14 September

A trip to Venice must surely include a visit to Piazza San Marco, perhaps one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world.

Our accommodation is located in the west side of Venice, so what better way to travel to Piazza San Marco than by public transport, a vaporetto (water bus) down the Grand Canal.



What we didn’t quite take into account was the heat and humidity, and a gazillion hot, sweaty and grumpy tourists. I’ve never seeeeen so many tourists in one spot in my life before.









But try taking a shot without people!



Can be done, with a little inventiveness.



And the cure for hot, weary tourists with sore feet?



Gelato!



a great view of the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (1681) while waiting for the vaporetto ‘home’



and farewell Piazza San Marco . . . .



The traditional way of crossing the Canal from one bank to the other, a two minute ride aboard a traghetto, for 50cents.



A couple of hundred years ago Venice boasted 10,000 gondolas, providing the main form of transportation. Today, there are no more than 500 plying their trade. Traditions retained, licensed gondoliers have a strict uniform code – black pants and shoes, striped shirt and optional straw hat. They are not required to sing!









A leisurely ride in a gondola is fine for vacationing tourists, but if you want to get somewhere in a hurry, water taxi is just the ticket.



Our taxi driver Davide, who collected us from the airport a few days ago. Nice to see a local friendly face. Ciao Davide!



Palaces (now hotels)



The Rialto Bridge – surely the bridge captured most often by artists down the ages . . . .



. . . merchant houses . . . .



calm waters . . . . .



. . . . congested waters! The Grand Canal.

13 September

Morning, and still not up too early yet, jet lag prevailing. The view from our apartment window. Just down the rio from the Grand Canal, and traffic is constant, as is the tourist foot traffic.





The view from our balcony . . . .





and of our ‘front door’.



A late lunch - pizza and gelato – what else!



then - off on a stroll – 39 degrees Celsius and HUMID!



Let the images speak for themselves . . . .

12 September

OK – so today is the day, when all becomes clear for the birthday lady surprise!

Jenn jets in from Toronto to Heathrow, while we make our way to the airport. Sitting having breakfast in Terminal 5, it being really too early to have had breakfast before we left, a lady comes up to our table and asks if the seat next to Mar is taken . . . . who is totally stunned . . .and surprised. Jenn and I had managed to keep her arrival totally under wraps.



Likewise the destination for all three of us has been under wraps, until we arrived at the gate.



A short flight to Venice, leaving behind a cool, dull London day, and into sunshine, heat and humidity. Marco Polo Airport is right on the water, and the only airport we’ve ever been to where you take a ‘water taxi’ right to your accommodation.







Mar’s return to Venice after 46 years, and the first for Jenn and me.





Our accommodation, our own apartment on our own rio - the term for all waterways in Venice, 'canal' apparently only being applied to the Grand!





What with the jet lag and all, we agree that this first day here is just a little bit of a surreal experience. . . . are we really here?
Another day tomorrow!

11 September 2011

A couple of days in London . . . .
One to recover from at least a little of the jetlag. 5 hours is getting more challenging to overcome quickly, but we don’t give in.
Day two, and we’re ‘up and at ‘em’. Actually a day trip to the Tate Gallery, via Tube.



Located in Pimlico, west London . The Tate overlooks the Thames.





We lucked into an exhibition of English Romantic Painters : Turner, Fuseli, Blake, Constable and the like.
Brilliant!







The Bridge of Sighs, Venice - Turner (sigh!)



Turners original sketch books . . . . . .



Constable . . . . Romantic masters all



almost too much to see and absorb in a bried afternoon



Fuseli – a Midsummer Nights Dream



more Turner – the shipwreck



Trafalgar



the dragon (top of hill)



Stunning!

And so home, and up early for another journey tomorrow of a different kind . . . ..

8 September 2011

Every trip has a starting point, a ‘first step’. This one happened to be Park-n-Fly Toronto :)

The birthday-girl, ready to roll, but who knows where!

New horizons, new adventures.

Already here, the dog days of summer.
Kids will go back to school after this coming Labour Day weekend, and shortly after, we'll be heading down to Toronto to catch a flight for London.
It's Mars' birthday next week, and a trip planned with a surprise packed itinerary.
Always a bit of a wrench to leave this time of year, as the garden has matured over the summer, and it's at the stage of minimal maintenance. So really time to pause and enjoy the fruits of our toil. The calla lilies have been particularly spectacular this year, almost as high as the plum tree.

However, the weather is also good the other side of the Atlantic this time of year, and the decision made. Places to go, people to see.
So, much more to come over the next few weeks.
Stay tuned.