Venice

Well yes as Anna mentioned we went to Venice and have been slack and not updated our blog for a while :-( I have again been sick and very busy at work. So anyway, Venice...

As it was Peter's big 3 0 I thought that we really should make more of an effort then we usually do for our birthdays. We thought about going to the snow, but really there was just too much choice and it all seemed just a little bit hard (we are really very lazy when it come to booking things!) so in a flash of engineering minded inspiration I thought it would be cool to see this city built on 117 marshy islands.

So we booked our flights and our hotel (a treat) and then off we headed. All my work trips had paid off and we got to enjoy the relative quiet of the BMI flight lounge. During this little stay in the lounge, we witnessed a severe lack of patience on someones part and total lack of reason. A guy came in to use the lounge, he was pretty grumpy and pushed his way to the front of the queue (of two people) there were two ladies on the desk, one was dealing with another customer and another was on the phone. He shoved his boarding pass in front of her face and demanded to be let in. Anyway, once she had checked his pass he walked through, only to be told that he business class lounge was upstairs. He wanted to stay downstairs, they wouldn't let him and so he got aggro and called one of them a bi+ch. Sure the rule was silly, but really, he was just a bit dumb. They warned him that they would kick him out if that continued sure enough he did and off he went. I don't know about you but I would rather take a short walk upstairs (or even take the lift) and enjoy a nice comfy rest then walk around Heathrow airport! Anyway, Venice...

We arrived at Venice Airport and got a water bus to St Marks Square. The boat ride was about 45mins long and the sun was setting, how very romantic, never mind the hoards of other people on the boat the uncomfy seats and the smell of engine smoke! It was a really nice intro to Venice. We arrived at St Marks Square and walked off in the direction of our hotel. Now my Google map didn't have St Marks Square on it and so I really was going from memory, anyway, we ended up walking straight past our hotel (also not helped by the very small sign and the street fair outside!). Our hotel was lovely, it was warm and the bed was comfy, the staff were lovely and friendly. Once we had settled in we went out for dinner to a restaurant that a work mate of Peter's had recommended. I think I had the most memorable, yummy meal of my life! I was also a little tipsy on fine Italian wine so can't remember the exact details, plus Peter and I swapped entrees so I'm mixing them up in my head too. What a perfect way to start the weekend. After dinner we went for a little walk around and then back to the hotel for some sleep, thankfully the fair had all shut up for the evening.

Saturday morning (my birthday) we had a daylight explore of the area we were in around St Marks Square and then headed over to Murano which was like a ghost town, there was no-one there! We did get herded into a glass blowing demonstration which was amazing to see, but we didn't buy anything, it was all a bit tacky really. Sure it looked lovely on mass but I'm sure if you took one piece away then it wouldn't seem quite right. Maybe that is unfair, there were some shops that had some lovely glass sculpture that if I had a spare few thousand euros I probably would have bought. The day was of course finished off with another meal (not quite as good as day one) but still yummy!

Sunday was another walking tour day, and of course we needed to be back at the hotel at 12:30 to get our backs and get a water bus back to the airport. Unknown to us this was the opening day of Carnival in Venice. There were so many people! and lots of people in costume. After a little walk around we tried to return to our hotel only to get well and truly stuck in St Marks square to watch some of the festivities, not so bad but it was a bit nerve racking. We did make our flight, just and then we were back on our way home. On the way back we had the worst turbulence I've ever had, people were screaming and I'll admit I was nervous and clinging on to Peter for dear life. It didn't help that I had just ordered a hot chocolate!

It was a totally lovely weekend and I would love to go back, but I don't think I could handle it in summer.

Photos are here