Venice!

You may have noticed that there has been a bit of a silence on the blog these past weeks, well, it's because I have been in Venice! Well, I was last week. I spent this week trying to catch up on my ridiculously backlogged email.

Here are some of the highlights of my trip. I could honestly go on for days about how much fun I had, and all the things I've done*. But, I don't want to bore you to tears, so here's a brief summary... I plan to talk about where we visited on our trip in more detail in a later post

*We also took over 500 photos, while this post is picture heavy, do not worry I haven't used them all!

On our first morning at our hotel, Hotel Londra Palace*, we were greeted at breakfast with a bunch of flowers for International Women's Day. How sweet is that! Unfortunately they set off my hayfever, so we had to pass them onto a pair of very confused women we meet on our walk. This sounds a lot creepier than it sounds...

*Which I would definitely recommend as the service, rooms and staff were wonderful and every so helpful

Our hotel was in a great location, as were located right beside Piazza San Marco; which we visted everyday. The square houses the Doge Palace and St Mark's Basilica, as well as a series of little shops selling everything from beautiful jewellery and glassware to tourist tat.

We also treated ourselves to some of the nicest ice cream I have ever had, and so cheap!

It's fair to say that the main theme of our five day trip to Venice was wandering aimlessly. Venice is filled with mazes of back alleys which Mama C and I had a lot of fun exploring. While the main street along the canal is a bit of a tourist trap, once you move off that, there are beautiful shops filled with glass jewellery and masks, as well as lots of lovely little cafes.

Before coming to Venice I'd heard mixed reviews; some praised the city, some called it dishellved and smelly. However, I thought the opposite. I have a ridiculously sensitive nose and I didn't smell anything! And all of the buildings were beautiful, old, and shabby chic.

The bridge of sighs which connects the Doge Palace to the men's prison

 You can find 'padlocks of love' on nearly every bridge in the city

With my new bestie Dr Death 

If you come to Venice I definitely recommend spending a day or two just wandering, there are always plenty of squares and alleys to explore.

As we were in Venice we had to go on a gondola! I loved it, which I did not expect. I absolutely hate boats and am not a very good swimmer, but when in Venice...

Getting on the gondola like the classy lady I am

When we first got on I was very anxious, but after about five minutes I calmed down and really enjoyed it. The only dicey moments where when we went under the bridges and had to tilt into the water. But even that didn't ruin the experience.

It was a little pricey at eighty euros for a half an hour ride, but I would definitely recommend it!

As we where in Venice over Mother's Day I planned to treat Mama C to lunch in one of the many squares, however, I thought, being the loving daughter I am, that I'd also treat her to a Venetian mask, especially since she'd been lusting over all the glitter and feathers  And while I was at it, it would have been rude not to have gotten one for myself...

 Posing like the dorks we are!

That barely scratched the surface of my trip to Venice, but I didn't want to bore you all. Has anyone else been to Venice? What did you think? I wish I was still there!