Another trip to our favourite place

Well, trip number five to Venice is on the horizon!  It's not quite 12 months since we spent our month there and the return is much sooner than we expected - I thought we'd be back when my long-service leave kicked in - in 2013!   Never in a million years would we have imagined a return so quick, but life is full of wonderful surprises.

Once again, we'll be there in off-season - arriving just before Christmas and leaving shortly after the New Year.  We know it will be cold - really cold! - but we're excited by that.  Christmas Day in Sydney, for example, is generally a hot day.  And we've never been a fan of summer, so why not head off to the Northern Hemisphere for a nice cold Christmas break?!  And a hot meal on the day rather than cold meats and seafood will be wonderful!  We just have to remember to organise everything as soon as we arrive because we'll have to work around public holidays and shop closures for the festive season.

We've organised an apartment through Lux-Rest - the third time we've used them -  and funny enough it's the same one we stayed in back in 2008, up around St Mark's. While we prefer to be out of the main hub of Venice, we're actually quite happy to be central again. For example, it will be great to watch NYE fireworks in the square and know that we're less than a minute back to the apartment and not a 30 minute vaporetto ride to San Croce.  The apartment is on a canal and close to absolutely everything.  And it's literally a hop, skip and a jump to the Basilica and Palazzo Ducale.

Part of me wanted to stay in another sestiere (Dorsoduro, Cannaregio, San Polo) but with only six weeks to go, we didn't have a lot of planning time!  It's a holiday that's being added to a work trip for the "better half" and is something spontaneous.  We still can't believe the flights are booked, accommodation is being finalised, train rides too (we're going to go via Siena, Bologna on the way up from Rome).  This time a fortnight ago we wouldn't have even contemplated it!  We were gearing up for summer in Sydney not winter in Italy!

Ah, as I said, life is full of wonderful surprises. So with another Venice trip on the horizon I'm back on this blog.  We know the place so well so I'll be posting the odd thing while we are there.  Perhaps providing more information to those travellers that go off-peak like us.  Share the love, so to speak.  Afterall, it is a place we love dearly....

The magic of St Mark's

We've been in Venice well over a week and managed to resist the pull that is St Mark's. We've been there so many times but until you go there, you're really not in Venice.  It's a sight to behold.  Ignore the tourist traps, it's fabulous up around the square - the Basilica, the Doge's Palace, the Campanile, the shops, the buildings, the institutions like Florians etc etc. Basilica di San Marco is a show-stopper. Whether you are inside or out.

Unfortunately there is restoration work going on and so photographer's from all around the world are sighing they can't capture the full magic. But it depends on what side you take your photo from.

And then there's the Palazzo Ducale and the soft pink light that falls from it onto the square. Look up to the Campanile on a beautiful day and let your mind wander.  If you're game, go up there and marvel at the view.

There's so much happening in the area. There's the moors -- The Torre dell'Orologio -- and all their history. There's the Lion of St Mark perched high and across from him St Theodor the patron saint. In between there used to be public executions, but let's not go there. Today we are marvelling at the magic.


And for me, there's the pink lamps of Venice. I could blog about them alone. I love them so much. In fact I should do that one day.  An ode to the pink lamps of Venice.  Ah, Venice....

Memories from a much younger me

I've kept so many journals and travel diaries over the years. They are all in a drawer or two in our back room. After finding the travel journal from 2004 yesterday, I decided to find the one from 1989. Yes, my first impressions of Venice as a 21 year old backpacker:

Sunday 2nd April 1989, Venice, Italy. Cloudy, cool.

[text removed] We arrived in Venice at 3.44pm precisely. I rang a few numbers, got a map and headed off to a pensione near the station that was "cheap, clean and central" according to the guidebook. The lady running it was very nice. All the female pensione owners have been lovely. We then ventured out and wandered through this AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL city, past bridges, gondolas, vaporettos, shop after shop, restaurant after restaurant. We walked into piazzas and watched kids play soccer. We found dead-ends and like most people we got lost in the canals. Not surprising afterall there are 117 islands connected to one another. It ain't hard to get lost! We then found our way back to a restaurant that looked nice and had a great meal. Probably the nicest we've had in Italy so far. For [equiv] $AUS 15.00 we had pizza, drink, wine, coffee and a crepe. I had a Banana and Grand Marnier one. It was delicious!

