Venice Part II

Eric here. I wanted to post some additional photos from our trip to Venice. I think it is one of the must-see cities due to its abundance of opulent renaissance (and older) art and architecture crammed onto to small islands that are slowly sinking into the Adriatic Sea.

The audacity to build these amazing buildings on what was only a muddy lagoon is impressive to say the least.

You have to remember that Venice has no cars or bicycles, no roads or proper streets. It is all narrow stone pedestrian lanes or water canals. So, you either walk or take the water taxis or water buses or if you have loads of money, a gondola.

Kusi and I really enjoyed a classical music performance we went to in what was an old church. The group consisted of 4 violins, viola, cello, bass and harpsichord. They played mostly the works of native son Antonio Vivaldi including his famous 'Four Seasons'. The group had a flamboyant celloist that made the show. Here is a link to their website where you can have a listen to them - Interpreti Veneziani.

One of the main highlights of Venice is San Marco Piazza. Kusi described the church and piazza in her Blog but it is so impressive, I wanted to show you two more views. One of me standing outside.

And the next one taken from above the piazza in the Bell Tower where I was freezing my butt off.

I have included a photo of one of my favourite pastimes - eating Italian Ice Cream also known as Gelato. Doesn't get much better than this. That's Pistachio in case you are wondering.

We visited a small collection of machines that Leonardo Da Vinci designed. The exhibt wasn't that good as it was billed as "interactive" but wasn't in the least bit. But, they did have some fascinating things including his obsession with trying to figure out how to make man fly.

On our snowy Sunday we took a tour of the famed La Fenice Opera House. Transalated as "The Phoenix", this gorgeous and appropriately named opera house has burnt down and been rebuilt a number of time. We were only allowed to take pictures in the foyer.

It was lovely weekend, a wonderful experience and great to be back in Italy. Next up, Japan!

Anniversary in Venice

This February myself and Eric had our third wedding anniversary and to celebrate we decided to avail of Easyjet's super-cheap flights and go to Venice. Neither myself or Eric had been there before and were very excited. We arrived on a Friday and the weather was fantastic - vivid blue skies and balmy sea air.

We took the vaporetto (water-taxi) to get to our hotel. I must say that it was great to be near the sea again. We were spoiled when we lived in Monkstown and I really miss it in Berlin.

Anyway, back to Venice. What a beautiful and, as one friend called it, 'improbable' city! It is basically a mass of winding narrow alleyways and criss-crossing canals. And the water is really a deep sea-green.

Some of the alleyways are very narrow indeed. It is so easy to get lost in Venice, but then again so easy to get back on track again. We really loved how easy the city was to walk around. However, the bridges are deceptively easy-going. Our second day there my hips and Eric's left calf (!?) felt like we had done a couple of hours on a stair climber. Hardgoing, unless you are Ceci of course! Well actually it just meant that we had to schedule more cappucino stops the rest of our time there. Not so hardgoing I suppose!

On the Saturday we took in all the major sights including the impressive early morning fish market where all the mamas and papas buy their fresh fish. Myself and Eric 'ooohed' and 'aaaahed' our way through the market.

Then it was straight to the Basilica di San Marco. Unfortunately they didn't allow any photos to be taken, though many of the tourists just completely ignored the many signs. I didn't take any as it felt it would be disrespectful to do so (I'm a believer that no means no). Anyway, I don't think the photos would have, or could have done the place justice. The entire ceiling inside was one huge gold mosaic, depicting many scenes from the bible. It was what I imagine the great pyramids to be like, or one of the seven wonders of the world.

This is a picture of the roof of the basilica taken from the top of the nearby belltower. The weather really turned on the Saturday. It as absolutely freezing in the belltower.

Little did we know that this drop in temperature meant snow! Yes, it snowed while we were there (see our pic for proof). Apparently they hardly ever get snow in Venice. The other strange thing was that it was also snowing in Berlin, Dublin and Huntington, all at the same time!

No the snow didn't drive us to McDonalds. We just thought the entrance looked so dinky. I think this photo is hilarious. Don't ask me why I'm making such a weird face here or why the girl behind me inside the place looks so shocked. It's like we are watching Eric do something really strange and disturbing! Don't our faces say "what is that man doing???" That aside, we did actually have some very nice meals in Venice, including the best pizza either us had ever eaten. Anyone who know us knows this is high praise - I mean, we have eaten a lot of pizza in our time! Inspired by a travel dvd of chef Anthony Bourdain that Ben sent us, Eric also tried the Venetian specialty of calves liver and onions, which was surprisingly tasty.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and a lovely way to celebrate our three years being married. We would highly recommend it - both visiting Venice and getting married if you were thinking of it.