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  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    Day 74

    Home again

    May 29, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    29/5 Home again
    Here we are at home – after ten weeks our house was in good order, only one spider in the bath and a praying mantis in the handbasin.

    We enjoyed our last few days with the extended family, Jen dropped us off at the airport this morning at 3.45, back in Nelson at 5.45 after an aborted landing due to (I think) cloud cover over the city, then a long turn around back for another go, thank goodness it wasn’t too bumpy.

    Stand-out statistics for the holiday:
    Two special weeks each with the families in Poland and Sydney
    16 countries
    One amazing cruise that I wish could have been at least twice as long
    Two excellent food tours
    13 airports
    12 beds and three couches – most were comfy, thank goodness
    One less-than-great hotel but the rest were good
    Numerous train stations in various countries
    Less than five live cats – but lots of others in paintings, statues etc
    NO rollercoaster rides, we had the chance but we’re not that silly
    One Italian train pass – never to be repeated unless the app is easier to use
    Six laundrettes – Pete is a champion laundrymaid on the cruise and three countries
    Several Bellini cocktails
    Maybe a few too many pizzas?

    I’m ready to set off to Europe again, but Pete would like a rest. Thanks for joining us on our travels, let’s do it again sometime.    Read more

  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    Day 69

    Last days of our adventures

    May 24, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    20-29/5 Heading home
    Our visit to Venice over, we took a vaporetto to the station and had a five hour train ride to Rome, a bit longer than expected due to flooding in northern Italy having affected train services around Bologna and Florence. It was blue skies, snow on the mountains we could see from the Venice lagoon, and the last of the pretty Tuscan countryside before the big city again. We had a five minute walk to Casa di Amy http://www.lacasadiamy.com/ , a family-run place that owns several apartments that they’ve turned each one into three-room ensuite accommodation with a common hallway, quite clever really, all within one block dating back to (I think) 1883, a pretty courtyard and an office area. We stayed there five years ago and other friends have been there too, very handy to transport and eating places. Covid has changed things though, they used to have a really nice breakfast but don’t offer it any more, and our room wasn’t as nice, but it was economical regardless.

    Pete’s knee was a bit sore and since it was after 3pm we decided to get the hop on/hop off bus from round the corner to fill in time, ended up doing almost two rounds because part way through we got the front top seat with a great view. Colosseum, Forum, St Peter’s dome in the distance, and other sights, lots of tourists everywhere – and dozens of tiny electric cars, quite a few of them parked at right angles to the rest of the parked cars.

    We had KFC for tea, and spent the evening in our room with gelato for dessert and a complimentary bottle of Prosecco from the management, watched a saved TV series and that was it – Europe ended on Friday morning after the morning’s short train trip to Fiumicino airport.

    The flights to Sydney via Dubai were long (7 hours, 3 hours stopover, 14 hours) though the check-in process in Rome was incredible: we were off the train, walk to the terminal, had a quick snack, checked in, through immigration and x-rays, all within 65 minutes. Puts Auckland to shame.

    We got to Sydney at 10pm Saturday night, met by Jen, and a quiet Sunday with a picnic at the park and just family time.

    Monday 22/5 – off we went in two cars to Bowral, lovely town of around 12,000 people in the southern highlands between Sydney and Canberra, lots of autumn colours, nice houses (some with big gardens full of trees), a really good looking hospital with mainly two-storey brick buildings, seems to be quite new – Nelson hospital should be so lucky! Our Air BnB in Bowral was very comfortable, plenty of room for us all, outlook onto a creek with autumn trees, ducks, we saw a couple of coloured parrots, magpies.

    The creek – a warning in the house book that there’s a ‘one in a hundred year flood risk’ and instructions for safe evacuation! And driving round the area we’ve seen water depth warnings with depth gauges showing two meters high, makes you wonder.

    Holiday time so on Tuesday it was the playground and a big walk for two boys with their dad and granddad. Had a nice lunch at a place called Dirty Jane’s https://www.dirtyjanes.com/, definitely not how it sounds. It’s an enormous vintage store full of everything from vintage clothes to new jewellery, an old merry-go-round horse, old and new homeware, furniture…….you name it and I’m sure it will be in that shop.

