Venezia day II

We started out early, yesterday. Check out was before nine, so it came naturally. Had breakfast at McDonalds (not my idea.. lol.. This one didn't even have breakfast foods) where they had WiFi, so booked a hotel room in Metz (Lorraine, France) for after Paris plus one in Hamburg for our way home.


Then we walked over to the train station - this statue/fountain is just outside it.Then we hopped on one of the vaporettos hunting for this place PA knew there was supposed to be a flag shop. But we didn't find it. Saw some funky stuff from the boat, though. These should qualify as Big Things - but I'm not sure what the first one is..? (apart from a big, silver ring)
No questions on this one...
The island you see here is the cemetary!
The bridge of sighs:
Heard an American lady talk to her little girl, saying this was The Bridge of Sighs. The little girl immediately asks "Does it sigh a lot??".. Hee hee..

Pix of our first day in Paris will come tomorrow ;)

Ane

Venezia day I

We're in Venice. Even though I knew it would be special, I didn't know it would be SO special. All this water really is unique. Here are some pix from yesterday.

Gondola parking.. LOL...
Proof of me being here...
A view from the Piazza San Marco.

Waterways ;)
These small passenger ferries function as busses! :)

Tonight we'll take a night train to Paris. :) But first we'll wander a bit more around Venice.

Ane

Pula day V - our last day

Today was our last full day in Pula. We've been downtown so PA could get a haircuts (no pix necessary as those 2mm they cut off wouldn't show anyway.. tee hee...). Since it wasn't really beach weather (raining and thunderstorms) we had lunch and went back to our apartment. Then later when the sun was back out we walked down to a nearby restaurant for dinner. The guy running it is really nice!

We were there on our first night and orderd two rounds of coke each as the glasses down here are sooo small (you get like 0.2 liters and stuff). After dinner PA asked about the pancakes and ice cream on the menu, but he didn't have any so we didn't have dessert.

Tonight he brought us BIG glasses with our drink (but we paid the regular price) and after we'd finished our food he brought us each a plate with a pancake and chocolate sauce (that was on the house). I was so impressed that he remembered and did this. Such a nice touch.

Since it's been mostly raining and yucky here are some pix from one or two days ago.

More of the neighbours kittens. This little guy ventured out onto the wide-ish but sloping edge of the fence shortly after. And immideately slipped off the edge looking rather confused. We had such a laugh!



A couple from the aquarium:
They had these "signs" several places. Rather clever.

Know what these thingies are? They are the eggs of sharks or rays (or possibly both) kept in a small tank just next to the big tank with the sharkies and rays. I remember seeing egg pods like these washed up on the shores by our cottage when I was a kid.

Tomorrow at 8 AM our boat leaves for Venice. Keep your fingers crossed for nice weather, cause then I think it's going to be a lovely trip.

Ane

Pula day IV - all kinds of life

Today we've had a quiet morning, then off to the beach. A few raindrops when we arrived but that was it until after dinner. PA was just talking about going home for a cooling shower - so he got one (just like yesterday.. LOL). Not much exiting sights wise - so here's a bit of what we've seen of the living stuff.

Here's one of the kittens living next door.. Cute, huh?
This guy was suddenly climbing up the curtains last night:
He's big - like 1,5 inches long, maybe. PA got out the case for his contacts and captured him in there and walked him outside and downstairs (he refused to take our advise and go out the window).
Here's a close-up of one of our bus-stop lizards.

There are some of these lizards, too - sort of the oposite colour. Green with black spots instead of black with green.
And I had time to take some flower pix when we were downtown, so here's one of those, too.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Pula, and hopefully we'll spend most of it on the beach again. We're here pretty long, but it was nice to have some extra time and relax rather than just running from place to place. Plus the boat to Venice only leaves once a week in June - Tuesdays.

Ane

Pula day III - aquarium and the beach

Today we started out walking over to the Verundela penninsula and found the Aquarium.

Among other sea creatures we met this little shark.

It's located inside the old Verundela fortress - an old Austrian-Hungary fortress.

They are also a rehabilitation centre for sick and injured sea turtles. This guy was found just a few days ago, and is mostly just floating due to some sort of bacterial/virus infection. We did see it move, though, before reading about its condition we were wondering if it might be dead..

When we got back out the sun was out, and we headed for the beach.

Pretty, huh?
Time for some relaxing in the sun!

After an hour and a half these clouds showed up on the horizon... Time to go. By the time we were moving it started raining a little bit. We found a restaurant and had dinner. My spaghetti Bolognese wasn't very good at all so I didn't eat much.

But we headed into town for Ice cream cups and not having eaten much turned out an advantage - look at the size of that thing! It's certainly not Schwedenplatz standards (the one in Vienna), but it was good. Whippet cream, fresh strawberries, strawberry sauce, strawberry ice cream and vanilla ice cream.

PA had another banana split - can you see it's a little boat?
I got some pix of this charming doggie statue (there's a kitty one as well). And then we headed home. Tickets to Venice are now booked. Unfortunately it looks like we won't get to visit Paco and Milo after all, as their mom's work schedule changed. We'll be looking at a new route today or tomorrow probably.

Ane