Travelling around Venice Part 1

My first and  and all time favourite impression of Venice is walking out of the Santa Lucia Railway station, which is just like any other railway station in Italy, into a completely different world. Different buildings, different transport system, different noises – the quiet purrs of canal boats, the low murmurings of people, and No Traffic! 

Today was even better   - there were hardly any people around!   We checked into Hotel Abbazia, one of our favourite  hotels  - beautiful rooms, and foyers and better still, handy to the railway station so you cannot get lost looking for it – on other occasions we have spent much time looking for hotels along Venice’s many narrow and identical (to us) ‘road’ ways – never again……

It is always a delight to stroll around Venice, especially when there are no crowds!  As always upon our visits here, we discover new places.   Today’s discovery was one of a chain of  small Irish pubs!  Not quite the same as other Irish pubs world wide but definitely Irish, warm, friendly and with reasonably priced beer and cheap sandwiches -  ideal for a walking city!  And yes, we were doing a lot of walking on this day – St Marks Square – still no crowds apart from a few groups of tourists, my favourite lingerie shop, the Black Cat  Shop for our Black Cat Calendar, the Rialto bridge and markets and well, generally strolling – oh look – there is another of those little Irish pubs……..

A flying visit and adventure to London and York, England

Hello everyone,

This was a very quick visit to London - the purpose of which was to attend a surprise stag do for Son in law to be, a girls night out for the gals, and to meet incoming family members.

it is always exciting landing in London - and especially so this time as we landed at daybreak - with the sky lightening up in the distance and the many planes landing and leaving the dark Heathrow with all lights flashing - it made us feel as if we were in a star wars movie!

A very busy week it was. We were pleased we that we booked a day trip York, by train which was very pleasant day. The 2 hour trip through green rural land under grey skies passed quickly and we arrived to a cool sometimes rainy day. Our research suggested we visit the York Minster (cathedral) which is the largest Gothic cathedral of its type in England. However you did have to pay to go to various areas which turned out to be rather expensive, so we opted to pay to negotiate the 275 narrow winding stairs to the top of the tower, which gave us an expansive view of York and its surrounds. The old city with its "Shambles" streets was pretty, quaint, and small. The area featured lots of shops, eating places and a market. Great to wander around, Unfortunately we missed the cat shop but we did not miss the Mulberry Lane Porcelain and Crystal shop. Some amazing displays by world renowned companies and artists were here. An ideal place to have a wedding registry if one was well heeled. Probably the most interesting place was the National Railway Museum which nobody told us about. it is so much more than rows of trains! One of the most interesting features was the 'working warehouse' - shelves and shelves of paraphanalia to do with trains (and boats) walls of signs, all either, being, or about to be restored. Furniture, signals, chamber pots, fabrics, photos and paintings, signal boards, significant pieces of timber and metal, model trains and boats, many items to oooh and ah about.

The other 'must visit' when visiting York, England is the JORVIK Viking Centre. As well as featuring an authentic recreated (including the smells) which one travels though gondola, the centre explores the migrations around England from the geneological point of view. This technology is still very new and confirms or refutes original beliefs about the travels and habits of the vikings and other races.

Mid September was an ideal time to visit London, I felt - the days were balmy to cold (if you are from New Zealand or that part of the world), there were not too many tourists around, so not many queues, and the leaves on the trees had not yet turned, so it was like a cool summer's week.

I did discover some 'do nots' while in London;
- don't eat baked beans with a British Big Breakfast
- don't get on the wrong bus
- dont dont dont mix jet lag with cold tablets and alcohol..................

it was awesome catching up with family members, as well as new and old friends! And to have a quick glimpse at the Victoria and Albert Musuem (must check out and book for any special exhibitions before we go, next time) and to duck into the most interesting shop at the Science Museum. Well - that 'quick' visit lasted over 2 hours.... We did enjoy seeing the steam engine in operation! The National Geographic Shop in Regent Street had some interesting displays on too. Pity they have gone into selling heaps of clothes. But the hot chocolate and coffees in their shop next door is well worth the visit.

So now we are back home and looking forward to our next adventure to Australia and to my son's wedding in a couple of weeks......

Monaco - boating paradise in the sun

We travelled by rail from Nice to Monaco. We emerged from the railway station, which is modern, marble paved and set in the middle of the mountain into sunshine, warmth, to a scene crowded with wall to wall boats on the blue waters and wall to wall hotels and apartments piled up against the mountains. After strolling along the waterfront admiring all the yachts we moved on to inspect the Monaco Yacht Club's Racing Mark Laying boat. Instead of using anchors to secure the marks on the ocean floor, we noted that concrete blocks on the end of twine are used. Presumably the twine is cut and the blocks remain on the ocean floor! I wonder what the archeologists in the year 5000 will make of these when researching it for clues of human activities in the year 2009! After retiring to the very modern, classy Monaco Yacht Club for refreshments, we walked to the top of the old town and visited the Aquarium. Built by Prince Albert of Monaco, a passionate ocean and wildlife exporer in the late 1800's, the building hosts many acquariums of unusual and endangered fish and sealife. While inspecting the exhbition, and finding out about the research techniques carried out by Prince Albert and his team, one wonders if these practices would be acceptable today. However the sealife exhibits talk a lot about conservation, preservation and of the aquarium's most successful breeding programme for overseas aquariums. If you ever venture to this neck of the woods, the Aquarium is well worth a visit.

