Buon giorno

Good morning all.

As all good things must come to an end we arrived home from Venice yesterday afternoon. We had a fabulous time and it was a great location to both celebrate our Silver Wedding and put my new camera through it's paces.

On Monday we had a bird's eye view of Venice as we circled round to the airport and our taxi boat took the scenic route to the hotel.

We arrived in time to have lunch in the hotel's roof top restaurant, the weather was gorgeous and the views were spectacular.

After a quiet afternoon we got dressed for dinner and after drinks on the rooftop to watch the sunset we made for the terrace restaurant.

It was a lovely balmy evening and as we were quietly enjoying our dessert when a wind got up from nowhere and virtually demolished the terrace.....there were waiters and customers flying everywhere holding onto umbrellas, table cloths etc.....we finished our dessert and picked up all the tableware etc took it inside and had coffees!! It was quite surreal, they had to clingfilm all the seating and tables together to stop them blowing away. As our original honeymoon destination of Jamaica was blown away by hurricane Gilbert the day before we were due to fly we decided it was his ghost come to haunt us lol!!!

Tuesday dawned a little cooler but still gorgeous and after breakfast we headed to St Mark's Square by the hotel's shuttle boat. Things over here were very hectic and after a quick look around the square we headed towards the Rialto Bridge which was just as hectic. We wandered around the little back streets and squares and found a lonesome gondolier. We had a most relaxing half hour trip around the Grand Canal and lots of little quiet back canals.....it was so relaxing had we been any longer I'd have fallen asleep!!!

After a lovely lunch in a little square we headed back towards St Mark's Square and home again.

Wednesday we spent doing excursions - we did the Doges Palace in the morning and went to Murano, Torcello and Burano in the afternoon. It was a little cooler and tried hard to rain but we managed not to get wet and there was a lovely sunset when we were waiting for the shuttle boat home. 

Thursday was spent walking....and I mean walking!! After breakfast we spent two hours walking around Guidecca Island where our hotel was and discovered there were lots of shops and eateries nearby including Harry's Bar where we had a coffee. We then caught the shuttle over to Zattere and walked around there before crossing the Ponte del'Accademia and meandered our way towards the Rialto Bridge, we finally found somewhere to have lunch then just followed the general flow until hubby decided his feet were sore....upon consulting the map we decided we'd arrived at the far side of Venice at the Jewish Quarter and were miles from where we needed to be....so we just had to turn round and re-trace our steps until we found signs back to St Mark's Square.....about five hours of walking in total!!

Views from the Ponte del'Accademia where I got to try out some of the special filters on my camera.

As a final treat we dined at Harry's Bar in the evening, it was lovely just sitting on the water front looking over towards the main island. Our meal was delicious, although expensive but worth it for the ambience.

Now whose idea was it to travel home on Friday the 13th??? My Father must have been turning in his grave....he was very superstitious! Our taxi boat was waiting for us as we checked out of the hotel just before 8.30am so we boarded and set off at speed taking the direct route to the airport.....we didn't get very far before we were joined by four boys in blue who pulled us up for speeding!! After handing over all his paperwork the driver was able to carry on at a much more sedate speed while the police followed behind and processed everything.....once the paperwork was in order they pulled alongside again, got everything signed and sealed and we were allowed on our way again....luckily this was the only hiccup to the journey and we arrived home safe and sound early afternoon.

I'd definitely go back to Venice again but would love to travel home on the Orient Express, luckily hubby has the same dream so hopefully one day it will come true.

I'll try to catch up with you all over the next day or two. Lots of laundry, housework and food shopping to do first though! With over 200 photographs it may take some time to do a scrapbook too!

Carol x