We hopped on a quick RyanAir flight Wed evening and were home by Thursday night. We completed most of Rick Steves' recommended "Venice in One (busy) Day" and even enjoyed some time to ourselves.
First important lesson (which luckily Chee Sing knew). More or less:
"Why are we waiting in line when the flight is delayed? Can't we just wander around or sit down until they board? I don't like waiting in line if there aren't any prizes at the end."
"We could, but the seats are first come first serve. Is that enough like a prize?"
"What? Seriously? That's insane! Why would they do that?"
"Southwest does that."
"Really? I guess I never fly Southwest. That seems like a terrible idea!"
"It will be fine."
It was fine, and we ended up with some prime seats on both the flight leaving and returning. I suppose there's not much difference when the flight is just over an hour and the seats don't lean back (or have magazine pockets - the safety card is attached to the back of the seat in front of you), there's no in-flight entertainment (although they hand out their line magazine and menus for ordering drinks - nothing free, it's a budget liner after all), and phones and laptops are prohibited even in airplane mode. We settled back to listen to my old iPod and ordered a Snickers and smoothie to pass the time. I like that candy, however familiar, which is manufactured at a non-US plant instead of imported (such as the Snickers we bought) has no corn syrup. It gives me something more to appreciate about living abroad.
I was pretty entertained by spending 4 euros (2 per flight) on scratch cards. The prizes were all pretty big (so the odds are probably correspondingly low) but fun. The cards have prizes like flight vouchers, cars, and money. I think all of the stuff RyanAir markets (like its own line of scratch cards) is pretty neat. I mean, if your tickets were less than your discount hotel (the very cheapest I found on the main island), they have to cash in somewhere :)
Landing at Treviso airport meant a just over one hour bus ride into the edge of the island. We hopped on and settled in, I was feeling a bit off after being on such a small jet. We were approached by a nice 20something who had decided she was going to spend a day in Venice (much like us only she was ultimately on her way to help out with a touring bike event). We had already booked accommodation, but loaned her some of Rick Steves' wisdom so she could gather phone numbers and addresses for hostels. She was pretty shocked at the 30 euro price for a bunk at many of the places. It's not the cheapest place to travel (although we made out quite well).
After bidding our new companion farewell at the bus stop, we started walking to the general location of our hotel. Chee Sing's new phone (which doesn't yet have service, long story) has a compass and GPS which helped a lot as we sought out our destination: Domus Cavanis.
Check in was across the street at the apparently quite nice hotel Bella Arti. As Chee Sing noticed, their room keys came with tassels. Our room, however, was a superb find and suited us perfectly. It was hard to figure out which door to use to enter the 'hotel' (it's not labeled at all on the outside since they probably don't want anyone to find out about it unless they are the cheap-ass travelers who book for the lowest price online on an obscure site - it had an unoccupied lobby and pretty bare bones rooms which were very well kept and clean with a great bathroom and working air conditioning. I bet someday it will be much like its expensive parent hotel across the street, but for now it's a steal (we paid 70 euros including all taxes and fees) and it even came with breakfast (which Rick Steves claimed we wouldn't find included)! Woo-hoo!
After a good sleep, we breakfasted in the Bella Arti, checked out, and hit the town for our day in Venice. The great part about a short trip is packing light. Our travel gear was in my purse and a 1/3 full backpack held our toiletries and extra clothes. This meant just checking the backpack at museums and no awkward luggage stories.
What we did (in a short list):
Took Rick Steves' tour from St.Marks Square to Frari Church following two of his walking tours
Toured Frari Church (totally worth it!)
Checked out the Rialto market and the fish market (so fresh!)
Had some great pizza and beer on a great tourist watching street
Went back to St.Marks Square to tour the Correr Museum
Toured the Doges Palace
Toured St.Marks Basilica
We couldn't take pictures in the churches and museums, but we have some postcards and a lot of information on them is available online if you are interested. I'm just happy to have seen amazing artwork, cool old weapons (hinting at the origins of the hilt style on my classical Italian fencing foil), fantastic architecture, lots of water, gorgeous (albeit, dead) fish, old maps, and the largest oil painting in the world!