Out into the sunshine again we strolled, and relaxed at one of the cafes near the palace, where royalty still live, to enjoy Monaco's award winning beer. Then, somewhat reluctantly, we wended our way to the beautiful Monaco railway station back to Nice.

Oh, that's right - it is Saturday! Time to watch the New Zealand All Blacks play the French!! And to enjoy the conviviality of the Hotel bar where there is a wide screen TV!

And then, tomorrow, to sunny, exciting Cannes....... uh oh - don't like the look of the clouds - surely that cannot be correct????

A glimpse of Washington

We travelled from New York to Washington by rail - comfortable,you don't have to sit for hours - well - three, and best of all, we arrive at Washington's beautiful Union Station!

When it opened in 1907, it was the largest Railway station in the world. And so beautifully constructed that it looks like an upmarket Shopping Centre.

Washington, the city area around the White House, is spacious - wide streets and footpaths. All the commercial buildings are around the same height, and mostly plain and square, with a few exceptions - mainly some older buidings. Monuments are everywhere - statues, buildings, plaques but the streets are not named after people - they are numbered!! And Washingtonian designers seemed to like pillars, - many of the government buildings feature these. More about these when I get my pics up.

Our most favoured place we visited during our brief visit was the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space - everything you could imagine about those topics were featured - including moonstone which you could touch, rockets, and some stunning art by Alan Bean - one of the first Astronauts on the moon.

We then visited the Museum of Natural History. You may recall the "Night at the Museum" movies - you can actually spend evenings there but I do not know if the animals come alive. I kept looking over my shoulder waiting for Robin Williams to appear on his horse...

One of the most recent museums to open in Washington was the National Museum of the American Indian. Housed in a beautiful purpose built building the museum tells of the struggles and survival of the Indian peoples - very touching, forthright and forgiving. The whole place is a work of art.

Like many cities, Washington pulled down many old buildings until their history and heritage was realized. The Old Post Office, thanks to a very outspoken Lady called Nancy Hanks rallied around and saved it. Today it is a well maintained and dramatic multipurpose building, and visitors may ascend to the clock tower and have a view of the city - which is not a view to die for - but the building is worth the visit!!

So after the necessary tours around the Capitol, Lincoln and Korean Monuments the Reflecting Pool and the War Memorials it was time to travel back by rail to NewYork

More snow in Milano and our last day there

On our last morning in Milan we awoke to even more snow. Thick coatings everwhere!

A different type of winter magic to St Petersburg.

Once again we trudged along in the crunchy and even thicker snow to see the Last Supper fresco. We had booked well in advance, as one must, to see this particular work of art, and the viewing was very controlled. Our group stood silently in awe, gazing at this famous work, painstakingly restored, along with a nearby fresco from the same era, by Olivetti. Well worth the visit.

On the way back to the hotel to await the taxi to take us to the station - too far away to walk trundling our suitcases, I espied a couple of dresses - on sale, of course, in a shop window. ¨Wait here¨I said to Chris. ¨I will not be long.¨

In I went and said to the shop attendant. ¨I want to try on these two dresses and I am in a hurry.¨

¨Let me take your coat¨ he said.¨
Acutally I have three¨I replied.

Önly three? He demures....

A few minutes later Chris and I are back to the hotel, yes, with a dress, and waiting for a taxi to take us along the very snowy streets to the station for our new adventure in Venice. We had originally planned to drive there with friends, via a business call by Chris at Frienze, but this was now not possible because of the snow.

Milano looed even more spectaular today. The traffic, both moving and stationery, had about half a metre of snow on top, the telegraph and tram wires were lined with snow, the large Christmas tree and the statue in the square looked even more dramatic, and the Duomo, with the extra coating of snow all its whitte and gold parapets, looked like a huge fancy Christening cake.

When we finally shused our way to the Milano railway station, the train timetables had been turned topsy turvy by the snowfalls. Some trains to Venice had been cancelled, and ours was delayed by an hour. The Milano Railway station is probably the worst station to stand in in the very cold. There is no shelter, no bars, or shops to pop in to to keep warm. There are only 2 - 3 stand up cafes where you can purchase a roll and a hot drink. These were kept very busy by people, like us, buying food to warm up!

At last, our train was ready and we were off!! And in good time, too, as we found out in the following days, as Milano got colder and whiter. The snow covered ground, as we travelled east towards Venicia, gradually changed from white christmas card scenery to fields and villages lightly covered with snow. Maybe we will have a white holiday in Venice!!

We arrived late in the afternoon at the Venicia Station. This station is like most other European ones - all from the same drawing board, most likely, and Venice is the the end of this particular line.

So it is a great pleasure and change to step out and gaze onto the Grand Canal with some of Venices. beautiful old buildings behind. And the sound of absense motor traffic! Apart frome th quiet purring of canal ferry traffic, of course.

Chris found, on the interet, a lovely hotel just around from the Venice Railway station, and it was very easy to find. In the past, we have stayed in the middle of the city, however the numbering of the buildings of the narrow streets can be rather confusing to new visitors to Venice.

To be continued.....