Venice, back in our hearts

We lost our love for Venice the last time we visited in September of 2011. Not only were the temperatures in the 90's, the sun blazing and the humidity high, there were nine cruise ships docked when we arrived making it ten. The throngs of humanity shuffling along the main passageways carried one along like floatsam in a stream. The Accademia Bridge was so covered with people it looked like ants clamoring over a pile of sugar. We fled across the island to a little square we knew and lamented the Venice we used to know over a refreshing Spritz.

The next three days didn't bring us much relief as we noticed a large number of shop keepers were no longer Italian, the prices in places we used to love had skyrocketed, and the throngs seemed endless. We felt sorry for the first time visitor who would no longer see the charms of this magnificent, historic city, but crowds of people pushing and shoving to get their pictures taken in front of a historic place they would never enter because the lines we so long.

So for three years we rued going back to be disappointed again. As you know from my first post, our trip to the hotel, our room with a view and dinner the first night, had considerably softened our hardened hearts. I ventured out in the morning half expecting to be jilted again, but found that at least on this day I could find the Venice we love

The Plaza San Marco was busy, but not unreasonably so. It was relatively empty when I first arrived and on my way back to the hotel, more tour groups were being lead by umbrella waving guides, but one could actually gaze onto the plaza and see it, not thousands of people.

The Cafe Florian was it's usual peaceful, historic, beautiful place, but one would have to think that Bryon, Shelly and Keats, would blanch at the price of a cappuccino and pastry. On the other hand, how does one put a price on sitting where so many historic figures sat and enjoyed a similar experience? Although 27 Euros does seem a little excessive.

They have been doing major restoration work on the Cathedral and it's mosaics look beautiful.

The entire square just looked really good in the bright fall sunlight.

Venice has so much to offer everyone who visits no matter what they are looking for, be it art, architecture, music, history, food, romance or intrigue, that one can lose sight of the everyday vignettes that go on dispite the tourist crush. Here are a few of everyday Venetians going on with their lives in the midst of this historical curiosity.

Then there are the fantastic scenes one seems to run into around every corner. Venice is any photographers dream.

Before we left the hotel, we conferred with the Concierge about two nearby restaurants we had frequented on other trips. He said that sadly one had gone "international" and at the other the owner had died, but that his son ran another that was truly Venetian, off the tourist path, and in a quaint little square. Even with a map, our challenge was to find it.

With me leading the way, we ended up in front of the Opera House which was no where near the restaurant. I was ready to end the quest and eat at one of the fine places nearby, but Kathy took the map, studied it, and after a ten minute walk lead us right into the square and the restaurant. Thank goodness she did because it was white truffle season and when the waiter ceremoniously held a napkin under our noses and with a flourish opened it to give us a glimpse, and more importantly a whiff, of the giant white truffle hidden within, we were hooked. Dam the price, it was to be linguini with shaved white truffles for lunch, with beef carpaccio with shaved black truffles for an antipasti, washed down with a beautiful Sangiovese. Life is good. Venice we love you.

Sadly, after lunch, we had to return to the hotel, collect our things, board our water taxi and embark the ship for our cruise. Venice had recaptured our hearts, at least for thirty-six hours and we were a very happy couple as we headed toward the ship.

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Return to Venice

After a pretty hectic time of running through large airports (delayed flights wreck havoc with tight connections) to get to Venice, we arrived and had to do the long walk to the Water Taxi to get to our hotel. Suffice it to say that this was not a good start for Kathy, but then safely ensconced in our speed boat, the stress of travel began to melt away as we sped toward Venice through the slight fog and mist. It was a delightful and slightly mysterious trip as we watched for sights of La Serenissima.

Soon the the magical city appeared and a sense of being home settled in. This is our sixth time in Venice and familar places started to pass by as we traveled across the island on one of the canals. Anticipation built as we as entered the Lagoon and headed toward the mouth of the Grand Canal, past the Bridge of Sighs toward our hotel.

We've stayed at the Bauer IL Palazzo before and thoroughly love the place for it's charm, service and location. Much to our surprise and delight, they welcomed us back with an upgrade to a suite with a balcony overlooking the Grand Canal. We couldn't believe our good fortune.

The balcony, although only large enough to fit two chairs, looked directly onto the Grand Canal and there was a small canal next to it where singing gondoliers floated by serenading tourists. It was a nearly perfect location to relax after the three connection flight, enjoy a prosecco and watch the world float by.

