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George's World Travels
This year saw the first of 'our' (George, Nicki and Bex) annual trips to Europe,Venice.
Day 1.....Very long walk through Venice-we were attempting to find St Marks but walked the longest way possible! Finally discovered the square, and toured the Basilica-big and pretty. Massive domes and beautiful gold ceilings inside. After that we had a quick strol round St Marks again before heading to a really posh cafe for lunch, Florian. We sat and ate lunch with a band playing in the background, and enjoyed the sun. Doges palace was next on our list of things to do, there was A LOT to see. headed to another cafe after that-starting a popular trend that we followed religiously throughout the weekend. next was St Maria della salute-the health church. had a quick look inside before posing for some fun pictures with lamp posts. Then we jumped on a water taxi to Accademia Bridge, and the gallery of Venetian art. Then we headed to the Rialto Bridge, took some photos and ate dinner by the Grand Canal as night fell.
Day 2.....after a long long queue we boarded a water taxi and headed all the way down the Grand Canal all the way to the Lido, a lovely island with lots of shops and a beautiful beach at the end of the road. We stopped at a great cafe and had fantastic venetian sandwichs before dragging ourselves away so we could see some more of the islands.
Before making the long trip to the other islands- 'cemetary island', one very basic theme there!, morano and burano, we visited a few more cultural places in the centre. The Golden Palace, which was quite pretty, and had some more pieces of renaissance art. Not as extenisve as other musums wed been to, which was a relief and more enjoyable. Very pretty balcony bit.
We then visited the old Ghetto. I have to say quite a disappointment. Not sure it was really worth the effort we, (well Nicki really!) put in trying to find the bloody place through alley after alley way. Oh well, it was ticked off the list at least.
So the remaining islands. We spent 20 mins on the first, the cemetary island. That was enough time. No more said. Morano wasnt all that much better, known as the 'glass island' thats all there was. Shops upon shops of cheao and tacky glass decorations. We tried, commendably to find a good piece amongst the tack but it was not to be. Then followed another boat trip to our final island, Burano. Thank god this was well worth the trip! Beautifully different coloured buildings, the island was really a piece of art. Gorgeous. We had enough time to wonder around some of the shops, helping Nicki with her endless search for a Venician mask, and to enjoy a drink at a cafe on the main (and perhaps only) street. It was a small quint little island. Really liked it.
We had dinner pretty late near St Marks. It absolutely pissed it down at first (luckily we were inside) but then the real entertainment began when the thunder and lightening began! Never heard such loud thunder! Sounded like explosions. And the lightening was awesome. We tried in vain to get a pic of it but failed miserably. However, it was really cool to just experience.
Day three...our last day was marked by a great gondola ride. The Regatta was today (loads of boats competing against each other in different races down the canal. Big day for locals and tourists alike) so we were on the water as some teams were warming up.That was cool. Also, going on a gondola ride allows you to see a quieter, far different side to Venice. A very relaxing ride.
We had some nice food, especially lunch. More cafe stops. Success at finding a mask for Nicki, woo hoo! and I also found a really sweet antiques shop and bought some pretty beads.
We didnt get to see too much of the races as it was packed out on the main parts of the canal hours before it started and with the almost 30oC heat we couldnt bare that. But we did see the beginning which was nice. Lots of fancy boats, inc a very ornate gold one.
The trip was lovely. Both for the location and the company. It was great seeing each other again and properly catching up with each others lives. Also, any one thinking of visiting Venice do. Its a gorgeous city.
Until next year!
G xxx
and co writer Bex
and Nicki
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