This day was a day filled with fascination! I had the honour of meeting a famous mummy who rewrote history of mankind...and visited a World Heritage city that had to be seen to be believed!
Itinerary of the day: Santa Magdalena → (transfer Bressanone) → Bolzano → South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology → (transfer Verona) → Venice → St. Mark's Square
Bressanone train station. South Tyrol being the autonomous province that it is, sells their Regionale Trenitalia tickets in another format (can't buy them from the vending machines in other provinces).
Since we needed to go through Bolzano again before heading on to Venice, I decided to seize this chance to visit Ötzi the Iceman placed in South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. Luggages could be stored at the Bolzano bus station for a fee.
Bolzano's pretty streets.
This church looked awfully familiar...the pattern tiled roof looked like Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral! What drawing fanarts can teach you huh
Local market.
If not for the bilingual banners, I would need to remind myself that I was still in Italy...
South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.
No photos were allowed in the museum, so all the images were linked from their informative official website. Everything to know about Ötzi can be found on there.
We were quite lucky that this year was the 20th anniversary of Ötzi's discovery, so the museum has widely revamped their exhibition. Reconstruction of his life-size model, was updated after 10 years. Using the latest CT imaging, scientific artists were able to construct a more accurate depiction.
The entire museum with multiple floors was dedicated to Ötzi, so it was quite small and could be fully appreciated between 1~2 hours. The museum was modern, spacious, informative (had extensive texts in German, Italian and English) and cleverly designed.
This room exhibited Ötzi's personal items. Because Ötzi owned a bronze axe, the dating of Bronze Age was pushed back much earlier than previously believed.
.JPG)
Ötzi himself, much like Juanita of Arequipa, was exhibited behind layers of thick glass. Unlike Juanita whose glass case was lined with frost, I could see details of Ötzi's body clearly, down to the veins and tendons.
Other rooms displayed his life-size model, his murder story, and other information out about human lifestyle during his time. His stomach contents and health condition showed that he consumed mostly grains and high-fat meat. He had acupuncture tattoos, parasites and atherosclerosis.
This display table was the coolest mummy exhibition ever! Each sections of Ötzi's body could be magnified and viewed at different anatomical levels. For example, his fractures could be seen in forms of 3D VR CT scans or x-rays.
Afterwards we head back to the market for a quick bite, so we wouldn't miss our train to Venice.
My dad, being the fanboy that he is, requested to have wurst for lunch before we resume pasta. There were a couple of street stands to choose from so we picked the one with the most customers.
Whether or not eating from parchment paper is common (?), I love it! No matter the type of cuisine I always have a soft spot for street foods.
Waiting for out transfer at Verona...the city we went through twice but didn't have time to stop at.
Our train tour of Italy finally came to an end. This was our last train, Eurostar City, which seemed like a cheaper version of Frecciarossa.
The moment we walked out of Santa Lucia station, Venice's magic hit us right in the face. We couldn't stop admiring the rows of colourful architecture lining the grand canal, and vaporettos passing by. You could hear the sounds of water splashing. Everything was so different from any places we've seen previously. It literally took us several minutes to take everything in.
At the vaporetto station here, I got 48-hour ACTV pass for my parents and Rolling Venice card + 72-hour pass for myself. A single fare was €7 (highway robbery...), so a travel card would definitely be of more value for a tourist.
Older people tend to stay in the main cabin.
Youngsters liked to stay at the back and admire the views along the Grand Canal.
Our B&B, Locanda Ca' Le Vele, was close to Ca' d'Oro (shown in photo above) and vaporetto stop of the same name.
The B&B was located in a traditional building, well hidden, and centrally located. The owner was very helpful with any requests or questions we had for him.
Room was huge, really clean and comfortable. Decor was charming, but still equipped with convenient amenities such as a air-con, wifi and mini-fridge.
The best part was the balcony with canal view!
I absolutely loved this B&B! Highly recommended for anyone who plans to visit Venice, especially those who want comfort and luxury at a budget. Why stay at a hotel near St.Mark's square for €400/night or a cramming one-star hotel near the train station when you can have the best of both worlds?
Venice is notorious for providing horrible tourist food, so I asked the hotel owners for some recommendations. For lunch, we ate at Trattoria da Gianni.
I was a bit skeptical because this restaurant was located on a main road, had English menus, and customers around us were all tourists.
Antipasto of canoce (mantis shrimps). I felt these were a bit too dry.
Sarde in saor was excellent, and it quickly became my favourite Venetian dish. Not such a fan of the block of polenta on the side, but any staple of the region deserves at least one try.
By parent's request, more spaghetti frutti di mare (how many times had we ordered this?). Though the taste was acceptable, but I felt the seafood they put in were not of the best quality...a lot of shells and some even tasted less than fresh. I expected more from Venice.
Another of those dishes tourists love to try in Venice, spaghetti al nero di seppia. Again, acceptable quality but could be better. I didn't taste much cuttlefish in there.
Aside from slightly better than average food, the shitty attitude from the waiter affected our appetite quite a bit. Overall I was unimpressed by this place, so for the remaining days in Venice, I decided to visit restaurants from my own research.
If I would give out one suggestions regarding visit to Venice, that would be to spend as many sunsets here as possible. There are so many places to watch great sunsets, but weather is not guaranteed. After lunch we started heading towards St. Mark's square in hope to catch a good sunset and do some night photography.
I was a bit disappointed that not once did we get lost in Venice, because my dad is a human GPS. By memory alone he could remember all the small alleys we walked by and trace back to our B&B without fail. I was not as good as him with directions, but I didn't find Venice to be difficult to navigate either.
The main path towards St. Mark's Square was filled with brand name stores and craft shops of tapestries and Murano glass. Mom kept being distracted by shops like these.
Eventually we reached St. Mark's Square. First thing we saw was the Campanile basked in pink light.
As soon as the sun set, the crowds significantly decreased. Apparently it's true that many visitors were day-trippers? That's crazy! Venice was the most beautiful at night!
Classic postcard shot, view of San Giorgio Maggiore from San Marco's gondola station.
St Mark's Basilica and Doge's Palace.
Fancy cruise docking.
Around the square were some cafes and several live bands playing. The music was free for all who were content with standing. The atmosphere was so romantic it made me a bit self-conscious among the kissing couples.
Caffè Florian, a contender for the oldest cafe in the world.
I read that a good gelateria is hard to come by in Venice, but I couldn't conclude without actually putting this statement to the test. Gelateria Ca'D'Oro near our B&B got some scattered, but positive reviews online but oh my god it was not good. Overly sweet and flavourless. I should have saw this coming by their nearly full containers.
Disappointing day in the gastronomy department, but tomorrow Venice managed to redeem herself and became the city with my most memorable food experiences.
