There is nothing better for maritime lovers to be out on the water, in any capacity,
even while on holiday! Today we boarded our ferry and set off for our water adventure in Venice. The day was so –
unusually, we found out – warm and balmy – the water was so calm that we could have
reached out and trailed our fingers in the water, and the sky was so
blue…. We travelled past the extensive mud
flats with a few birds flying here and there, and landed on the formally arranged
tree bordered Cemetery Island. Extensive, well maintained, and still to be
completely filled, this sanctuary presented a preliforia of family histories of
the area – some still in their telling. The monuments also offered a history of
memorials over time, in the area. After
a time of peace and reflection we cruised to Murano,
an island not only renowned for its lace making, but for its colourful houses
lining its canals. We all disembarked, admiring the colourful buildings with
their closed doors and drapes, suspecting that their inhabitants might have
felt like goldfish in a bowl! However we tourists all strolled merrily by, occasionally
dropping into the few lace and souvenir shops that were still open during this
off-season, admired the island’s thick furred cats and all arrived at the one
restaurant that was open to enjoy lunch
off an Italian styled family run ‘international’ menu which very
efficiently catered for the huge variety of ethnic groups that called by. We
thoroughly recommend the soup of the day! Upon our return to the ‘mainland’ we
chattered with some very interesting people from China and Germany who had ‘popped over to Venice’ for a few days break.
Oh if only we could do the same…… We
concluded this lovely autumn day by strolling past St Mark's Square through Venice’s very exclusive
hotel and shopping area, noting that the Christmas decorations were appropriate
to people who might shop in this area. For our last supper in Venice we dined like royalty at another
family restaurant - Trattoria Vittoria that we discovered upon another visit
and again enjoyed the décor, authentic Italian food and hospitality. Next day we travelled by train - you might have noticed that pic of the water
as we travelled along the causeway from Venice on to Bologna – our next adventure in Italy…..
Showing posts with label last supper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label last supper. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Sunday, January 18, 2009
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.....
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.....
Saturday, January 17, 2009
No queues anywhere in Milan on this winter day except....
On our first morning morning in Milano we woke up to very unusual quiet noise outside.
No footprints of people trotting to work, no noisy traffic queueing, even though we were not on a main street.
Then we looked out of the window.
A winter scene awaited us. Huge soft billowy snow flakes! Falling swirling, softly down. It had obviously been snowing for a while, as everything had about 6 inches, or a palm span, of snow - trees, parked cars fences, footpaths, motor cycles - wait til you see the pics when I work out how to load them! What was most amusing that nobody pushed the snow off their vehicles before driving off! So all moving traffic had a thick layer of snow of top - like a layer of icing.
After breakfast Chris and I set off walking in the snow to our arranged time to view the famous Last Supper fresco which we anticipated was about half an hours walk away.
What fun it was, walking in the crunchy snow! I have not done so for years!! We soon found out that it is best to walk where someone else has been so that we do not walk into pot holes, and that the salt which is liberally scattered everwhere quickly turns the snow to much wet slush in the gutters and to ice on the roads where no ice has been scattered.
To our surprise, we were a day early for our booking!! So back to trudging along the Milano city pavements in the snow - fun..... Then we discovered a very interesting art exhibition by a renowned Italian Artist Sifano (pardon spelling - will change it in due course) of his work from the 1960´s to 1990s. Some of it was nostalgic because during this time the role and acceptance of modern art, along with protests etc in the sixties and seventies was rather contraversal. I am sure that there is a website somewhere.
For much of the day we wandered around the city square, visited the Duomo, which looks very clean having had the outsides restored to their marble coloured glory, but the inside was still dark, and visited Chris´favourite department store Rinascente (pardon spelling). We found out that many of these particular stores have, when they can, roof top cafes often out in the open. This one looked straight out to the Duomo at roof height - an excellent way to view the beautifully carved roof top. I went up to the roof on an earlier visit to Milan about 8 years ago a stunning and peaceful place to rest and reflect, especailly, as at that time, there were thousands of visitors down below! There was a much smaller crowd there today - another reason for travelling to Europe in winter!! Oh and did I mention the Milano sales? And the people travel to Milano to go shopping at the winter sales?? Wait for my next blog......
No footprints of people trotting to work, no noisy traffic queueing, even though we were not on a main street.
Then we looked out of the window.
A winter scene awaited us. Huge soft billowy snow flakes! Falling swirling, softly down. It had obviously been snowing for a while, as everything had about 6 inches, or a palm span, of snow - trees, parked cars fences, footpaths, motor cycles - wait til you see the pics when I work out how to load them! What was most amusing that nobody pushed the snow off their vehicles before driving off! So all moving traffic had a thick layer of snow of top - like a layer of icing.
After breakfast Chris and I set off walking in the snow to our arranged time to view the famous Last Supper fresco which we anticipated was about half an hours walk away.
What fun it was, walking in the crunchy snow! I have not done so for years!! We soon found out that it is best to walk where someone else has been so that we do not walk into pot holes, and that the salt which is liberally scattered everwhere quickly turns the snow to much wet slush in the gutters and to ice on the roads where no ice has been scattered.
To our surprise, we were a day early for our booking!! So back to trudging along the Milano city pavements in the snow - fun..... Then we discovered a very interesting art exhibition by a renowned Italian Artist Sifano (pardon spelling - will change it in due course) of his work from the 1960´s to 1990s. Some of it was nostalgic because during this time the role and acceptance of modern art, along with protests etc in the sixties and seventies was rather contraversal. I am sure that there is a website somewhere.
For much of the day we wandered around the city square, visited the Duomo, which looks very clean having had the outsides restored to their marble coloured glory, but the inside was still dark, and visited Chris´favourite department store Rinascente (pardon spelling). We found out that many of these particular stores have, when they can, roof top cafes often out in the open. This one looked straight out to the Duomo at roof height - an excellent way to view the beautifully carved roof top. I went up to the roof on an earlier visit to Milan about 8 years ago a stunning and peaceful place to rest and reflect, especailly, as at that time, there were thousands of visitors down below! There was a much smaller crowd there today - another reason for travelling to Europe in winter!! Oh and did I mention the Milano sales? And the people travel to Milano to go shopping at the winter sales?? Wait for my next blog......
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