Venice 01 - Mask-erading on our first night

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Unlike our previous 3 trips the weather on the day of travel was 'ot raining.Things were looking up already and I'd only just closed the front door.

The journey to Venice was, for once, uneventful. The train from Hough Green to Manchester International Airport was on time, there was no undue delay getting through security and our EasyJet flight to Marco Polo airport departed on schedule. Arriving In Venice 10 minutes ahead of ETA and walked straight through immigration with the minimum of fuss.

Having been to Venice 6 time before, and to save yet more time, we bought our bus ticket from an automat machine whilst waiting for our luggage to arrive on the carousel.

Despite having visited Venice 6 times before, this will actually be the first time we are staying in Venice itself. Prior to this trip we have stayed in places such as Mestre and Terresa that are small towns that lay outside of the Venice City boundary. The main reason for this is plain and simple: cost. We have always found it difficult to find reasonably priced hotels in Venice with the cheapest rooms costing at least £170 per night whereas 10km away a decent room will cost as little as £55. However, this time, Roisin found an offer too good to refuse at the Hotel Principe on the banks of the Grand Canal only 400m from where the bus drops us off in Piazzala Roma. What usually sells for £265 per night was on offer for £78. For the convenience of being so close to the People Mover, a mono rail that will take us across to the port, it was worth the few quid extra.

Alighting after the 25 minute bus journey from the airport we knew exactly which direction to go as we headed for the Ponte Calatrava. Roisin reminded me of our first visit to Venice and being completely disorientated when arriving at Piazzala Roma not knowing which way to turn.

We passed the £300 a night Hotel Santa Chiara, This is a hotel we have had our eye of for some time but are reluctant to pay that sort of price. Staring at the façade of the hotel as we approached Ponte Calatrava I commented to Roisin that the £300 per night pays for the view but with a bloody great big tarpaulin draped around the hotel like some giant modesty screen the view would have been as picturesque as a Martian landscape!!

Crossing over the Ponte Calatrava we passed the porters who are willing to be your bag carrier for a generous fee (plus tip) Past the tacky souvenir stores displaying the masquerade masks by the bucket load and arrays of fridge magnets. We meandered our way through the throngs of people, tourists and sightseers alike, some out for an evening stroll while others purposely striding, weaving their way through the human obstacle course no doubt to hurry home to watch the Italian version of Pointless!

The Hotel Principe is inspired by the Venetian tradition and decorated with glass and sumptuous elegant furniture. Being an avid follower of the ‘Antiques Road Show' on TV I recognised some fine antique pieces and top quality accessories adorning the foyer and reception area. This contributes to instilling an original and warm ambiance to the Hotel. For £78 per night we knew deep down we were never going to be shown to one of their prime rooms that has the Grand Canal and all that is Venice as a back drop and, sure enough, after checking in and been marched to our compact but comfortable room by an over eager porter, who was determined to wheel and then carry both our suitcases up the few stairs to an attic room where we found ourselves peering out of the small window overlooking a back alley were the bins appeared to be housed. After briefly freshening up, we set out at 7pm to look for somewhere to eat. Following the thoroughfare known as the Rio Tera Lista di Spagna we finally settled on one of the many restaurants we passed called Ristorante di Brindisi. Pizzas stated at €6.50 and pasta dishes at about €9. It is an urban myth that prices in Venice are 3 times more expensive than elsewhere (unless it is hotel accommodation!!) It is only St Mark's square where you are likely to pay €14 for a glass of wine or €25 for a pizza. Give anywhere in the district of San Marco a wide berth and prices are as anywhere else in Italy.

Sitting on the terrace in Campo san Geremia taking in the ambience and atmosphere, it gave us time to reflect. This may be our last time in Venice as the Local Authority have passed a bill to stop large cruise ships over 96,000 tonnes from sailing down the Guidecca canal, one of the major canals in the city, due to fears that the ships are causing environmental damage. This is due to come in to effect in November 2014.

By the time we had finished our meal and were ready to move on the sun had vanished for the evening and was replaced by a series of 40watt street lamps!! Despite being one of the most iconic cities in the world, those of you who have been here will have realised Venice is not the most picturesque city to take night time photography as most of the buildings and narrow streets are either in darkness or dimly lit probably using energy saving light bulbs.

We decided to put the map away and let our feet do the walking. We wandered around the, by now, deserted back streets and canals despite it being 8:45pm. Many of the building give the appearance of being in need of repair due to flaking paintwork and in many cases missing plaster and rendering revealing the original brickwork. It is the standard and style of the building that contribute to giving Venice its character.

On our way back to our hotel and maybe as it's our last time in this city AND having always resisted the temptation we decided to become tourists and buy a large masquerade Veneto mask!! The Venetian mask became popular in the 18^th century and its primary reason was to hide an individual's social standing at carnivals and masquerades. Any servant could be mistaken for an aristocrat, and vice versa. Men and women could be flirting more freely, without the fear of moral judgment and have less inhibitions. You often could not even tell women from men! Then the 1960 and 70's arrived and the masks were no longer needed!!!

Each mask has the prices marked up but I thought I'd try the old ‘Is that your best price?' routine. Unfortunately I wasn't expecting a resounding ‘Yes!!' from this Merchant of Venice. The vendor was not in a haggling mood and definitely after his pound of flesh (or Euro in this case!!) However, using my best negotiation skills learned through travelling across the Middle East, where haggling is expected I got him to throw in a couple of fridge magnets!! OK so it wasn't a multi-million pound contract or the deal of the century but the seller made the customer go away in a happy mood!! But, the last laugh was on him because I was in a happy mood before arriving at the store!!!

Tomorrow we embark the MSC Orchestra. Hopefully the Orchestra will be playing our kind of music…!!!

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