Lapping Water and Chiming Bells ... Ah Venezia!

To quote Sir Edmund Hillary, "It is an act of worship just to sit and look at high mountains." and boy are the Dolomites high!

Today was perfecto!  Fabulous weather, great guide, very pleasant tour companions and the front seat!  The lakes and mountains girl was in heaven. I could waffle on about the soaring mountains, the windy roads which revealed amazing vistas at every turn, deep blue lakes, quaint alpine towns, beautiful wooden chalets with flourishing vibrantly coloured flowering window boxes ... But I'd never do it justice so I suggest you log on when I return and check out the photos.

Suffice to say, my day was ... Bellissimo!

 

 

A Good Kind of Exhaustion

Ah Venice! In 1995 Lisa, Sue and I spent about 7 hours give or take doing Venice. Having a car didn't lend itself to a lengthy stay. Venezia has to be explored and savoured and I am so lucky to be able to do that.

Today was island day.  First mistake ... I didn't do my homework over breakfast as I did yesterday.  Got to Lido and I had no clue what to do/where to go then!  Decided to walk for 30 minutes and turn back if I'd found no famous beach.  A bus stop map proved very useful, after about 15 minutes, and a 90 degree turn and a few blocks later ... The famous Lido beach!  I now get the lagoon/ ocean thing. Walked along the very fine grey sand until I'd had enough and headed back to the wharf.  

Then to Murano.

Cute little place.  Can imagine it strains many a marriage as there are lots of shops, very similar but different enough to want to see if the right piece if glass is within.  Though not sure what I was looking for, I was convinced as soon as I saw it I'd know.  Yes ... Did my little (very little) bit for the Murano glass industry!  Also decided I need to take 'Food with Views' photos as I had pasta ( you can't eat pizza every day ... well I could, but I'll try and be good and not) and a beer sitting beside a lovely canal.

Well at least at island number three the export is linen and lace which is lighter.  Very cute town.  Bright colours abound.  Yes they were also a little glad I visited.

The journey home felt long as I was vey weary.  The vapporati dumped me somewhere quite unknown and I had to follow my nose.  Lisa will tell you my nose is not always useful in these sorts of situations but with almost 48 Venetian hours under my belt did quite ok.

I did learn three life/travelling lessons today ... 1. Always charge your camera over night. 2. Bringing sunscreen from the other side of the world is quite useless if you don't put it on and have it on you all day. 3 Don't wear brand new walking shoes and leave your band aids in the hotel!  Time will tell did I really learn a lesson?!  None of these were catastrophic, just annoying on an otherwise perfect day.

Really looking forward to tomorrow.  This 'lakes and mountains girl' is getting an Italian alps fix! Bring on the Dolomites!

Have to keep reminding myself it's not summer.  Today was about the top of my Goldilocks Scale.  Year five would tell that means it's "just right" another degree and it would be in the 'not right' section.

Venice Exploration

I have just given up the dodgy WiFi connection down on the terrace bar where I have been sipping my first prosecco (Italian bubbles) as the light begins to show signs of the coming sunset.  Now sitting on my bed, but can hear church bells.  Ah .....

It has been a busy day of orientation.  Slept OK and feel great now so that's good.  I woke pretty early and breakfasted on the hotel terrace reading Aunty Anne's guide to Venice.  'Aunty Anne' is in the choir and shared with me her personal tips for travelling in these parts.  She had been asked so often she put it all down, for people just like me to benefit.  So I sat and re read the pages on Venice in which she talked about the hotel and its terrace!

I spent the next hour or so doing a vapporati loop down the Grand Canal and out to sea ... sort of.  Got a good sense of geography and distances.  Ferries were packed and characters abounded ... Including the singing driver.  Lots of sunshine to add to the summery feel.

I then hit the walkways, bridges and canals.  Some spots were particularly hectic ... Ponte Rialto and San Marco Square in particular.  Can't imagine those places in summer.  A lunch in a pleasant piazza ... Pizza and beer.  Very much my experience of Italian lunches of the past!

There has been lots of browsing too.  Restraining myself til Friday to eliminate impulse buys! Handbags and jewellery will be my downfall I can see!

I returned roughly the same way I had walked but my 'bread crumb dropping' wasn't faultless but as I noted at one point when I decided I was a little lost ... I'm in Venice I can't be lost.  A long as I can find the Grand Canal I'm fine.

Am standing at my window now looking out towards the Bridge of Sighs (not really, just a lovely unnamed bridge) and typing leaning on the very broad window sill.  

Am about to get a vapporati to San Marco Square for a Vivaldi concert (Four Season) in a little church beside the big one. A night vapporati home should be stunning.  It is a short walk from here to the wharf.  Perfect.

Wish I could add pics.  Will have to wait til I return to Sydney.

It's  now 11.40 pm.  Feeling weary but not bad considering the lack of sleep and much walking. 
The concert tonight was delightful.  So too was the being out after dark.  Lisa and I have always had a car in Europe so never stayed in the cities.  Lots of people around so felt very comfortable on my own.  The Grand Canal was 'bella'!

It has been a delightful day.  To the islands tomorrow. 

Venice ... I'm Here!

Greetings one and all.  I am sitting on my bed in my VERY 'piccolo' room listening to the gentle sounds of water vehicles passing on the Grand Canal.  I am a stones throw from the Bridge of Sighs (I now realise this is incorrect.  The Bridge of Sighs is at the other end of the Grand Canal.  A misommunication with my driver from the airport.  But it is a lovely bridge!)... In fact, after checking in about an hour ago, I grabbed my camera and wallet to have a gelato standing on the bridge watching the waning moon as it rose.  My Euro gift from the family was great as it was my only cash! Thanks John and Liz.  It is now 11.20 pm here and 7.20 Tues morning in Sydney.  I have been up 28 hours.  I only got abut 3 hours sleep on Sunday night and had about 2 on the Sydney/Dubai leg. So I'm very tired.  Emirates haven't converted me from Singapore Airlines, but flying into and out of Dubai was fascinating. The  A380, whatever the airline, is vey comfortable. 
Lots of canal exploration tomorrow after, I hope, a very good sleep.