When I left you last Sunday, we were off to our concert at
Bozar & very excited about it indeed. It was quite a different experience
from Glasgow. When the orchestra came on stage, it was obvious they were most
unhappy & as we were in the second row, we could vouch for it. After some
Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky in the first half, we looked forward to Tchaikovsky
in the second. The Mariinsky orchestra seemed much happier & were content
to take no notice of their conductor, Valery Gergiev, who conducted by memory
with no music in front of him. At the end, as he took 6 curtain calls, they
shook hands with each other & ignored him. Some of the musicians were out
of the theatre and heading for the Hilton well before we collected our coats
& departed.
On Monday, we bought tickets for the Hop on Hop off Bus,
which was terribly expensive, with indifferent & occasional commentary,
which worked intermittently. The bus driver arrived 15 minutes late, which
summed up the attitude of this company to its patrons. We decided to have a
quiet afternoon in the hotel, as we were tired from two late nights in a row.
That night we caught up with an old ALP friend, André
Haermeyer, who has been living & working in Europe for the past 10 years.
It was good to see him & share a bottle of Luxembourg champagne, courtesy
of Leigh & Simon.
The next morning, we were booked to do a walking tour of
Antwerp & turned up in the Grand Place to discover there were 6 of us on
the English-speaking tour – us & a family of four from Texas, who were
inadequately clothed & made life for our Dutch guide very difficult indeed.
Eventually the mother disappeared, the son gave the father his beanie & we
soldiered on.
We went to a diamond place, but everyone was at lunch, so
we didn’t see diamonds being cut or polished. We visited Peter Paul Ruben’s
house, saw some wonderful old architecture, as well as some stunning art deco
work in the main street.
In the Church of Our Lady, which costs €4 for seniors to
visit, we glanced at the 4 Rubens paintings, admired the wooden statues (no
explanation) & I decided this was my favourite painting by Franz Floris.
God had definitely left this Church when Mammon took over
& we were disappointed.
The Antwerp Railway Station is the most beautiful we have
ever seen & we were happy to watch the three floors of trains arriving
& departing in awe!
That night we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. We had
hoped to try a local one, but there seemed to be a university student function
going on & Brussels was crawling with police, students & activities, so
we stayed inside.
Wes took this stunning
view from our hotel window that night
The next morning it was time to pack up & catch our
first flight in 6 weeks – to Venice. We had been warned that there could be
long queues for security, so caught a taxi with plenty of time to spare. Our
bags passed through OK, but about half the belongings going through x-ray were
opened & examined. When we left Australia, Wes was constantly stopped by
security as he had packed his telescope (of course) in his hand luggage &
it set off all sorts of alarms. I was delighted to discover it was now safely
in his suitcase.
Our flight to Venice left late, but we had an excellent
flight & were delighted to see a female pilot in the cockpit – landing on
Marco Polo airstrips requires lots of experience. I had bought bus tickets
& there was one waiting outside the terminal. So far, everything had gone
like clockwork. We arrived in Venice & set off for St Mark’s Square, took a
wrong turn & had to be rescued by a very kind man who put us on a boat,
which deposited us at Hotel Locanda Vivaldi.
There was a bottle of prosecco in our room compliments of
the management, and I had paid extra for a water view. Wes was delighted to be
looking out on the lagoon. We stayed in this hotel about 10 years ago when we
travelled with Leigh & we just loved the location & the personal service, as there are only two floors of rooms.
Early morning view from our window
We ate that night in Ristorante
Al Giardinetto at the suggestion of the hotel & had a very fine meal
indeed.
We shared this entree
of fruits de mer with an excellent bottle of local red
On Thursday, after breakfast, we set off to the left of our
hotel, away from St Mark’s Square & the hordes of visitors. The first hour
or so was spent in the Museo Storico
Novale looking at anything & everything to do with Venetian boats.
I was very taken with
this extremely decorative cannon!
Then we headed down Via Garidbaldi, where we stopped for a
cup of tea & watched the locals & their dogs interacting as they did
their shopping.
We loved the floating
green-grocer!
After another long walk through various parks &
gardens, we came back, gelatos in hand, to look at St Mark’s Square & gaze
in the windows of the hideously expensive shops.
Eventually, we were too tired to walk anymore &
returned to our hotel for a rest. That night we had another good meal, this
time at Taverna Scalinetto, where
the highlight was the carpaccio of swordfish, tuna & octopus, which we
shared as an entree.
Yesterday, we had decided to visit our favourite island,
Burano, and set off confidently after breakfast. The ticket-seller had spent
time in Australia & loved it, which was fabulous to hear. We caught a
nearly-empty boat & were sitting in it happily when the ticket inspector
raced up to our seats to tell us we needed to get off at Punta Sabbioni &
change boats. We found a very helpful young woman on the pier, who directed us
to the correct boat. After a short time on this comfortable craft, the pilot
told us all to get off at Treparti & wait for another boat. Eventually we
got to Burano.
The last time we visited, everywhere was closed for a
funeral, so it was wonderful to see it alive & kicking. We went to the
Church of San Martino, admired the leaning bell-tower, lit a candle for Jessie
& went into a small side chapel, where the priest chased us out as he
wanted to go for lunch!
Loved this church,
which was full of fresh flowers & seemed much used
The restaurant Wes had researched as perfect for lunch was
closed, so we took pot luck with Riva
Rosa, and enjoyed a stunning meal. I had ‘Go’ risotto, which is a Burano
speciality & Wes had spaghetti nero. We were both naughty & enjoyed
sweets. The young South Korean couple next to us were newly married, so we
shared our bottle of rosé with them.
Biscotti with
zabaglione
On the boat home (we went by a shorter route), we met a
couple from Boston, who loved Australia & particularly Melbourne. We had a
great chat with them until they left to visit Murano & we came back to
Venice & a 15 minute walk back to our hotel.
Last night we sat in the hotel lounge enjoying our bottle
of prosecco & chatting about all we have done in the past 44 days. It has
certainly been a holiday to remember.
This morning, as soon as the rain clears, we are off to do
a walk in the footsteps of Commissario Brunetti, hero of Donna Leon’s wonderful
books. Tonight we have a dinner & Vivaldi concert with ballet &
everyone in costume! Should be fun. We just have to find it!
Tomorrow we catch our Emirates flights home, and I hope to
resume my usual Sunday Dispatches. At some point I will have to discuss toilets
– we’ve made quite a study of them on this trip & the winner is definitely the
one at Holly Molly Café, Holyhead,
where the space was so small, you had to remove the waste-paper basket from the
toilet lid before using the toilet.
Thanks to everyone who has commented on our posts &
encouraged us to write & photograph our experiences. It has been wonderful
to know you are enjoying our trip. Once Lewis & Morse arrive, there won’t
be any more grand tours for some time!
View from our window
early this morning – one tugboat leading & another following this enormous
cruise ship
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