Blogs from Veneto, Italy, Europe

A long but most interesting day. We took a longer but more beautiful route to Spilimbergo to view the Scuola Mosaicisti Del Furiuli mosaic school where students spend 3 years to learn the art of the mosaic craft. The route to the town took us along the foothills of the Dolomite mountains through rolling countryside covered with trees. NZ could surely look at how trees should be left on the landscape instead of felling it all for farming. What is noticiable is that there are virtually no animals and this is because there is not money in beef or sheep farming. Growing grapes seems to be the alternative as it is in many parts of the world. I wonder when saturation point will arrive. ? Back to mosaics. The school is entirely fitted out with mosaic ... read more

Again, our dear friends at online travel website, Savoteur have graced us with yet another list. These are places they want us to visit but only once. But I do agree with them on some choices. Las Vegas Well, I am somewhat biased, since we have dear friends who live there. We spend little to no time on the Strip or Downtown. In previous years, we met my Mom and many family members in December to celebrate her birthday. And we always stayed downtown. Disney World I agree, once is enough. But if you have young kids or grandkids, you are on the hook for another visit. Venice Once was too much, smelly, dirty, quite expensive, overrated. But the people were nice. It might be the worst place I have ever visited! Athens I could not ... read more

Romantic Verona and lake Garda -Piprey on wheel Romantic Italy 'Un bel di Vedremo' is a famous song of Madame Butterfly opera where the Japanese wife pines for her American navy husband to come back to her in Nagasaki. Imagine, watching a spectacular opera in a 1000-year-old arena which today seats 16,000 people; from where the mighty Romans once watched bloody sports! Such song, music, food and social life is inherent in Italian culture, making it stand out rather flamboyantly against the sober character of Northern Europe. Back to present world, all London airports had an airport traffic control failure. Hence, over 1900 flights were cancelled over 2 days. Fortunately, the backlog got cleared by the time my Lufthansa flight took off to Munich. From Munich to Verona it was Air Dolomite which was turbu... read more

Here we go again! Another day, another early start, another breakfast! Today we were up at 6:30, in breakfast, then setting off for Venice at 7:30. It’s now 8:47, I’ve had an hour long nap. I seem to get up tired every morning, I guess it’s because we pack a lot into each day, so it’s worth it! On the coach, we were able to enjoy the diversity of the Italian landscape as the tour travels onwards to Venice! At 10:00am, we have a welcome comfort stop at another Autogrill truck stop. This one is at Nadia Al Pino Est. We all have this routine down to a fine art now. A quick cappuccino and a croissant for me, then we’re good to go! I’ve just contacted Tom, hopefully we will be able to make time ... read more

Sunday - 30 Apr 23 - Rome Now checked into the NH Collection Vittorio Veneto Hotel in Rome for three nights. Leaving Rome on Wednesday 3 May by train for Venice. The ship docked at 6am right on schedule and we debarked at 7:30am joining Keryn and Garth for the transfer to our respective hotels in Rome. Two other couples in the van and Mario the driver did a great job of stacking the boot with the luggage - see the photo. We all had money on the fact that he would not be able to do it. The transfer took about an hour (70 Euro a couple) and worth every penny to transfer direct from ship to hotel. Arrived at the hotel at about 9:15am and checked in but our room not ready until 3pm. ... read more