    Took a drive after that to a winery Vince had been to for a work function, Bendooley Estate, which has a very nice café as well as a bookshop selling new and second-hand books – apparently they just roll the bookshelves away when it’s needed for a function https://bendooleyestate.com.au/book-barn/. I could have spent a lot longer looking around the shelves, they had everything. Definitely not Founders book sale. There's a simple lawn area, garden with daffodils up, it will be a mass of yellow in a few weeks.

    Wednesday we had a walk in the morning and in the afternoon Pete went to the Don Bradman Museum https://internationalcrickethall.com/, cricket fans eat your heart out, he said it was excellent; Don Bradman comes from Bowral.

    Pete and I are going to stay Thursday night with friends ex-Singapore and on Friday the Brisbane rellies will be in town for the weekend so we’ve got lots more family time coming up before heading back home on Monday, back to real life.    Read more

  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    1
    Day 62

    Venice and Verdi

    May 17, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    17/5 Venice
    It’s raining again…..same as yesterday, umbrellas, jackets etc. Slow breakfast and finally set out after 10.30, onto the vaporetto then a walk through the back alleys to the big white Santa Maria della Salute, across from St Mark’s Square, and the previous three times we’ve been to Venice I’ve wanted to have a look. At the moment there’s a reno going on with big scaffolding around it so I’ve stolen this photo. Inside it’s surprisingly white (no obvious bling, until you look for it) with a huge dome above that lets in all the light, and there are several small chapels around the sides, some with beautiful altar fronts and all with the type of metal gate we saw yesterday, some solid beaten patterned metal and some ‘iron lace’.

    I don’t think I’ve said that in a lot of places we’ve been able to get a discount for seniors, both of us being over 65, a couple of euro so it’s worth asking – for instance this church was $3 instead of $5 to go into the sacristy to see their important paintings. The main sacristy has ceiling patients by Titian and a very large Tintoretto ‘The Wedding at Cana’ which shows light patterns of light shining through windows onto the tables and people. Very, very clever. In a side room there was a very beautiful altar front around two meters long, paintings and gold leaf on it.

    Vestments belonging to Pope John Paul 1 who didn’t live very long in that role: a red cloak, white coat (I have seen the current Pope in something the same), tunic and a couple of other things.

    Next quest was ‘find a traghetto’, the gondola water taxis with two rowers who take you across the Grand Canal in three or four places; we’d seen the sign on the way to the church but there was an ‘alley block’ when we got out so went through the rabbit warren to find it. It takes a couple of minutes, 2 euro each, just wait at the jetty until you’re seen from the other side. The other people on the boat kindly took a photo, slightly out of focus, but we like it.

    On the St Mark’s side a few minutes walk took us to Palazzo Zaguri, a 14th century palace now used for exhibitions but previous owner Senator Zaguri was apparently great friends with Casanova and yesterday’s erotic poet, Baffo, both of whom would have been frequent visitors. Today’s fun fact.

    The current exhibition is the treasures of Tutankhamun, a good place to visit on a wet day and it kept us occupied on three floors (sloping terrazzo, you could have rolled jaffas on them, quite an odd feeling walking in parts). They had audio guides but they were very wordy and we gave up, there was so much to see and good reading notes that you could skim if you wanted, and you were blinded by all the gold eventually. All the items were copies, we found out at the end, having wondered if a few which were in glass cases may have been real, but the detail in most of them was incredible; inlay of jewels (probably glass), delicate painting…..it was really well done.

    There were two virtual reality films with headsets, one which took you through the door into the tomb and through all the treasures and the other……neither of us can remember, there had been so much to see, and the room was full of yelling 9/10-year-old kids that we could barely hear the commentary. They were rushed through the rooms from the exit, seemed only to look at very little, and rushed out while we were looking at the three caskets – wouldn’t you think the teachers would at least point them out, that death mask is one of the world’s greatest treasures and the smallest one even had a replica of a mummified body.

    It was well worth visiting, very interesting and a great opportunity to see all of these items from simple headrests, chairs and beds to the coffins, golden chariots and so much jewellery.

    We had a quick, late lunch in a busy little place with takeaway pizza and cicchetti (we ate in), delicious apple pastries for dessert – there are lots of places like that tucked away. Back to the hotel to do a bit of packing up, had dinner at the Asian place across the street (good food) and then it was off to Scuola Grande di San Teodoro for Verdi’s Four Seasons – a bit of culture to round off the Italian adventure.

    https://www.scuolagrandesanteodoro.it/en/home-2/ This is a late 16th century building, now a conference venue and concert hall throughout the year with a couple of programmes running. We’d seen light opera here a few years ago, well worth a visit. It’s free seating so we paid for ‘skip the line’ front three row seats and got there early so were in the front row. Neither of us is musically minded but it was amazing to see the skill of the violinists from two meters away. It was a really lovely evening, and of course on the way home………gelato from the shop next to the hotel. Even at 10pm there was a short queue.

