Hi everyone! We're here today in beautiful Venice, Italy.
If you've seen our previous videos on London, York, Perth, and our throwback to the Maldives,
you'll see that we're not really in the videos much, and we're not talking.
- We're both a little bit camera shy! - A little bit.
[laughs]
And we've decided to get out of our comfort zones and start vlogging!
We think that this will add a new dimension to our videos, um, that hopefully you will enjoy!
- If someone wants to listen to us! - [laughs]
Yeah!
One of the bucket list items that most if not all people want to do when they come to Venice
is to go on a gondola ride on a gondola just like this one here.
It is quite expensive though. It's 80 euros during the day for up to 6 people
so if you do want to share, you're coming with a group of friends, or if you just want to share with random people,
then it's a bit more manageable.
After 7 o'clock in the evening, it is more expensive at 100 euros
because it's more romantic!
Um, if you're not keen for spending all this money, there is a different option as you can see here.
You can travel like the locals do, on the, they call it the traghetto.
It's 2 euros - for tourists,
and instead of going along the Grand Canal, you're going from one end to the other.
It's not quite the same experience I guess if you want to put it that way, but it is an experience on a gondola.
So this is the Rialto Bridge.
It's the oldest of the four bridges that spans the Grand Canal in Venice.
It connects San Marco with San Polo,
and obviously the bridge is really old.
It was first built in about the 12th century or so,
and it's been rebuilt several times,
and this is now what it looks like today!
And it's one of the biggest tourist attractions in Venice as you can see.
This is our first day in Venice. We're just kind of wandering. We don't really have a plan.
We just saw the Rialto Bridge.
There are a lot of people.
Seems like a lot of students as well?
But there's also a nice kind of vibe like,
- Romantic! - [laughs]
The sun's setting!
It feels kind of peaceful even though there's a lot of people, and there's a lot of noise.
And this is actually, well, this is my second time here. I first came here for a night
um...
three and a half years ago now? In September, in the middle of September
and it was so hot
and there were so many people
and it was flooded, so it was stinky!
- [laughs] - Stinky! That's what I expected to be honest but
- it's quite chilly now, so... I guess that's why it's not... - It's cool enough that's it's not gonna stink.
So these things that we're gonna pass by here
just here
that's what they use when the city is flooded.
So they have the metal like little feet
and then
and then, uh
and then they put down the, the wooden boards, and uh,
there's more here
- Oh, yeah. - And uh, people just walk on those and that's
how they get around when the city's flooded!
Good morning!
It's our second day here in Venice, and we decided to get up really, really early
and catch the sunrise!
It was really, really nice and it's really quiet here right now.
- Still nice. - Yeah.
A lot of pigeons walking around... Not many people, a few other people
- with cameras. - You have to get up early here
- Yeah, if you want it to be, you know, - to be almost alone
like that!
This is one part of Venice that I vividly remember from the last time that I was here.
And this is the part that was really flooded
and crowded with so many people
and really, really hot so it was smelly
but now it's really nice
- to kind of have it all to ourselves! - I can smell only breeze, fresh air from the water!
It's really nice!
We're in St Mark's Square right now and behind us is St Mark's Basilica.
Um, it's free to go into I believe
but I don't think it's open right now. It's a bit early for that!
And here, we have the Campanile, or the bell tower.
You can climb to the top for a fee, and obviously that looks to be the highest point in Venice,
so, undoubtedly, you'd probably get outstanding views.
But our host recommended us another viewpoint. It's a rooftop terrace
close by to... I think Rialto Bridge
um, that we'll go to tonight for the sunset.
That's supposed to have, she says it's the best views
- of Venice, so - Just have to book in advance.
Yeah, it's free though! It's free, so - this one, you have to pay, but the other one is free so we'll see!
Yup!
There are a lot of deliveries here
- Oh yeah. - right now.
This is one of the cool things about getting up really early in the morning.
You get to kind of see
the day start for the locals.
Obviously, because everything is by boat, they need to get everything done really early.
So before all the crowds and all the gondolas start going for the tourists...
- This is like a bakery boat. - Yeah, croissants are in there, it looks like.
There's drinks and sauces and food...
I don't know what these things are.
So we're right by the fish market, well, it's
it's a fish and seems like fruits and - well, market! Fruits and vegetables as well.
And we're actually a bit early. It doesn't open until 7:30 but you can see,
right here, that um,
these people are unloading all of the fruits - fruits and vegetables I think?
Yeah, looks like fruits and vegetables.
To get ready for the day.
And I think we'll maybe sit in the sun for a little bit until the market actually opens.
So we just stumbled upon this really cool shop where a husband and wife couple make
the ceramic and paper mache masks and magnets.
And they specifically have signs up that say they're not made in China, they're made in Italy!
- But he actually has - Two kinds made in Italy as well, like made with
ceramic and made by paper, originally.
And he also has plastic ones in there as well, I think just for the effect of
showing people the difference between the, you know,
really cheap plastic ones from China versus the paper mache ones that he makes in the shop.
Just to show, just to show us the difference between them.
Of course, the customer can decide which one they'd like to buy.
There is a price tag on it as well
but if you think about Carnival,
it's definitely good to invest in an original one.
The work is made with minimum three, four days.
- Because there is the time to dry the mask in the, in the paper, in the mould, - Okay.
and after there is the time to release the base, the colour,
but in maybe 4 hours' work,
handmade, it's ready.
Okay so you have to give it time for drying process as well?
- Yes. - And you're putting a few layers or...
of the paint or...?
- Yes. - just one.
No.
It's diff - there is minimum three, four layers.
The paper, there is minimum four layers.
- Oh. - It's a particular paper.
Hm.
The particular paper because the paper absorbs the glue.
- Yes. - Like that, the humidity can enter in the middle and destroy the mask.
So we're in this really kind of posh
shopping mall?
Um, because we were just up on the, on the 4th floor of this building
which has a rooftop terrace
and... you get really nice views of Venice!
And so we decided to come up at 6:15 in the evening,
um,
because the sun was setting!
So...
that was a really cool experience! We saw the sunrise
and the sunset today!
Alright, what do you have?
Um, it's calamari and
I see some shrimp here, and it looks like...
a French fry? [laughs]
- Om nom nom nom nom. - Street food.
Yeah. It's from, it's from this, this place here.