The Bernard Files.: Back to Venice after 3 years...

LHi Readers,

Yep, another day of travel, and this has been spectacular to say the least. Needless to say there will be lots of photos involving snow and mountains today!!

We are currently travelling between Salzburg and Villach in Austria, and the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. We could honestly take a photo every 10 seconds it is that good. The fact that there are so many mountains covered in snow is quite novel to us coming from Australia.

We must look like real tourists snapping away getting so many photos. Or at least I might.

It is also another cold day here, currently -16 degrees, but strangely, we feel colder on a 6 degree day back at home, as then the weather is squally crappy as well. Here it is cold, but bright and sunny, so if you dress appropriately you don't really have much to worry about, except slipping over!!

Seriously, I could have included more than a thousand photos here.

We were a bit worried leaving Salzburg as our train was delayed by about 6 minutes. This does not sound like much, but halfway through our trip we have to swap trains at a place called Villach, and we only have 7 minutes between when our train gets in and our next one leaves. So this means we only have 1 minute to swap platforms, so there is a slight bit of tension!!

We are now on our next train, and it was great watching the display on the screen in our last carriage that gave a continual feed about how far ahead or behind schedule we were. Over the 2 and a bit hours we managed to get back on time again, leaving us with around 10 minutes to transfer trains. There is just so much we can learn from the European train system, as ours looks so second rate in comparison. We keep reading about our politicians coming over for study tours, but nothing ever seems to eventuate!! There you go, today's rant over and done with!!

No matter what town or village we pass by, the church always stands out like a beacon.

I'm halfway through this post and you don't know where we are going yet - Sorry!!

We are actually heading to....... Venice!!

We did come here 3 years ago and just loved it to bits, and always wanted to come back. It will be different seeing it in Winter, but we are really enjoying doing this trip in Winter. Both of us have often said that although there are many places we'd love to visit again, it would always be at the expense of seeing somewhere new. This is our first exception, apart from some times we flew into London on other trips. (I just love London!!)

As well as hitting Venice later this afternoon, our eldest son Sam has decided to pay us another visit for our last two days over here by flying out tonight after he finishes work in London. He will be getting in really late, so it will be great seeing him for breakfast in the morning.

Our first train trip this morning was one that I'll never forget as the scenery was just so good. This train trip isn't as great as we are spending a lot of time going through tunnels, but we still get amazing glimpses in between them.

The biggest change we have noticed is that after hours of travelling through snow covered mountains, we quickly moved onto very flat plains that quickly became snow free. The only snow we can see now when we are an hour away from Venice are the tops of some distant mountains.

We finally got here, and our train was running more than 40 mins late! Unheard of in all of our travels.

We quickly unpacked then had a quick look around our area, and as we had been here 3 years ago, it was amazing how familiar some things looked again.

I really noticed this later on in the afternoon when we split up for a while.

Jen went roaming the streets and shops while I ducked out for a quick run.

I took my phone with me to get shots of the city, and how weird was it when after stopping at one bridge and taking a shot, I turned around and ran into Jen!! Keep in mind the thousands of people wandering the streets here, what are the chances of that!

As I pushed on further along the track I had ran on a few years ago, it all just came back to me as if it was only yesterday that I was last on it. The bridges, the trees, the paths, everything was just so familiar again, and the views I got if the sun going down were just perfect.

I'm already looking forward to getting out again in the morning to see the early sun in Venice.

Entering Venice by water taxi.

My running track, my Venice heaven!!

A shot that captures the real Venice.

From the Rialto Bridge tonight.

Also, when we last here we went to a particular restaurant two nights in a row as it was so good, and it turns out that it is a 1 minute walk from here. You guessed it, we went there! While Jen was disappointed in her meal, mine was just great.

Our whole trip is quickly coming to an end, only 3 nights left, but I think we are both looking forward to home again, but not the flights to get us there!!

We have often talked about what is the ideal time away for us, and we think 4 weeks just about does it. Three is just a bit too short, and five becomes tiring if you are on the go every day. When travelling, we need to be doing something each day otherwise it is pointless going there in the first place, but it also becomes tiring putting in that effort to be going somewhere or doing something every day of the week without having a day of just blobbing around the house.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about what we are doing, I just love it. It's just that I feel it remains special as long as we are not tiring ourselves out in the process.

So the next day and a bit will be spent wandering Venice and enjoying our son's company, as we don't get to see him often.

And of course, I'll be having a final authentic Italian Pizza!!

Today's selfies...