    And that’s all for the Italian adventure. We’ll be in Rome early tomorrow afternoon, not sure what we’ll do, then it’s off to the airport for our Friday afternoon flight to Sydney. Eight weeks gone in a flash!    Read more

  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    Day 62

    Around and about Venice

    May 17, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    A few extra photos taken this week. It's so pretty with all sorts of little hidden places when you look left, right and up and down.

  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    Day 61

    Another church, another St Peter

    May 16, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌬 18 °C

    Second stop was Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Friary, that huge brick church famous for two Titian paintings and Titian’s burial place which is a very big marble memorial. There’s just too much to describe but first of all I have to say that as much as I love old European churches with their contrasts of complete simplicity or totally over-the-top bling, I really don’t love religious paintings regardless of famous painters. But there was enough bling to keep me happy and a once-over of the very large paintings was enough. https://www.basilicadeifrari.it/archivio-opere/

    It’s still a working church with ornate side chapels, but some are simple too including the chapel for St Peter which had frescos discovered in 1990 having been covered up for about 500 years. And we saw St Peter again (there is a theme to this) in an altar piece, he’s second from the left in the painting. The main altar painting is by Titian, beautiful, surrounded by stained glass. The church was very quiet, everyone spoke in whispers. There were burials in the floor and the tombstones were wearing very smooth from centuries of footsteps.

    They had a video playing about the restoration of some of the pieces and you could look out onto the cloisters, a very peaceful grassed area with a few flowers, marble columns.

    It was raining again when we left so we shot into the closest restaurant for lunch, spoiling ourselves again, found ourselves in Taverna de Baffo with low lights, lots of wine bottles around the walls, musical instruments. Who was Baffo? We had to google him and found that he was:
    ‘The author of a corpus of over 1200 poems in Venetian. Despite being the author of a not small number of works against the corruption of his city, above all of the clergy, and on philosophical themes, Baffo remains known above all for his licentious compositions. One comment said he was ‘the greatest erotic poet ever, and at the same time, one of the greatest lyric poets’.
    Interesting man by the looks of it. And the food was good too, emphasis on seafood so I had scallops gratin with grilled vegetables and Pete had seafood pasta………and a Bellini too, just because we could (again). They had Sam Smith playing in the background, I like his music.

    We were aiming for the Mocenigo museum which looked to be a perfume and costume museum but wasn’t quite as expected https://mocenigo.visitmuve.it/it/il-museo/perco…, however it was interesting to see all the rooms with silk-hung walls, great swathes of silk drapes, painted ceiling beams, period furniture and china. The floors were all terrazzo, I think it’s quite ugly but it’s everywhere in Italy, old and new. There’s a room devoted to the Mocenigo family archives, 205 bound volumes dating back to the 11th century and much of their contents haven’t yet been studied. There were some costumes within the exhibits, and a room with several dozen embroidered waistcoats on display, but not as much as I’d hoped to see.

    We were interested in a video about the perfume industry in Venice and this sums it up, quite amusing in parts https://www.seevenice.it/en/perfume-and-scents-… - people who smelled good were a bit suspicious a few centuries ago it seems. Soap was developed in Venice but stolen away by Marseille in the 16th century. There was a display of perfume ‘fixatives’, different smell combinations and one room had dried flowers and herbs on platters, what a delicious smell. Other displays were of perfume bottles, some of them so tiny including the blue bottle attached, it was less than 2cm tall.

    Of course at the end there was the usual ‘exit through the shop’ and several testers of expensive perfumes, I had a couple of sprays of one called something like Essence of Venice (can’t remember exactly), I liked it but it was stronger than I’d realised and I walked around with quite a waft of it following me.