While we did have time for gelato, we didn't have time to ride the Vaporetto in the direction suggested by our guide book. Instead we did the tour backwards through the main canal to reach the bus station (Ferrovia) starting from Saint Mark's Square. It was a great way to be on the water, take a ton of photos, and enjoy the unique transportation in Venice.
We got on the slow boat (#1) which took us on a 45 minute journey (as recommended by Rick Steves). We didn't go on any Gondola rides ourselves. At upwards of 100 euros for 40 min (over double if you add a musician), we saved our money for museums, food, and post cards :) Venice is undeniably romantic even on foot. Art literally seems to ooze out of every corner. Its so integrated into the city it would be impossible to strip off. I can honestly say that for a day trip, I can not think of a more unique and beautiful place to visit.
Love, fishes and robots!
Chrissy and Chee Sing
This statue looks like our friend Kenny...
Random FYI -
Places on our list (which we hope to visit soon):
Barcelona, Spain (someplace can be close and still a lot of fun)
Figueres, Spain (Dali museum! and the reason above)
Ireland (because my last name is Murphy, after all)
Krakow, Poland (to visit a close friend)
Essen, Germany (for the board game convention in October)!
the Canary Islands (because RyanAir flies there and they sound delightful)
Paris, France (because neither of us have been there)
On a less exciting note, the small rose Chee Sing picked out for Dia de Sant Jordi, was just a cutting in soil. It hasn't been doing so well, even in a water bath. Not to mention that our day+ trip to Venice seems to have caused the demise of my mint plant... I guess green thumbs aren't inherited.
First important lesson (which luckily Chee Sing knew). More or less:
"Why are we waiting in line when the flight is delayed? Can't we just wander around or sit down until they board? I don't like waiting in line if there aren't any prizes at the end."
It was fine, and we ended up with some prime seats on both the flight leaving and returning. I suppose there's not much difference when the flight is just over an hour and the seats don't lean back (or have magazine pockets - the safety card is attached to the back of the seat in front of you), there's no in-flight entertainment (although they hand out their line magazine and menus for ordering drinks - nothing free, it's a budget liner after all), and phones and laptops are prohibited even in airplane mode. We settled back to listen to my old iPod and ordered a Snickers and smoothie to pass the time. I like that candy, however familiar, which is manufactured at a non-US plant instead of imported (such as the Snickers we bought) has no corn syrup. It gives me something more to appreciate about living abroad.
I was pretty entertained by spending 4 euros (2 per flight) on scratch cards. The prizes were all pretty big (so the odds are probably correspondingly low) but fun. The cards have prizes like flight vouchers, cars, and money. I think all of the stuff RyanAir markets (like its own line of scratch cards) is pretty neat. I mean, if your tickets were less than your discount hotel (the very cheapest I found on the main island), they have to cash in somewhere :)
Landing at Treviso airport meant a just over one hour bus ride into the edge of the island. We hopped on and settled in, I was feeling a bit off after being on such a small jet. We were approached by a nice 20something who had decided she was going to spend a day in Venice (much like us only she was ultimately on her way to help out with a touring bike event). We had already booked accommodation, but loaned her some of Rick Steves' wisdom so she could gather phone numbers and addresses for hostels. She was pretty shocked at the 30 euro price for a bunk at many of the places. It's not the cheapest place to travel (although we made out quite well).
Check in was across the street at the apparently quite nice hotel Bella Arti. As Chee Sing noticed, their room keys came with tassels. Our room, however, was a superb find and suited us perfectly. It was hard to figure out which door to use to enter the 'hotel' (it's not labeled at all on the outside since they probably don't want anyone to find out about it unless they are the cheap-ass travelers who book for the lowest price online on an obscure site - it had an unoccupied lobby and pretty bare bones rooms which were very well kept and clean with a great bathroom and working air conditioning. I bet someday it will be much like its expensive parent hotel across the street, but for now it's a steal (we paid 70 euros including all taxes and fees) and it even came with breakfast (which Rick Steves claimed we wouldn't find included)! Woo-hoo!
After a good sleep, we breakfasted in the Bella Arti, checked out, and hit the town for our day in Venice. The great part about a short trip is packing light. Our travel gear was in my purse and a 1/3 full backpack held our toiletries and extra clothes. This meant just checking the backpack at museums and no awkward luggage stories.
