Now, Marpig shall dwell into her fav past time; makan. But 1st, just a little bit bout the xxxciting sourvenior which is too xpensive/fragile for Marpig to buy whilst in Venezia; glassware from Murano
For pple who arent too familiar where (the hell) is Murano, below is a map:
As Marpig mentioned, Marpig stayed in a B&B in Mestre, linked to Venezia city via a 5km bridge. Everytime Marpig wanted to get to Venezia, she would take a local bus str into the bustling city & the journey takes less than 20mins
Murano is an island tt is 1 km north of Venezia. It is famous for glass-making & glasswares. Most pple would have seen glass paper weights like these:
The glassmakers in Murano "enjoyed monopoly on quality glassmaking for centuries" & do ths ranging from contemporary glass art & jewelry to chandeliers and wine stoppers, all hand-made (well, mass produce for tourists)
But everyth are so intricate even to the tiniest detail!!
The above is Marpigz fav!! An entire
orchestra playing in a park with skaters!! Gosh... if only Marpig has as much lollies as she has intelligence :P
Another of Marpigz fav were the goldfishies!!
But the price of one of those (bout the size of a segment of a finger) is no less than 13 euros min... and all of them are so cute!! :S In the end, Marpig could only look at them bhind the showcases... ^o^
Moving on from glass to food!!
Apologies to all audiences but Marpig didnt take as many food pictures whilst in Italy since most of the time she cooked in the hostel (pastas) or just have simple panini on the go
Pple who had been to Italy told Marpig tt makan in Italy revolves ard gelato, pizzas & pastas. In addition, pastas are NOT main courses but simply side dishes. Indeed, in the absence of an English menu (do not take for granted tt restaurants have English menus), one needs to make intelligent guesses from words like funghi, formaggi, olijven, salmone, etc & always rem this sequence on the menus; soups, appetizers, 1st course (small portions of pasta or risotto, etc), 2nd course (meat, fish, etc), desserts & finally drinks
Marpigz 1st go at an Italian osteria (small Italian restaurants) in Venezia (as reccommended by a guidebook (Tsk, u cant trust those bks u noe!!) ended like this:
Marpig had tagliatelle with broad beans in sm sort of thick bean sauce. Very tasty & itz kinda like tagliatelle in thick soup... too bad the portion is teeny weeny; itz the size of a soup bowl!!
Marpigz fren had spagetti with bits of salmone & sm sauce... suspect it is carbonara or mushroom... tasty too but a tat too saltish... portion is teeny weeny too, bout the size of a fist... OMG
And the bill came...
One impt caveat while dining in Italy is to take note of the "table cloth charge"when u sit down n dine in the osteria instead of takeaway.
Notice the "table cloth charge" on top of the bill called "COPERTO" which means "covered" After the meal, Marpig & fren decided to eat with style for the rest of the trip; "mao gai" = squating on the streets muahahahahahaha
Of cos, wat Marpig & fren did was to get paninis on the go. The only other times when Marpig ate in restaurants was when she was in a chinese restaurant in Pisa & a restaurant in Florence. In fact, Marpigz fren was even tighter than Marpig since she only takes bananas for lunch (since she would continue on to Budapest from Italy)
Marpig told frens back home tt she is really afraid of sandwiches, pastas & pizzas but really... the Italian ones are sooooooo much better than those in the UK one would wonder whether the English has any taste buds!!
Throughout the trip, itz fd on the go!! (The above was taken in Verona with a ham & tomato panini which is quite all right at 4.5 euros since the size is big)
Out of the blue, Marpig tot she heard sm1 asked the inevitable question, "So wat is the authentic fd in Italy other than gelato, pastas and pizzas?" Well, Marpig did manage to eat a unique Venetian dish which is normally eaten in pubs as a snack with a glass of wine. It is called cicchetti = combi of a myriad of seafd (since Venezia is near the sea) The one Marpig had costs 12 euros & once again, the portion is touristy...
Therez the fake crab claws, grilled fish (similar to those eaten by the Jap), SINGLE small prawn, 2 grilled baby squid (1 of them is smaller than the other!!) & sm really teeny weeny octopuses... bcos itz the last dinner with Marpigz fren b4 both part their ways & continue on their own, Marpig & fren ordered a seafd pizza to share!!
Did any1 realise tt most of the ths Marpig eats are seafd? Yup, cos Marpig loves her seafd & seafd are gd for health & brain!! Contrary to popular beliefs, seafd DO NOT INCREASE CHOLESTEROL!!
Lesson in Food: Cholesterol is a waxy thingy we need in small amt for making cells & hormones & it is a combi of fats & alchohol. Fd tt have a high content of saturated fats or trans fat will increase cholesterol. But seafd DOES NOT contain saturated fats nor trans fat. Hence, they cant increase cholesterol UNLESS one eats them deep fried, cooked in butter, etc... ya noe, itz how seafd are cooked eventually tt makes them unhealthy (as with all other ths)
B4 Marpig continue on to among the alleys, churches, etc of Venezia, herez just a cheeky pic of tt teeny weeny octopus on Marpigz cicchetti
Each gondola sits no more than 4 (or is it 5 or 6?) 
But not alot of pple are crazy enough to spend tt kind of lollies just to take a 45 mins gondola ride. So how (now brown cow)? :P The th is to take a traghetto!!
Littered all over along the canals of Venice are traghetto station like the one above. Essentially, they are the water "buses" of Venice tt take pple to & fro the canals in bout 5 mins. Gondolas tt are too old & worn out will bcome the traghettoes. How much is it to take the traghetto? :D Itz only 0.50 euro!! Yeah!!
In fact, there are only a morsel of tourists tt are willing to charter the entire gondola (couples) or those Chinese/Japanese tourists with a family of 4 or 5. No wonder the "tight-butts" wait ard for biz...
Itz lucky Marpig cos when she was in Venice, therez was a regatta going on!! Lotsa boats, gondolas, funny-looking "vessels", canoes & even dragon boats, took part in the canal regatta. Itz not a test of speed but itz more like a parade. Wat a sight!!
The bridge in the pic above is the famous Rialto Bridge in Venice (One GOT to take gondolas & the Rialto Bridge whilst in Venice ya noe). Basically, itz a bridge full of touristy shops selling Venetian masks, etc etc.
:P