    Pete’s knee was a bit tender and the rain persisted so we got a vaporetto to Rialto and walked back to the hotel – going past the Bank of Italia I noticed the guard with a rather large gun, no robberies going to happen there. The evening was very quiet, we binged the latest series of ‘Endeavour’ in front of a takeaway pizza from along the street, nice and relaxed. Actually I'm craving chicken or tomato soup and toast, I know what I'll be eating when we get home, that and marmite toast.    Read more

  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    Day 61

    The start of a day of beauty

    May 16, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    16/5 Venice in the rain
    We woke to rain, looked out the window to see umbrellas up, jackets and rain ponchos on the street, so didn’t rush for breakfast and didn’t rush out but had to get moving towards 11 and retraced some of our steps from last night. Had to be really careful too, the paving stones on all the alleys are really slippery if you don’t have the right footwear, which I didn’t.

    First stop was Scuola Grande di San Rocco which we’d seen last night, website attached if you are interested as it gives information and many more photos than I could ever take. It’s famous for Titian, Tintoretto and other artists http://www.scuolagrandesanrocco.org/home/ There’s a fairly empty, columned room on the ground floor with very big paintings, I was looking at the babies in one painting (see attached), then saw the title ‘The Circumcision’, poor wee mites. I can’t help thinking the paintings are all dark though it would take a fortune to clean them all, must have been a sight when new.

    Next we headed up a long stone staircase flanked by more big paintings, to another massive room with a colourful tiled floor and beautiful painted ceiling – they provide magnifying mirrors the size of a tray for you to walk around and stand under the paintings, Pete tried it but got a bit dizzy. The walls are covered in more paintings but also, spaced a couple of meters apart, beautifully carved wooden statues, each over a meter tall; wooden statues are my favourites. Wasn’t too keen on the bare-breasted women ranged along one side, not sure what those monks got up to back in the day, but on the other side the statues were stunning, all of people doing something. I think my favourite looked like a servant; he has a set of bellows for the fire. Another was reading a book and………number 3 favourite had and Akubra, just like Pete!

    Up yet another staircase to a smaller room full of display cases, the treasury and my favourite was this little man, about 3cm tall, part of a large candlestick and really delicately made.

    Next stop - see the next entry....    Read more

  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    1
    Day 60

    Water or gin or prosecco or wine or.....

    May 15, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    15/5 Food tour
    When we were in Barcelona we did a food tour with the company Devour, it was excellent and we thought we’d try them in Venice, so pleased we did, it’s one of the best tours of any sort I’ve done. The tour leader, Jennifer, was an Aussie but had lived in Venice for 40 years. There were only four others on the tour, two from Florida and two from Bristol probably aged in their fifties, and we all got on like a house on fire: travel, sport (err, not me), food, history, all sorts. In the end the tour went for 4 ½ hours rather than the advertised 3 ½, Jennifer was hard pushed to break it up even then.

    We’d got a vaporetto to St Toma station and met the others in a piazza a couple of minutes away. There was a bit of time waiting for one couple, nice to have time to look in a couple of mask and costume shop windows. We got some history and general Venice information as well as food and Venetian specialities. Looking at the masks we were told about the Plague Doctor (stolen photo) who would fill the hollow beak with herbs to mask the smell of death, and would go into houses, prod the victims to see if they were alive or dead, then carry on. On the other hand, the dresses in the windows were beautiful!

    Right where we stood we learned there was a centuries-old cistern with a well on top – every big and small piazza in Venice has them, every time you cross a bridge you’re going onto another island and they all needed water. This was collected through special drains, fed through a sand-type filter system and stored, doled out in very small quantities to the population. It was rationed, two quarts each, and the system worked until the 1800’s, now water comes through a series of aqueducts from the mountains and it’s estimated that each resident and visitor uses 300 litres per day now!

    The penalty for tainting the water was execution, it was so precious.

    We had our first cicchetti in that piazza, small snacks on bread (one a creamy mashed fish each and then we could choose our second from ham, salami, cheese, all tasty) plus an Aperol spritz which is popular in Venice. Then off we went, and this was a part of Venice we hadn’t been around so we saw new places. Just around the corner she talked about the huge Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari church so we earmarked that to visit on Tuesday, these churches are huge, and as Jennifer had said earlier, along with a piazza and cistern/well, each little island had a church and they must have cost so much to build. Very rich and very poor people in those days, the rich buying their way to heaven.

