Europe 2023

On returning from Venice I spent one more night at my sister  (Georgia)  and her partner’s (Fede) place in Rome before both she and I took off for Tallinn, about a four hour flight. Georgia lives in Europe and travels a lot for work and for leisure, so it isn’t often that she gets to visit a place that she hasn’t been before. We had a week to travel together, so we chose places that neither of us had previously visited. Our first stop was Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, way up north in the Balkans. There was a severe weather warning in place in Tallinn - for gale-force winds with huge gusts. The pilots did an amazing job! The plane was being pushed all over the place, like being in a very erratic swing. It is only the second time that I have been on a flight when everyone applauded upon a safe landing (the other being at Wellington in New Zealand). Looking out my window just behind the wing, it truly looked like the wing was going to land before the wheels! Tallinn Airport is...

The next morning I just started wandering with no particular destination in mind. A couple of times I found myself in areas with less people around. They didn't have a good feeling so I changed direction to go where there were more people (counterintuitive for me to want to be around people, but the best way to stay safe when travelling alone). I found myself in Piazza San Marco... with Basilica San Marco at the other end: I would have liked to go inside here and had a look, but the queue was an hour and a half long, and was fully exposed to the sun most of the way. I only had one day to explore... I wasn't going to spend it in a queue. Instead, I got coffee... The cafes have to protect the pastries because the local birds are brazen enough to come onto your table and take them. The quality of the coffee is very hit and miss. Most places don't know what a flat white is, so I just default to asking for a cappuccino.  But the pastries are amazing! After a very average coffee ...

After spending a night in Rome at Georgia and Fede's place, it was time to hop on a train to Venice. The 4 hour express train runs through Tuscany and then veers north-east to head over to Venice. The first thing you run in to as you exit the train station is the water-taxi drivers and the luggage trolley guys. They come at you: "You need taxi Miss?" "I take you to hotel... come..." "Put your suitcase on here. I'll be your porter."  All the guys in the orange vests... There is a wall of them. I've had to learn to forget about being polite, just be firm and push through. "No." "No, grazie." "No." In some countries/cities it's illegal for them to solicit business, but they still do... "Taxi Miss?" "You need taxi to hotel? I'll take you". I figured that these guys in Venice must at least be legal... They were wearing hi-vis vests with their job title printed on them!  But I didn't want ...