Day 6 Vienna to Venice Thursday May 29 2008

As Im writing this a few days later the pain of waking up at 6am to a massive throbbing headache and dry throat has faded enough that I can contemplate another night on the juice sometime soon. Thankfully the Panadol I packed took effect fairly rapidly and for breakfast we were lucky enough that at this hotel we had cooked breakfast so I was able to stuff myself with scrambled egg, sausages and bacon as well as the usual cold cuts, cheese and bread rolls and strong coffee.

Another day on the road today, as we left Vienna behind and travelled to Venice. Enough time for a lunchtime stop in a beautiful lakeside resort town called Lake Worth, and by that stage my hangover had receded enough so I was feeling a bit more human.

So apart from taking a few photographs of the mountains, forest and sleeping there is not much to tell.

After we arrived in the Venice area and our hotel, I discovered my european power plug adaptor didnt handle certain italian power points (three vertical points) however I was lucky enough that there was a more european standard one outside my room, hence my solution of plugging into that one and running my power board underneath my door.

Ive become the unofficial backup for those needing their phones or cameras charged up and thus have thought about making everyone pay just like we have to pay to use public toilets here (usually 50 euro cents – although on occasion have had to pay one euro to use them).

Id signed up for the optional night tour of Venice and dinner and I can say I am really glad I did it, after seeing Venice at both night and day time it is a different city. This evening we travelled by private motorboat in the early evening whilst it was still light.

I cannot really say what my preconceptions of Venice were, however it was certainly a sad city in some respects, a shadow of its former glories when the Venetian empire had a huge naval fleet and ruled much of the Mediterranean area.

Still it was a great evening soaking up the atmosphere and walking though the alleyways with the canals and bridges before experiencing the grandeur of St Marks square where the cafe that Ernest Hemmingway hung out in and Napoleon had his palace.

As we left Venice for the evening to return to the hotel it started to rain, so that was rather well timed. Back at the hotel I sat outside with Nick and Hillary, two of the kiwi contingent and we walked a fantastic thunder and lightning storm before heading off to bed.