Day 55 ahhh(Choo) Vienna ._..

Well that was a rough night! Coughing all night and sneezing.... My one dorm mate must be swearing. .. very quietly. ..  ooops

Sneaking out after leaving an apology note with 20 euro to cover his lunch I don't feel so bad about it! 

Can't help being ill. ...

I have one train today and that's travelling 7.5 hours reaching my 6th country.... I'm going to Austria..... Vienna!

Naturally that doesn't leave much to write in the blog for today happy with the  cheesy  Ultravox inspired(?) header tho.... No apologies! 

Weather leaving Venice was rainy so timing was good! 

Running a little fever I concentrate on yesterday's blog for the first hour, not noticing the countryside until I look up and see nothing at all! 

I'm under the Alps! 

misty and snowy high up this train is not going to the heights of the glacier express.... Tunnels and once over the border at Unterthol and in Austria we follow valley bottoms.... I'm back in early spring judging by the flora here! Even the grass is brown! Heavy snow this winter? Only thing I imagine that would brown the grass? 

Still the train goes north and the mountains get smaller passing a huge lake the Worthersee 

you can see why they called it a 'see' no pun here it's huge! 

I'm enjoying the drastic change of architecture Italian architecture has high end sublime followed almost immediately by shabby! Yes that's based entirely upon my limited view and the yes the buildings in the hills above Florence were beautiful.... Should they be listed in high end exquisite? Possibly..... Pretty much all other buildings are in need of help!.....

Here every building so far is looked after.... Is pay that much worse in Italy? 

Reaching the northernmost ranges of the Alps it's getting really pretty 

cute spired churches and castles (Schloss) on hill tops 

zoom in on the center of the pic.....

The hills start to fade and the land flattens 

and approaching Vienna the sky darkens with rain clouds....

It holds off tho.... 

I stop at the Bahnhof for fish and chips! Speaking in an awful mix of English German and inadvertant Italian!!!

Gracia's is going to take some erasing from my response words!!

I have been in Italy nearly a month! How time flies!!! 

I need some careful planning in the days ahead and think the next four countries will fly past.... Scandinavia is my priority before the hop west! 

A short walk to the hostel as planned and I'm writing this in the bar with a pint on the go .. should add this hostel is the same company as my first in Paris all that time ago!!

St Christopher's Inn... Just as nice👍 

day54 travel malaise?

I have a steaming cold not the best thing to have while travelling but it's not a great problem during the day at least! At night it's keeping me awake so I'm losing a bit of the joy today... 

Also I don't have any particular plans for today.. So my first few hours are spent filling in the blog for the preceding two days beyond that I have one intent and that's completing the circumnavigation of the main north and south island clusters, with the water bus that's easy! So back to my local boat stop and away we go! 

the south western quadrant of Venice is a pretty run down industrial zone so not too photographic and the weather is slowly changing today so it's a bit hazy for long distance photos, all the same it's nice to be bobbing along on the water a much smoother version than the bobbing along of trains I promise you! It pulls rather than jars you it's soporiphic tho that may be down to the disturbed sleep! 

I leave the boat at the Doges palace again with no intent of direction I'm in full on wander....

At the front of the palace is a statue I'd failed to photo yesterday a knight on horse back above the venician Griffin 

through the twisting alleyways I reach another bus stop I use the next transport to cross the grand canal, once again wandering along my path veers towards the canal and the Ponte Di realto following the same layout of the Ponte Vechio in Florence , a path down the middle with now glitzy little shops either side

i don't cross here I follow the paths nearest the water edge which lead me with some intent towards the grand market likely a design of the paths here... There must be some intention to the layout?

the market follows a similar layout to market harborers town hall with shelter below for the stalls this one extended out away from the canal doubling its size.

Onwards again and in the direction of San polo area once more an area of shops and basilica.... I'm really done with Basilica..... Not even bothering to pay 5 euros to enter one! Still nice exterior which is pretty rare in damp brickwork of Venice

a shop stop to get in supplies for tomorrow and I'm back at the hostel with no intent to leave tonight.