! 

Enough of my sob story. Today I set off to explore parts of the Dorsoduro district, which I will be calling home for the next 2 months, and San Marco. There isn't much I can say, the pictures say it all. 

It is impossible to take a bad photo here. Everything is beautiful. 

Today I learnt that no matter whether a sign is translated into at least 10 different languages or covered in pictures there are still tourists that stupidly walk through the wrong door and take pictures when not allowed, Italians are extremely stylish and one can never be overdressed, that they end phone calls with "ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, ci-" - I'm assuming they say ciao until someone hangs up, and even the crappiest pizzerie make better pizza than anyone in New Zealand. 

Until next time, 

"Ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, ciao, cia-"