Stephan and Suhad's European Backpacking Trip September 98
Day Eleven, Venice
Münich
Rome
Florence
Pisa
Cinque Terre/Venice
Venice
Vienna
Prague
Paris
Burscheid
Münich
When we woke up, we packed our backpacks, checked out of the Hotel Adua, and headed for the train station, where we stored our packs. We then headed out to the Rialto, the most famous bridge in Venice. It is the oldest bridge in Venice and has historically been the center for a large outdoor market.
Well, at this famous bridge, I dropped our only extra roll of film into the Grand Canal (since our packs were locked up at the train station), so we only were able to take a few photos from Venice.
We next headed to the Piazza San Marco, the most famous square in Venezia. Lined by the Basilica di San Marco, the bell tower, the Procuratie, and hundreds of pigeons, the square is very impressive with both its beauty and history.
The Basilica is famous for containing the body of St. Mark the Evangelist, who died and was buried in Alexandria, Egypt. Venetian merchants stole the body in 828 AD to be buried in Venice. It also contains the Pala d'Oro, a huge altarpiece made of solid gold and encrusted with lots of precious and semi-precious stones. It is located behind the altar, so you have to pay the 3000 L in order to see it. If you would also like to see the original bronze horses that stand atop the Basilica, you also have to pay (3000 L). The same goes for the Tesoro (The Treasury, 4000 L).
After searching 1/2 an hour to find it, we ate lunch at McDonald's, the universal "clean bathroom" experience. For the American world traveler, there's nothing like an American fastfood place--not for the food, but for the clean, free bathrooms and toilet paper. We walked all over the city until we headed back to the train station to pick up our packs.
It was to be our last few hours in Italy. We both enjoyed Italy tremendously, because of the history and the beauty of the cities we saw. But now we were headed for Vienna, and as we headed out on our overnight train, we reflected on all of our experiences up to then.
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