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Published: November 29th 2011
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Venice
Venice is magic. We had a beautiful loft apartment on the northern aspect of the city in Cannaregio. It is a very residential area with its own atmosphere and some great local restaurants and bars. Each night we left the kids babysitting Oliver while we had a drink and cicchetti or 2 on the 3
rd canal. These are little snacks you have with a drink, often bread with meat, cheese or seafood on top.
I was worried before getting to Venice that one or more of the kids would be in the water, in particular Oliver. This of course was unfounded. Somehow the place works without the visitors swimming. The vaporetti system is great but very expensive so we walked everywhere. The little alleys and lanes that you discover are amazing and we did lose ourselves more than once. Our trusty ipad with it gps came in handy acting not only as a guide for information on different locations but also how to get ourselves out of the maze. Much of the charm of Venice comes from the back streets and campos. We had read that to experience Venice you need to get lost and now I can
understand what they mean. My one suggestion if you are ever going to Venice is to stay away from the main areas as this ensures you will see some of the real Venice.
I mentioned on the Florence blog that we were taking the slow train to Venice with a few stops to save a few euros. This did involve us getting the bus, walking to the station, local train to another station in Florence, train to Bologna and a change of train to Venice. I must say this was Ian’s idea and I did do my fair share of the whinging on the way but we did make it with no issues and saved ourselves another night’s accommodation (although the espresso that was delivered to my seat was very poor!). Coming out of the train station at Venice is like going through into another world. The train station is your portal into a new world. Your first sight of Venice is of the Grand Canal and it only gets better from there.
Our time in Venice involved a lot of walking and general sightseeing. We did make it to the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery and the Doge’s Palace,
where we took the ‘secret tour’ at the palace. This allowed us into areas not normally available for all visitors. Here we saw Casanova’s cell, where he escaped and the old offices and courts of the Royal palace. The main area of the palace was also fascinating with the opulent decoration. Everything was done on a grand scale both in style and size. (On a side note we found a picture in the Prado museum in Madrid depicting a scene from the Doge’s palace.)
Piazza San Marco or, ‘The Piazza’, as it is the only one, (all other squares are called campos) was a surprise as we expected it to have a lot more life. There are a couple of restaurants on the piazza but these charge 9+euros for an espresso so we did avoid these. They have also banned eating take out in the piazza so people tend to come and see the cathederal and sights and move on. Many of the campos or smaller areas provided a lot more atmosphere.
The Peggy Guggenheim Gallery was beautiful. It is set in a magnificent location with a courtyard on the canal. The sculpture garden encourages you just to
sit and take it all in. Once again I say it is great to see these galleries with kids as they see so much that is missed by the adult eye. They took so much pleasure out of a sculpture that reflected back their image in a 3D form. The Jackson Pollack pictures fascinated them and we all had our different favourite paintings. We often see the kids go up to a painting from the side as they see the different ways the paint has been applied. This gallery highlights modern art and was a good contrast to that of the Uffuzi and many of the galleries we will see. Peggy Guggenheim herself must have been an amazing woman with such an eye for what have now become masterpieces. Not an easy task when you consider these pieces were created in her own time.
Venice is known for its seafood and it lives up to its reputation. The seafood markets were to die for. If I had a better kitchen or BBQ the choice was never ending. Oliver was fascinated with the whole swordfish and came running up to Ian asking for 24 euros so he could buy it
and bring it home. We noticed early on that the espresso bars often had a range of seafood available for breakfast. This initially felt odd but after having it, we thought “why don’t we do this everywhere?”. The seafood pasta was like nothing we had tasted before. All I can say is YUM all round, even the gelato was out of this world.
As we did not use the vaporetti system and decided the gondallas were just too much we decided that we would take a private taxi to the airport. AMAZING. If you have to leave Venice this is the only way to do it. The taxis are what you see in all the pictures. It was seriously cool.
All in all I can say Venice has to be one of my all-time favourite places ever. I could spend months here. I might even learn Italian so I could work in the local hospital one day. If I ever win that elusive lottery you will find me in an apartment in one of the many hidden canals.
Alex
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kiane mckinlay
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Spectacular Photo's
Gorgeous photo's Al, so luv the Coat....very chic x