    A hundred meters away was the Scuola Grande di Sainte Rocco, another place that went on our list. I can’t recall everything we were told, but the second stop wasn’t far away and out came the prosecco with a platter of meats, cheese and bread. It was around here that we had a look at a fruit and vegetable boat tied up, no need for a shop, just bring the boat around the canals and people will line up. Very nice-looking asparagus there and peaches I noticed. The third stop was for wine and a small square cheese-stuffed ‘puff’ of dough – and just as well we continued walking. She pointed out a 15th century building that looked on its last legs but………isn’t that a Banksy? Yes, Banksy was in Venice and the theme had been a shipwrecked/migrant child in the San Pantalon area. Photos attached.

    On these food tours you know not to over-eat during the day and our fourth stop was for a plate of pasta flavoured with anchovies, a bit too fishy for the Americans who didn’t eat it but I managed half – Pete was happy to help me out. And last of all we ended up on the waterfront just along from the big private yacht we’d seen from the vaporetto, sat outdoors and had delicious chocolate gelato and cream with a surprise. A friend of Jennifer’s had always wanted to make his own gin and during lockdown he did this, it’s being manufactured and beautifully presented as you can see – and it’s sold at this lovely restaurant. We were all given a shot, the trick apparently being to use some of it to wash out the last of your gelato. Pete did this, being an affogato fan, so tried it with gin and chocolate instead of the usual affogato icecream, coffee and liqueur. The American woman bought a bottle, beautifully presented in a box. Have a look at the website, it’s a great story https://gindeigin.com/

    So as I’ve said, 4 ½ hours on it was after 8.30pm and the tide was rising quickly so Jennifer needed to get home to the mainland, it was predicted that St Mark’s square would be a couple of inches under water (not sure if that did happen) so we all headed away, or rolled home full of good food and wine. It was a great night; we were all extremely happy at the end.    Read more

  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    Day 60

    Watery Venice

    May 15, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    15/5 Vaporetto in Venice
    After Vicenza we had a couple of hours to spare so jumped on the vaporetto thinking it would take us down the Grand Canal, but instead we did almost a full circuit of the city as you can see in the photo, we hadn’t done that before so it was good to see things from a different angle. The gin palace tied up is apparently rented for $1million per week, 12 suites for guests, large crew. You’d be hard pushed to decide on that beautiful boat or a vaporetto down the canal? We were so lucky with the weather, a beautiful day for Vicenza and being on the water.

    We jumped off at Ospedale (that's where we saw someone moving house in a dinghy) and walked back to the hotel, it only took 15 minutes, nowhere is very far from anywhere else.

    Quick stop at the hotel then we were off to join the Devour food tour. Keep reading for the next report.    Read more

  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    Day 60

    Vicenza for lunch

    May 15, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    15/5 Vicenza for lunch
    We woke to a sunny day so after our fairly standard (but perfectly adequate) breakfast decided to jump on the train and go 45 minutes to Vicenza since a number of people had recommended it. Good idea BUT we had forgotten that on Mondays a lot of European museums are shut….so join us on an internet tour of Vicenza including a look at some of the beautiful buildings designed by the famous architect Palladio https://www.timetravelturtle.com/andrea-palladi… and some other famous buildings, a couple of very tall towers, and a castle at the town gates.

    We had a look inside the cathedral and some back streets, ended up in a big square surrounded by Palladian buildings where we had lunch, it was pretty quiet, not many tourists in Vicenza today. We saw a small wedding group, the bride was a 50-ish woman in a very pretty ivory dress and jacket, lovely flowers and they looked very happy having photos taken in this setting. The café was beside two columns, a bit like the ones in St Mark’s Square in Venice, and there was quite a bother with cheeky pigeons actually landing on occupied tables trying to get food.

    After that we rejoined the main street, peered through the Olympic Theatre gates which I was disappointed to miss seeing, then went back to the station. Not exactly the visit we’d anticipated but we enjoyed the few hours anyway.

    Back at the station we hopped on the vaporetto – see the next entry for some photos on the water.    Read more

  • TravelerHigh seas, family, adventures
    Day 59

    Venice at last

    May 14, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    14/5 Lucca to Venice
    First of all I’d like to say that I do change my clothes, its just that I’ve got black and navy jumpers, a couple of pairs of black pants and some black tops so they have all been washed several times. Looking at the photos this morning it looks as though I’ve had the same clothes on all the time with just a change of scarf.

    Up early and despite Giovanni telling us ‘Go to breakfast at 8.15, early, before you catch the train’ he shooed us away for another quarter hour, but we were already packed up so not to worry. He’s a bit OCD but no complaints at all about our accommodation, we’d definitely recommend it as being extreme value for money. Giovanni called a cab for us and we were in plenty of time for the train.

