Stockholm

My relaxing weekend in Topsham had to be curtailed because of a business trip to Stockholm to assist with a customer presentation. I say Stockholm, but actually we were in Bromma, which is on the outskirts of the city. To be precise, our hotel was on the final approach to Bromma airport; about 200m from the end of the runway! Not enough time to go into Stockholm itself for a relaxing post-presentation drink, so here we are, as usual, drinking in the hotel terrace bar (overflying BAE146 not pictured).

Budleigh Salterton

From Devon

We dropped in to Budleigh on our way to Topsham, for a weekend staying with Nick.

Apparently the town is referred to a "God's waiting room". A quick glance at the accommodation and some of the populace suggests that this is not an inappropriate description.

Although it was a perfect blue sky day at the start of a bank holiday weekend, we were just about the only people on the beach. Just managed to grab an ice cream before the last cafe shut up for the day at 4:30 pm!

Tower Bridge

From PWC

Today was Family Day at the new PWC office where Jessica works, near Tower Bridge, so a good opportunity to see what it's like to work in a modern office. Plenty of good places to eat and drink nearby, so we had Sunday lunch in a local pub before my tour of the building. We decided to skip the face painting, flower pot decoration and balloon blowing, and Jessica showed me around the office. Definitely impressive and very swish, as you might expect from one of the world's top consultancy firms. Clearly not short of a bob or two. The 10th floor boardroom is particularly imposing, with a view out over the Tames overlooking Tower Bridge.

After the tour we had a short stroll around some of the neighbouring streets. I don't think I had ever been to this part of the South Bank before, and I was amazed by the number of obviously posh eating establishments around there. The whole area is now very smart, and presumably equally expensive. In fact, I would go so far as to say that London's Thames embankments are way ahead of its equivalents in other major cities of the world. If you can't work at home, then I reckon this would be a great place to work.

Howth, Dublin

From i-conX

Things are looking up with my Dublin trips. The evenings after work used to consist mainly of long sessions in the hotel bar, checking that the quality of the Guinness was still up to scratch. But now for the second trip in a row, we have managed to get out for a dose of fresh air and see some of the sights in and around Dublin. On this occasion, the Queen had decided to visit Dublin (she obviously did not consult my Google calendar first), so the center of town was closed off for much of the time. However Mike, our IT maestro, kindly offered to chauffeur everyone to a very picturesque fishing village called Howth, only a few mikes north of Dublin. After a rather windswept walk we settled down in one of the many restaurant and bars in the village for a pint or two and something to eat. We were able to watch the Queen and co doing their handshaking think in Dublin Castle as we sipped our Guinness.

Publish Post

Venice, day 2-3

From Venice

Our exploration of the streets and canals of Venice is now nearly over. I think we have done reasonably well to take in a representative cross-section of what the city has to offer, including some of the standard tourist sights such as the Basilica St Marco, as well as a few locations that are off the beaten track. After warnings in the guide books about the poor standard of restaurant food in Venice, we were very pleasantly surprised that we managed to find excellent places to eat throughout our stay, even if they were on the expensive side.
The amount of boat travel was somewhat less than one might expect. We took a vaporetto along the Grand Canal to get to the island of San Giorgio the log way around, which gave us a chance to see the city from the water. However, we resisted the temptation to take a gondola ride and be serenaded by a tenor singing 'Just One Cornetto'. Not difficult to do at €100 for a one hour spin! Better value can be obtained by taking a tragetto ride across the Grand Canal in what is essentially a gondola, for the grand sum of €0.50!

On our final day we took the vaporetto out to the island of Murano, which is famous for its glass workshops. Just enough time for an excellent final meal followed by a visit to the glass museum, before heading on to the airport for our trip home, and just making it to the departure gate with 2 minutes to spare.

Venice

From Venice

At last the destination for Alison's birthday surprise trip can be revealed - we are now in Venice! (maybe the title was a bit of a give-away).
This is possibly the only Western European city that was still on my to-do list, so I was really looking forward to coming here. After one day here, I can safely say that neither of us have been disappointed.
We arrived on a vaporetto from the airport, which has to be the way to get here. Our boutique hotel is in a renovated palace (sounds grand, but most buildings here seem to be ex-palaces), which is only five minutes walk from the vaporetto stop at St Marks Square, so we are close to all the main tourist spots. That said, I think St Marks Square itself must be one of the least attractive places to spend any time in, It is half covered in scaffolding while it undergoes reservations, and is crammed with groups of tourists being led around by their guides. To this add tacky souvenir stalls, pidgeons, palm court orchestras in overpriced caves, and you end up with my version of hell. Luckily , we discovered that by walking for less an five minutes in just about any direction will take you in to quiet alleyways and campos away from all the crowds. For me, this has been one of the most fun things about exploring Venice.
We have done several of the main tourist attractions on day one, including the Doge's Palace and several churches. The highlight of the day was an evening spent at the opera. Not the grand opera at La Fenice, but a small company with only four performers accompanied by a string quartet, performing in the rooms of an old palace.  We chose to go on an evening when they were performing the Barber of Seville, and although I am not really familiar with the story, it was a really amazing experience sitting so close to the performers that you could almost feel what was going on.  Each of the three acts was performed in a different room of the palace, and we in the audience had to follow them around.  A great night out, which I can highly recommend if you enter get the opportunity.