Venice 26 October 2009

What can we say, Venice is just beautiful. We got up early and walked to the bus to get to the railway station - only a quick walk, once at the railway station we got our tickets, have to say travel around Europe is cheaper than around UK. The train journey was not too bad - about 2 hours - we arrived around 11am and stepped out of the station and it was just stunning, straight to an outlook of canals, homes, street markets, boats ..... beautiful.

Lucky for us that Alberto and Alice know the area well so we headed over a bridge and into the heart of Venice ... yes Venice ... lots of turning, bridges and canals. All along the lanes are front doors to houses, shops and stalls - a real mix of living and working and it just works. We stopped at a glass shop full of beautiful jewellery of Murano glass, beads and trinkets. After thinking I would wait and see we went further into the centre of the city and there were many many more of similar shops but cheaper, of course I did not resist too long and could not pass without purchasing many lovely pieces of glass, beads and well .... lets hope it gets back in one piece.

We stopped and had a lovely lunch that Alice had packed up and then more market stalls and wondering literally just looking and taking it all in. We then walked into a wonderful square http://www.destination360.com/europe/italy/basilica-san-marco Basilica di San Marco is just the most beautiful cathedral, we went inside and walked around but did not go upstairs. Its a huge square with this cathedral at one end and cafes and more around the edge - it is like most other things here beautiful :)

From there we took a short walk and ended up at the edge of Venice with canals changing into the sea, a busy and vibrant place with street markets, boats, water taxis, and lots of people. One of the big associations with Venice, apart from the glass, is the masquarade masks - a huge festival which I hear is every bit as wonderful as it seems. Of course we did buy a mask as people tend to do, would not have brought one at home but when there you just have to. Maddy also got herself a couple of little ones to take home.

We decided to head back around 4pm towards the train station - not that we wanted to leave but ... we took a different walk back and its interesting to be with people who know their way around, I think if on our own we would have been completely lost .... Maddy had a slice of pizza to keep going and we headed on our way. I have included photos of around Venice in no particular order.

The trip back was OK, not too long and some us slept a bit. More coming up but need to go and pack for the weekend away in Belfast and then do some work. Will just add some photos and then will put more up next week .... Florence, Tuscony and more in general and Belfast by then.

It is not letting me load more photos, will try again later.