Venice – one of my favourite places on Earth

Grand Canal,Venice Venice is truly the most wondrous city. It is one of my favourite places on Earth.

This is my third visit and each time the atmosphere of the place blows me away and I fall in love with it all over again. I could feel the excitement bubbling up inside as we rode down the Grand Canal in the vaporetto. And Venice doesn’t disappoint. For me the joy of Venice is in wandering the streets of the City itself, not so much in the official ‘sites’. I just love the maze of tiny streets which open out into unexpected campi every now and then, with the sun streaming over the courtyard and the inevitable water pump in the centre. I love the faded grandeur of the palazzi as the encroaching water of the canals creeps ever higher up the walls.

We’re staying in an apartment in the San Marco district which is a one minute stroll from the Piazza San Marco. How central is that? It’s beautifully roomy and totally gorgeous. I cannot believe our luck in finding this place. Kudos to Yvonne. We celebrated our arrival in Venice with prosecco at Florian’s. Florian’s is probably the most famous Tea Rooms in Venice and is located in prime position in the Piazza San Marco. It’s certainly not the cheapest prosecco in town but t La Fenice he atmosphere, sumptuous surroundings and wonderful service make it worth every cent. Now we really felt we were back in Venice.

An unplanned bonus is the Bienniale which has been extended a week and so is still running whilst we are here. There are heaps of fabulous events and exhibitions and many are free admission. We stumbled into a New Zealand arty film thingy today that has us lying on foutons in a darkened church gazing up a an underwater movie projected onto a goldfish bowl type screen to the sound of Maori singing.

And in an act of supreme coolness Yvonne managed to get us a couple of tickets to an opera at La Fenice. La Fenice is the one of the most famous theatres in Europe. It’s name means Pheonix which must have been a prophecy because it has been burnt down twice and rebuilt. The last fire was in January 1996 and it took eight years of legal kerfuffles and scandals before it was finally rebuilt. So we were pretty excited that we were able to get tickets to an opera in the week we are here. Well the theatre lived up to all our hopes and was a feast for the eyes. The decore was so over the top it was beautiful and we sat around the walls in tiers of boxes that were so reminiscent of the old style of Opera theatres. However the opera was totally bizzare and impossible to follow. No matter, the experience was what it was all about.

It turns out that our apartment is in the middle of an antiques district too so that was another unexpected bonus. I naturally had to pick up something from one of them for a souvenir of this trip. So I bought a beautiful vintage Murano perfume bottle. So much better than one of the new ones. Plus the Master who made it retired ten years ago so that adds to its charm.

So between riding on the vaporettos and enjoying the city by water and walking around the streets browsing the shops and admiring the art in the churches, and drinking in the atmosphere of Venice we are having a wonderful time.

Did I mention that I love Venice?