Venice To Paris - September 2 to 11, 2006
Goodbye to Montone.... Our last day was spent in Montone packing up our belongings and saying our goodbyes to the friends we had made during our ten week stay. All good things must come to an end and in the evening we danced the night away to the Stefano Ray Band with the locals in the old rocca (fort) within the walls of the city. It was an early departure before the Piazza became busy. We drove to Venice and had a fantastic run until we reached the paytoll just out of Mestra. Here, the traffic was queuing for 30 minutes to pay the toll fee but after that it was an easy drive into Venice, and to the Tronchetto Carpark where we were to leave for three days.
It Is Easier Than You Think.... Tronchetto Parking Station is 5 floors of long term, safe parking on the outskirts of Venice and by far the easiest and best place to park. So after parking our car we made our way to the vaporetto (ferry) that carry a large number of tourists and locals to every part of Venice, including the outlying areas. It is a brilliant transport system. Each vaporetto is numbered and has a certain route that it follows, so we caught our ferry and headed towards the Rialto Bridge and San Silvestro where we had to get off. Friends from Montone had visited Venice two weeks prior to us and had their luggage stolen from the vaporetto, so we were careful to be vigilant with our luggage. Our Hotel Amizo was perfect for our needs. It was very close to the Rialto Bridge and within 50 metres of the Grand Canal. We would recommend it to anyone wishing to visit Venice, without paying exorbitant hotel rates.
Getting Around Is Easy.... Venice would have to be high on our favourites list, but the favourites list seems to be growing. We spent the afternoon familiarizing ourselves with Venice. A good idea is to buy a three day vaporetto pass which gives you unlimited travel. We made use of this and travelled down the 
Grand Canal just sitting back and taking in all the beautiful Venetian buildings all built right on the canal. There are boats galore, delivery boats, ferries, water taxis, gondolas, and just family owned boats going from one place to another. We went by water to Lido which is an island and quite different from Venice. There are streets lined with green trees, parks and gardens, a local swimming beach and golf course. It reminded us a little of the Sunshine Coast in Australia.
And If You Like Pigeons.... Piazza San Marco (St Marks Square) is outstanding and well worth a visit even though the pigeons, fed by the tourists, are everywhere and can be a nuisance. It is a huge square flanked by St Mark’s Basilica the 99m tall bell tower and the Palazzo Ducale. There are the most beautiful shops everywhere and the most expensive tea and coffee shops – Florian, Quadri and Levena where you will pay from Euro 7 – 9 (AU$13-17) for a coffee or Earl Grey Tea, but that is Venice.
Another Festival But Different.... On our next day in Venice it just happened to be the Regata Storica (Historical Boat Regatta). This annual event consists of a procession of historic 15th century style boats with Venetian men, women and children dressed in their medieval costumes. After the parade there is the big race of the gondolas all along the Grand Canal. Each Quarter (area within Venice) enters the race and each boat and crew is decorated and dressed in the colour of their Quarter, so it is very colourful. This regatta is one of the most important events in Venice and the mansions along the canal are draped in silks, flags and other festive decorations for the big day. Bevan and Jill, our friends from Melbourne, arrived from Florence, so we were able to enjoy the afternoon together sitting on the edge of the Grand Canal. We could not believe our luck that we actually were there to see this event along with thousands of visitors and locals.
Classy Glass.... The people of Venice have been making crystal and glass since as early as the 10th century so we caught the vaporetto to Murano to see some of the incredibly elaborate pieces produced by the artisans. It ranges from being beautiful to being grotesque, but as the Italians would say “to each his own". The four of us wandered the streets and canals looking in the shops and a furnace (factory) to see it being made. It was a most enjoyable morning excursion on a beautiful Venice summer day.
What's This, Fog.... The back streets and canals of Venice are amazing and without a good map, one can easily get lost, though most times you end up back on the Grand Canal and close to a vaporetto station. After three fabulous days it was time to leave Venice, so we said our goodbyes again to Bevan and Jill and left Venice with a heavy fog over the city. It was so interesting to see the Grand Canal blanketed in a heavy fog compared to the previous mornings when the sun was shining. It gave us an idea of what Venice would be like in the winter.