Monday 3rd April 1989, Venice, Italy. OK...cool...rainy... cool.

Woke up this morning to the sound of church bells chiming and birds singing - very nice! I then had a long, hot shower which was WONDERFUL and we left to go walkies. We strolled around the canals, looked through all the shops, changed money and sat down for a breakfast of coffee and cake.

We caught a vaporetto to St Mark's Square which took ages. We walked through the Doge's Palace which was incredible - one room had drawings of Venice from 1400-1700 and it hasn't changed at all! The drawings were brilliant as were all the paintings on the walls, on the ceilings. The dungeons were cold though. You could almost hear the prisoners screaming and clawing through the bars. I found it a little scary actually.

After the Palace we went to St Mark's Basilica which like ALL churches in Italy is amazing. However it's older and different. It was mostly gold mosaics in the domes and ceiling. It was wonderful. It was interesting.



We walked back to the pensione, filled in some postcards we picked up and had dinner at the same restaurant again.

Oh, by the way, mum would LOVE this place. Paperweights and eggs are in every shop window. I'll try and buy her a paperweight even if they are expensive.

I'm going to leave the memories there. I did buy mum a paperweight. She had it in her paperweight collection for years. As you know, this next Venice trip is in memory of mum who passed away at the end of April. On the weekend I will be arranging to collect some of her belongings that we've had in storage since she died. Mum left me her paperweight collection. I'll let everyone in the family choose something they'd like from it and send some to her friends. But the one from Venice will be removed from the batch. That one is returning home. To me.

Memories from another time and place

Today I went looking for a map of Venice and while rummaging through the drawers in the back room I came across the travel diary from our Italian trip in 2004. I took it out and enjoyed reading it. I thought I'd share it with you.

After a long, tiring journey to Venice including a 4-hour transit experience in Rome airport, we managed to find the right vaporetto, get off at the right stop, and drag our heavy bags across numerous bridges and squares to B&B Sandra - arriving close to midnight extremely hot, sweaty and frustrated.

But all was forgotten at 7am this morning when we woke in our attic room, opened the window and saw the wondrous view across the rooftops of Venice. Church bells were ringing, waves were gently rocking across the canal blow, and seagulls were resting on the rooftops nearby. Absolutely magical! I couldn't wait to get onto the upstairs landing and take photos - even if it was a little misty. The Breakfast Room was divine and I continued to take photos between mouthfuls of cheese, bread and prosciutto.

We headed off about 9am and hopped on the Number 1 vaporetto to go up the Grand Canal to St Marks. {text removed} The church had flooded so we had to use walkways. It is amazing and once inside we realised there was a Sunday Mass in progress. The place, the time, the awesome feeling when the hymn was sung, it all nearly reduced me to tears - it was just so emotive.



Next stop the Palazzo Ducale including the Bridge of Sighs from inside. Just amazing! We ate lunch in the cafeteria then headed to Bacino Orseolo where the gondolas were moored. By this time it was raining steadily and this increased over time. We wandered through alleyways, walkways and piazzas to Ponte di Rialto. It was now bucketing down! A quick visit to the markets and in and out of a few shops before walking back to Fondamenta Trapolin - only stopping for coffee.



We are now back in B&B Sandra. The sun is trying to come out but I don't care. Church bells are ringing across the city, evoking a beautiful and peaceful feeling, which is only interrupted by the occasional horn from a vaporetto on the Grand Canal nearby.

I'll try and find the journal from the last trip to Venice and share that as well. Actually I should dig deeper and find the one from 21 years ago. Now that would be entertaining!

If only we were going tomorrow. For now we've got the deposit on the apartment ready to go, the flights just about organised, and travel insurance fully paid up. If only it was tomorrow and not many months away

Ah, Venice.....