    On the platform we ran into the Aussie couple from the day before so stood and chatted again, they have relatives in Nelson and had visited a few years ago. They’d also travelled a fair bit so we had that in common. We had a half hour on the train to Pisa (no sign of the tower from the station) then all four of us changed for Florence and what a scrum that was to get onto the train with a case and backpack each, it was absolutely crowded, no seat reservations, and it had three levels (quite an odd configuration in the carriages, some are double decker, some are on the level but with maybe four steps up above the wheels, then down again). We all got seats but Pete was tucked into a corner on a flip-down seat with one bag under his feet, the Aussies’ bags beside him and our other bag tucked into an opposite corner, was impossible to do it any other way as there’s no baggage storage other than above the head and no-one's 20kg case is going up there. Got my book read anyway.

    We had 45 minutes at Florence so it was McDonald’s for lunch standing on the platform, easy. At the stations we again noticed people smoking any old where: lined up to get on a train, waiting on the concourse for track numbers, waiting outside cafes. It’s really not very pleasant to be around. You don’t see many vaping so maybe tobacco is cheap. On the train to Venice we laughed, hearing again the announcement that says ‘This train is going to XYZ, if that is not your destination please get off now’ very sternly.

    We had reservations on the third train so no scrums involved. We noticed some people had the lunch boxes and the staff came through with a trolley once we were under way and this time we understood that they were looking for people who had just got on and were giving them the boxes and wine or hot drinks if they wanted. Having just had McDonalds because we weren’t sure about the lunchboxes on every trip (this is only in business class by the way, that’s what our train pass was for booked seating), we declined. They came through again after the next stop and we realised that we could have actually had one on the train Rome to Milan back on the 7th but there’s no English and just a mutter as they go through the carriages really fast so I think there’s a bit more PR needed as it’s a great service. The people next to us didn’t understand so we helped them out with sign language and they were happy to get a free lunch.

    This trip was on a fast train, got up to about 280k but mostly just under 200kph, and I got my laptop out so caught up on a bit of the blog but also looked out the window. We went for miles alongside rice fields, I googled it and this area is the rice bowl of Italy. In some parts the crop was partly flattened in parts and looked a bit like crop circles. I’ve put in a photo of one of the trains with the Venice Lion on the front, they look really good, we saw several on our trip today.

    Had no trouble getting a Vaporetto pass at the station, found our way to the hotel pretty easily, it's just a short walk from the Rialto bridge, checked in and were settled all within an hour so that was good going. We’d stayed at Hotel da Bruno four years ago, as had a friend from Nelson before that and she’d put us onto it, we were happy to stay again https://www.hoteldabruno.com/en/ When we checked in I asked how they’d got on in the bad floods a year or so ago and the receptionist showed us the flood marker almost two feet up the wall. He said they’d had to renovate/repair/replace much of the ground floor but it still looked the same.

    The oldest part of the building is 14th century, they know that, but the main part where we are he didn’t know other than ‘it’s old and has had many changes and owners’. The rooms are very old-fashioned, in fact I know the wallpaper in our room was around in NZ around 1980 because we had similar in our Tukuka Street living room until we repapered it. The bathroom is tiny but there’s hot water (important as you know), and this time we have a little balcony. No tea-making in the rooms but there’s a jug and teabags by reception so you can help yourself at any time (and don’t have to pay 3 Euro).

    We were happy to put our feet up for a while and later went for a walk around the neighbourhood towards St Mark’s Square. I like looking at the shops, there's tourist tat and countless Murano glass shops (rumour has it that much of it is made in China), and still marvel at the old buildings and countless bridges, old doors and their brass knockers and handles, and there are plaster decorations everywhere you look on buildings and bridges. And you wonder how they manage with the flooding pretty much every year getting into the houses, not just on the Grand Canal but in the alleys too.

    We had dinner at quite a nice place and at last had the iconic Venetian Bellini cocktails BUT Pete’s sea bass was priced on weight, it was quite sizeable and I feel he owes me a small Murano glass cat for that small mistake. However the fish was very tasty and expertly boned and served by the waiter. We got gelato from the shop next door to the hotel, it’s really popular through the day, famous in Venice. A nice way to end our day in Venice, my happy place.    Read more

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