Oh dear, it has been far too long since I last updated this, so here is a little summary of the weekend away! I turned 30 on Monday, and the husband had promised me a surprise trip away for the occasion. I had a few ideas of where this may be, but nothing for sure, and he kept on saying "what if you dont like it?", which made me think that the destination he had chosen may not be one of the ones I had in mind.
Anyway, we left home on Saturday morning at about 8.45 and drove to Edinburgh airport. It is only in the departure lounge that I found out we were off to... Gatwick... So the husband started to try and make me believe we were off to Brighton... I didn't really buy it though. Which was just as well because at Gatwick we followed the signs for "flight connections", indicating that the destination may be slightly more exotic than the British seaside (nothing against it mind you!).
When we got to departures I had a choice on the board between Georgetown, Venice and a few other places I can't remember....
So off we went to Venice, and yes it was THE place I really wanted to go to! The BA flight took us to Marco Polo airport, and once there we got onto the local bus to the Piazzale Roma, at the entrance of the city. Then we found the waterbus which ferried us into proper Venice, where there are no cars, no scooters, no mopeds and no bicycles... The only way to get around is to walk or take a boat of some kind. It's quite unreal because it makes the place eerily quiet!
H had booked at the Hotel American, very near the centre (click here to see it), where our room looked onto a canal!
We pretty much spent the whole of Sunday walking around the city, from our hotel to San Marco and getting lost in all the tiny streets. On Monday morning I opened my present, which came in a huge box! It was the beautiful Swiss watch I had chosen a couple of weeks before. We then got a boat to the island of Burano, a fishing community north of Venice. What a pretty place this was! Colourful houses line the streets and canals; in a way it is a miniature Venice without the tourist traps! On the way back we stopped off briefly at Murano, the birthplace of the famous Murano glass. The island consists mostly of glass factories and glass shops selling all you can think of made of glass... Then, back in Venice we had a look around the Palazzo Grassi, which had a modern art exhibition on (we got to see some Damian Hirst pieces, including 2 cows cut up and exhibited in massive formaldehyde tanks), as well as a Picasso show.
After a rest we went out again for my birthday dinner. We chose a typical Venetian trattoria tucked away on a tiny street. The food didn't disappoint, with scallops, sea bass and fabulous chocolate cake. yummy yummy yummy.
Finally, on Tuesday we made it to the Rialto market (by the famous eponymous bridge) and went back to San Marco to visit the basilica. The Piazza San Marco was actually starting to be flooded, with little ponds forming here and there, and we had to walk on raised walkways to enter the church!
To give you a taste of things, here are a few images...
A canal near San Marco:
On the Rialto Bridge:
The birthday girl in Burano:
Burano... a house, one might say, slightly OTT...
A beautiful tranquil view:
A Carnival mask:
Yes, the pigeons of San Marco are for real!
And the stripy poles too...
We had some for lunch on Tuesday...
I am putting the more "arty" photos on my dedicated picture site, so have a look there in a few days for more images of Venice...
Maylis
2 comments:
Waow chanceuse ! J'avais adore Venise ; j'aimerais beaucoup y retourner avec mon mari qui lui ne connait pas.
first : happy birthday (even if i am late).
what a wonderful husband you have!
voilà je stoppe là mes tentatives en anglais.
c'est une des destinations que me réclame mon second fiston mais mon homme n'est pas tenté... l'ingrat.
je laisse tout de meme Venise sur ma liste!
bravo pour tes photos!
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