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.