Vibrant Venice

This was our third trip to Venice, a city we obviously love. And its all about soaking up the atmosphere, people watching, pigeons, churches and lots and lots of canals and narrow cobblestone laneways lined with fascinating shops, cafés and street stalls. All of this makes walking through Venice an absolute joy and here are some of the highlights of our stay:

 

Typical Venice canal scene

On the island of Murano, famous for its glass blowing. We caught a public Vaporetto (waterbus) about 25 minutes from the centre of Venice, and spent a couple of hours wandering through shops packed full of the most beautiful glass in different shapes, sizes and colours.

 

Canal scene on Murano

Venice at night and we dined in one of the trattorias on the canal front. Pastas, pizzas and salads are the most popular foods in Venice, along with the odd glass of wine and beer,
and the waiters are always ready with a quip or two.
Penny has been attempting to use her Italian where possible but most of the locals, it seems, are fairly fluent in English so her Italian has been limited to reading menus and street signs, and ordering food.

 

 

The vibrant colours of houses and shops on the island of Burano which is famous for its lace-making. Again we caught the Vaporetto but this time it took us a couple of hours as we had to change waterbuses halfway and navigate through thousands of other tourists...  but it was worth the wait.

 

Peak hour on the Venice canals

 

Libreria Aqua Alta in Venice, an amazing bookshop where customers can barely move for books!

 

The famous Rialto Bridge, from our lunch table at a local trattoria. The Rialto is always crowded and this day was no exception. We managed to find the last table in the same trattoria we had lunched in four years ago. Back then Venice was hit by the most unbelievable afternoon storm which caused rivers of water to run beneath our table, but this time it was blue skies all round.

 

 

Penny on the Rialto Bridge

 

 

St Mark's Basilica at Piazza San Marco. This ever popular plaza was filled to the brim with tourists from all around the world. But it was the pigeons that caused the most havoc

as we ducked and weaved to avoid them.

 

 

Jim at the gothic Ducal Palace (Piazza San Marco)

 

View of the Grand Canal from Piazza San Marco, with gondoliers lined up and ready to go.

 

After a long day's walk, Penny enjoyed a refreshing glass of Venetian Spritz,

 a combination of prosecco, Campari and soda water. Then it was a 3km walk back... 

 

And it was goodbye to Venice as we caught a train to Florence in beautiful Tuscany!

 

 

Memorable Milan

After twenty-one hours in the air and four hours at Singapore Airport between flights we finally made it to Milan. The flights were relatively smooth and the service, as always, was fabulous.

Milan is a city of 1.7 million with an additional 1.4 million in the surrounding urban sprawl. Our small comfortable private hotel, the Sanpi, is located in Central Milan within walking distance of many of the city's famous attractions.

Back in 2011 we visited Milan briefly so we were keen to see more, and first on our list was a walk to the fantastic Milan Duomo, a cathedral I think could possibly be better on the outside than the inside. Adjacent to the Duomo is the beautiful Galleria Victorio Emanuel II shopping mall where we stopped for lunch at one of the 'indoor outdoor' trattorias.

 

3,400 statues adorn the outside of the Duomo

 

 

Vaulted ceiling

 

The main chapel

 

Marble floors

 

Sculpture of Saint Bartholomew who was 'skinned alive'

One of many stained glass windows, amongst the best we have seen in Europe

 

The golden Madonna

 

 

 

Galleria Victorio Emanuel II

 

 

Galleria Trattoria

 

The next day we took two routes of the hop-on hop-off bus around the city and visited the Castillo Sforzesco, a castle once surrounded by a moat built in the 13th and 14th Centuries. Now it houses a selection of museums including archaeology, art, Egyptian and of course those dedicated to two very famous Italians - Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

 

 

Castillo Sforzesco

 

 

One of many beautiful tapestries

 

 

Jim with sculpture

 

Archaeology museum

 

Leadlighting

Military museum

 

 

One of many ornate grave covers

 

Another of Milan's famous landmarks is the La Scala Theatre, one of the most beautiful in the world. Although not spectacular from the outside, it is quite stunning inside with its layers of private boxes in red velvet and gold. A museum displays the history of the theatre including sculptures, costumes and brick-a-brac of past performers and performances.

 

 

 



Perhaps the most famous of Milan's attractions is the wonderful da Vinci's fresco of The Last Supper. Even at this time of year, it is difficult to buy tickets and even more difficult to queue, so a small group tour was the way to go. It is an impressive sight, filling one wall of a cavernous room, the opposite wall displaying another of da Vinci's frescos detailing the crucifixion of Christ.

 

 

Finally, we visited two of the city's more modern museums; the Museum of Natural History which has been in existence since 1838 and the Museum of Science and Technology.

 

The former has a wonderful display across 23 rooms of the history of life on Earth in fossils and taxidermy, including our very own Tasmanian Devil!

 

 

The latter, a former monastery, displays a collection of machines across the ages that includes the introduction of telegraph, radio, television, space travel and the works of da Vinci. It also houses the most amazing trains and boats - which Jim found fascinating.

 

 

Model of the Pantheon in Rome

 

Early telegraph

 

World's first fax machine

 

Telescopes

 

A hallway of works made from da Vinci's drawings

 

Old chemist shop

 

 

Trains from the late 1800s and early 1900s

One of two real ships around which the museum is built

A model ship - the WASA (just like ours at home)

 

 

This portion of the bow of the ship Otago, which was captained by the writer Joseph Conrad,

was salvaged from 'the bay of Hobart in Tasmania'!

 

And just a few 'local' images to finish with:

 

One of the city's Toilet Buses

Trams - new and old

 

Busking with a difference!

 

Tomorrow we leave by train for Venice.