Bunnygoesplop in Venezia and Lugano

On our way to Venice from Zurich, we stopped in Lugano for a day. Lugano is a city in the Italian part of Switzerland and looks completely different from any other Swiss city (Zurich/ Geneva/ Lausanne/ Bern). There were palm trees on the Alps! The buses were not on time and the funicular is stopped during lunch! Unbelievable. Another country within a country. View from the funicular   

First, we went to Mount Bre, which is just outside the city with the funicular at, guess when, lunch time. After being stranded in a residential looking area for an hour (Great) at the middle station, we finally reached the top, which actually was quite nice.

View from the top station

The views from the Panorama hotel at the top would have been been spectacular if there wasn’t so much mist. 

Another Pic coming soon 

Afterwards, we went to a park right at the edge of the lake, where the whole city seemed to be hanging out. It was just beautiful. The bunnies loved it. 

Molto benne Lugano, four carrots to you!

In the evening, we took a train to Venice via Milan. Mummy bunny and Papa bunny compared Milan train station to the Howrah station of Calcutta. Despite being in Milan several times before, for the first time I saw the resemblance. Milan train station = Howrah – the jhaal muri guys. 

 Milan railway station. Disclaimer: Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture myself and this is stolen from the internet.

We reached Venice around 10 pm but the city didn’t seem anywhere close to sleeping. The atmosphere felt so lively, the air so positive. 

Many bunnies must have fallen in love that night (a Venetian saying for full moon nights). Could be true, Venice did look beautiful.

We stayed at an Airbnb, which was in a quiet-ish residential area. Though it burnt a hole in my pocket, I would still recommend it (lmk if you want details). 

View from our Airbnb

The next morning was a gorgeous day. We took a day pass for the boat-bus.The Grand Canal

The first view of Venice must have been and still is so impressive! ​Here is a clip from our boat-bus:

​Just before getting off for San Marco

When we reached San Marco’s square, it was jam packed with bunnies. This was on a Monday in off-season! Last time, I remember there were a lot of pigeons as well in this square. This time barely any. Off season for pigeons, may be.

San Marco square minus pigeons

We couldn’t go inside the Doge’s palace because the queues were super-duper long (still shorter than the Eiffel queues). Next, we had lunch at this place below, which was the WORST IDEA EVER. 

Conca d’Oro. Never ever go there.

The food was just terrible. One of the minion waiters tried to convince me that it was how traditional pasta was supposed to be (OMG), but the head waiter’s nonchalant attitude was just too much. Minus five carrots to this place. Atleast I have the satisfaction of saying that I had the worst pasta of my life in Italy. (Fun fact: pasta was brought to Italy by the most famous Venetian, Marco Polo from China!).

On a positive note, there is a fantastic pattiserie next to this place in an alley: 

Pasticceria Da Bonifacio. Looks small but has a good collection. Five carrots. Chomp chomp.

Feeling somewhat pacified after the 4 pastries I gulped down at this place, we headed to Murano next. Since the 1200s, Murano has been world famous for its beautifully patterned glass, which was one of the principal export items of Venice for many centuries as the recipe for glass making was a closely guarded secret for more than 3 centuries. Here, we saw live demonstrations of blowing glass and making beautiful structures out of them. 

A glassblower at work.

We also met a woman whose family has been blowing glass for more than seven generations! The glass items one finds here are far more exquisite than in Venice, plus the place is far less touristic. I bought these beauties from there. 

They look just great on my bunny ears. Four carrots to Murano. 

When we were back in Venice, and looking for some souvenirs to take home, we found that many shops sell cheap plastic (or china glass) as Murano glass. The shopkeeper of this shop (picture 1 below) in this square (picture 2) tried to cheat us but fortunately we spotted her sticking our purchases below her table. Seriously woman, you want a pound of our flesh too? (Reference to the Merchant of Venice if you didn’t get it at once). 

Fake murano glass, thief shopkeeper.

The shop is in this square.

Overall, this trip to Venice was a bitter-sweet one and I cannot share more than 2 carrots with Venice. 

This trip also made me realise that within its skeleton of crumbling old houses, narrow alleys, decaying wood, innumerous bridges between its 118 islands, Venice is actually hollow. Venice has now become an amusement park, visited by tourists from around the world, ranging from Indian grandparents to hyper-excited American teenagers, where showrooms are now owned by the Chinese and makeshift shops by Bangladeshis, where money is the one and only language, but where everyone seems to be profiting.

Venice was built by refugees, foreigners, and explorers, who profited from its land, prospered, and gave back to the land. It has been its history. May be this is what is happening now as well. May be this is Venice’s new history. 

Visit it before it goes back to the marshes. 

This picture is Italy to me, beautiful and unpretentious.