What we did (in a short list):
Toured Frari Church (totally worth it!)
Had some great pizza and beer on a great tourist watching street
Went back to St.Marks Square to tour the Correr Museum
Toured St.Marks Basilica
We couldn't take pictures in the churches and museums, but we have some postcards and a lot of information on them is available online if you are interested. I'm just happy to have seen amazing artwork, cool old weapons (hinting at the origins of the hilt style on my classical Italian fencing foil), fantastic architecture, lots of water, gorgeous (albeit, dead) fish, old maps, and the largest oil painting in the world!
While we did have time for gelato, we didn't have time to ride the Vaporetto in the direction suggested by our guide book. Instead we did the tour backwards through the main canal to reach the bus station (Ferrovia) starting from Saint Mark's Square. It was a great way to be on the water, take a ton of photos, and enjoy the unique transportation in Venice. 
We got on the slow boat (#1) which took us on a 45 minute journey (as recommended by Rick Steves). We didn't go on any Gondola rides ourselves. At upwards of 100 euros for 40 min (over double if you add a musician), we saved our money for museums, food, and post cards :) Venice is undeniably romantic even on foot. Art literally seems to ooze out of every corner. Its so integrated into the city it would be impossible to strip off. I can honestly say that for a day trip, I can not think of a more unique and beautiful place to visit.
Love, fishes and robots!
This statue looks like our friend Kenny...
There were a few handicraft (artesania) shops, and a lot of clubs out as well. Chee Sing compared it to "that day at OSU when they try to get you to join all of the clubs." We got some swag from the bike club when I bought a guide to hikes starting from Girona. The naturalist club was out, the voting crew was at it again (on the 25th there's a vote to gauge opinion on Catalonian independence), and even some highschoolers were fundraising by selling cake.
Dia de Sant Jordi is the closest holiday here to Valentine's day. Women are presented with roses, and men with books. My idea, instead of a book in Catalan was to buy Chee Sing (and myself) a new board game with an "instruction book." So, he bought me a rose in the morning, we walked around browsing, we came home for lunch (since by then the game store had closed), we left for the game store, revisited the shops (with a camera in tow), and bought a few little things like a milkshake and the hiking book.
The Catalonian flags are still out in many places, decorating the city in streaks of yellow and red. Chee Sing re-told an origin story of the flag (the Senyera) - there are a number - where the king of France painted his blood on the count of Barcelona's shield (which was yellow) after being mortally wounded (= 4 bloodly finger streaks) as a thank you to the count. I would rather just have a "thank you," but maybe that's just me :)
We've walked along the scenic wall of Girona a few times now, and we finally brought the camera along this past Sunday. Most of the stores and activities in Girona are closed for Sunday, with the exception of snack shops, restaurants near plazas, gelato vendors, and local scenery.
These pictures show the bridge across the river. Chee Sing hid a 'fixing up the neighborhood' sign with my head (it's a huge banner they are using to cover up construction as they spruce up the old buildings on the east side of the river - in old town).
There was a festival going on, so they had some temporary vendors, entertainment acts, and a ton of people in the Old Town (well, more than usual). We even spotted some neat flags flying overhead. 
This coming Friday will be the day of Sant Jordi (patron saint of Barcelona and therefore huge in Catalonia). In keeping with the festivities I will buy Chee Sing a book and he will buy me a rose (I'm hoping for potted mini roses so they can green up the apartment - so far we have tomato sprouts, pepper sprouts, a mint plant, bamboo in a vase, and a cactus).
I'm pointing (almost) at our apartment. It was so sunny the photo looks smoggy. You'll just have to trust me that it's not and that it was a beautiful day.
I like this random house - not only do they have the most aesthetically pleasing paint job in town, they have a pool too!
This is from the end of the garden exit we usually take home. 
This is an alley we walked through going home. Chee Sing liked that patch of light. The old town still has super narrow streets and cobblestone.
That's a brief photographic tour of the wall! If you look closely at the pictures throughout this post, you can see the repairs made to the old wall (they used modern bricks, which is great because it still looks nice and is easily distinguishable).