Today is not a good day... rainy, wet and cold.
We take a ferry ride to Venice, a fabulous city of canals, gondolas and beautiful palaces on an archipelago of 177 islands and characterised by its canals.
I am sad that our Gondola Ride is cancelled due to the rain. It is wet and cold, and extremely uncomfortable. We have to walk on heightened planks and even then, the water level reaches up to knee cap level at some places. With many tourists but minimal walking spaces on the planks, progress is slow, and movements restrictive. We are warned and advised to be extremely careful of our belongings as pickpockets are rampant. It is indeed very tiring and stressful.
Coming to Venice reminded me of my high school days when I take up English Literature as one of my examinable subjects - The Merchant of Venice. I love English Literature then, love this story and literally memorize all the quotations by Antonio, Bassanio and Portio.
Though wet and cold, I enjoy the ancient buildings of Venice and take many pictures, one of which, I have already set as my iphone lock screen picture.
We visit St Mark Square which is bordered by the Doges Palace, St Mark's Cathedral, the Bell Tower and the governmental buildings. We stop at one of the fine glass blowing factories where richly coloured Venetian glass is made for the world. But the real reason for visiting this glass blowing factory is not for us to purchase their products, but rather for us to have access to washrooms as there are no public restrooms available in Venice. In order not to embarass ourselves, we are told to pretend to look interested and listen to the sales talk first before slowly, discreetly, taking turns to enter the washrooms. I find it so amusing, that coming from Eddie, our tour guide.
Next, we continue to travel north towards the fashion capital of the world. Night has fallen by the time we reach Milan. The Milan city tour, a very short one, includes the Gothic Cathedral and La Scala Opera House.
By the time we have our own free time, it is already late, 8:45pm. Shops prepare to close for the day at 9pm. I enter a LV shop and am told that the pochette I want is sold out. Afterwhich, the salespeople politedly "chase" those non-buyers out of the shop to prepare for closing.
Hotel for the night is Atahotel Fieramilano.
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