On The Road Again..... It was then back onto the autostrada and a drive west across Italy touching the outskirts of Padua, Verona, and Milan. It is now the end of the Italian summer holidays and all the semi trailers are back on the roads which made it quite busy, but once we passed the turnoff to Torino and headed north west and into the Italian/French Alps, the traffic was much lighter. From travelling through very flat areas, we gradually commenced driving into more undulating areas and we could see the alps and especially Mont Blanc (French spelling) or Monte Bianco (Italian spelling). This mountain stands at 4800 metres tall and we kept on driving towards it. The road became much more interesting with little villages dotted along the mountain ranges and bigger towns along the road.
A Highlight To End Our Italian Summer.... Many of the accommodation places in the areas are closed for the summer, but we managed to find Hotel Bucaneve, a nice hotel at Pre Saint-Didier, in the Valle de Aosta, close to the Italian/French border. This was to be our last night in Italy, so we enjoyed dinner in their restaurant and ended up speaking Italian/French and English all in one sentence. Quite confusing when you have been speaking Italian for the last 10 weeks. Our room with its geranium covered balcony looked down on the street and to the right was the snow covered Mont Blanc and the surrounding mountains. It was 35 degrees during the day and there was still snow on the mountains with the melted snow cascading down into the rivers below. The scenery is superb so again, this area may be on the favourites list.
Just Breathtaking.... After breakfast the next morning we set out to find the cable car to Mont Blanc 4810 metres above us. We had to change cable cars twice and the view looking down and up took your breath away. We finally reached Punta Helbronner at 3462 metres with a 360 degree view. It was like being on “top of the world”, and Mont Blanc was still 1350 metres above us. Through the binoculars we could see four experienced hikers climbing very slowly and approximately 500 metres from the summit of Mont Blanc. Hikers were departing for walking expeditions and below us there was a group of six tents with people working in the snow. We were surrounded by rock and snow and the temperature was 13 degrees with clear blue sunny skies.
Bongiorno to Bonjour.... After two hours of magic on Mont Blanc, we continued on through an engineering masterpiece, the Mont Blanc Tunnel, and crossed the Italian/French border.. This tunnel is 11.9 kms in length and it costs Euro33.00 to travel through it. The speed limit is 70 kph and 150 metres distance must be kept between all cars. And again on the French side, the countryside continued to be picture postcard stuff as we made our way towards Geneva and on towards Chalon-Sur-Saone and onto Semur-en-Auxois. Here, we found a chamber d’hote for the night. The following day we continued on towards Paris and found a beautifully restored barn at Bray-sur-Seine just 11 kms from Provins, a French walled town. We walked the town before having dinner and returning to our home for the night.
Farewell To Paris.... It was 125 kms to Paris and with just one accident slowing traffic on the Parapherique (ring road around Paris) and one missed turn with the GPS system, we reached La Defence and our destination, the Peugeot office to drop off our car. We had made it back safely with our only incident being a broken windscreen early in the trip whilst we were on the autostrada. We caught a taxi to our hotel near the Eiffel Tower only to find there was no booking confirmed for us. It was rectified quite quickly, and after a short walk with the porter pulling one of our cases, we were relocated close by in a nicer hotel at the same price. Our last couple of days were spent in Paris with a visit to La Fayette Galleries, a viewing of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night and a delicious dinner on our last night. It was then time to catch our flight home to Australia – still a beautiful part of the world to live. Rob has driven 15,000 kms over our fourteen weeks of travelling. The Satellite Navigation System has been a fantastic piece of equipment that we would absolutely recommend to anyone who contemplates driving in the United Kingdom and Europe. It takes the worry out of map reading and also allows the driver and passengers to enjoy the scenery.
We flew from Paris to Dubai and again met up with Bevan and Jill who were on the same flight home. After a 2 hour delay in Dubai due to fog, we spent the next 14 hours flying arriving in Melbourne on 11 September at 7.30 am. It was a great feeling to touch down safely in Australia after 14 weeks of being away from home. It was an experience we shall never forget.
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