We were pretty tired and the prosecco added to it. We had dinner scheduled at the restaurant on the veranda that our balcony overlooked. After a refreshing shower, we went down to dinner and our good luck continued with a secluded table for two right on the canal. A bottle of La Spinetta Pin, a wonderful three course dinner, and the best tiramisu we have ever had ended our extended day. Since arriving in Venice, everything was perfect and we still had a day to explore before embarking on the Regal Princess. We retired full of anticipation as to what the coming days would bring.

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Making the best of it.....London

We had the highest of hopes for our last lag of the trip. Three nights in London staying at the new Shangri-La Hotel at the Shard, enjoying a play, dining at one of our favorite restaurants in the world, and just kicking back and experiencing some of the myriad of things this marvelous city has to offer.

It started off well. We disembarked in Dover to marvelous weather and a great view of why they are called "The White Cliffs".

Our limo driver was there to meet us at the pier and off we went for the two hour trip to London. The first hour was spent zipping up the highway. The last hour was spent crawling through London"s notoriously bad rush hour traffic to get to our hotel. We didn't mind because the sights of the city are always interesting and we were staying at the newly opened Shangri-La Hotel at the Shard.

Ok, you ask, why the excitement about a building and a hotel? The Shard was finished in 2012 and when we saw it in September of that year it captivated us. At 87 stories it is the tallest building in the EU and certainly in London. It is striking in person, dominating the skyline and we love the Shangri-La hotel chain. The views promised to be spectacular and it was opening up a new part of London. We, especially me, couldn't wait.

I am not sure these pictures do it justice, but I hope they give you some idea of it's beauty.

The hotel itself starts on the 35th floor and god up to the 52nd where is there a fantastic bar, infinity pool and gym. As you can imagine the views are fantastic from every vantage point. Here are the views from our room.

The Tower Bridge

The Tower of London

The City. See if you can find Lloyd's.

Tower Bridge at night

Then there is the view from the bathroom... It is a glass box and not for the squeamish. You have views from every part of it. The floor is even heated as are the towel racks.

From the shower...

From the tub

Even while brushing your teeth!

The room itself is quite well appointed although a tad on the small size, but as it everything Shangri-La, the service and the amenities are fantastic. They just can't do enough for you.

Which was a blessing because the cold Kathy took off of the ship just kept getting worse and then I caught it as well. Friday was the best day she had and things have gone downhill from there.

We were just blocks away from the Borough Market, which has been here for hundreds of years, but recently has become the epicenter for the slow food and locavore movement. It is just jammed with fabulous food stalls and fantastic restaurants. We had lunch at an incredible Tapas bar called Brandisa. We just loved the food, including an iberico bellota ham platter and patatas bravas, washed down with sangria, among the many great things we ate. The place was jammed, but we got to meet the owner and when he determined we were Amercians, he told us the Barefoot Contessa and her husband ate there every time they were in London. The next morning I went to the market and got the best almond croissant and an out of this world caramel fluer d sel honey comb cream donut. They were the best pastries we have ever had. The market is huge, crowded and full of life. Put this on your must do list for London.

Friday night we finally got around to seeing the acclaimed play Billy Elliott. It was fantastic and full of multiple messages. While most people see it as a play of redemption and hope, I came away feeling you could also call it a labor or socialist manifesto and it certainly was anti-Thatcher. We discussed it over drinks at the bar on the 52nd floor of the hotel. I think my ideas made Kathy have two Old Fashioned's instead of one.

That was the best of it for us. Kathy woke up Saturday morning very sick from her cold and I was off to find a pharmacy. The weather turned ugly overnight and it rained pretty hard until noon. I went off to see the Tate Modern Museum and Kathy rested. She rallied for dinner at Rasoi, which was fabulous, but we went right back to the hotel for her to get some rest. I am not sure she enjoyed it as mush as I did, but what a trooper she is.

We were going to go to the British Museum today, but instead are heading to our airport hotel. Kathy isn't still pretty sick and I have the cold now as well. I feel sorry for the people who will sit around has we sound pretty bad with our hacking.

We've been pretty fortunate in our travels concerning our health so we can't complain. Sometimes the travel gods just aren't on your side. Nevertheless, we are pretty happy to be in a marvelous room, on a perfect day, overlooking the Thames and London.

Tomorrow we fly home. Once we are settled, I will finish the trip with some exciting place like Rabat, Tenerife and Ceuta.

Accra and Dakar

 

We left the land of voodoo, villages and French bread for the land of the white bread, big cities and Christianity. Our next two stops would be totally different from what we had experienced so far on the trip. The question we were asking ourselves was: "would they be as interesting?"

We arrived in Ghana on a Sunday morning in the port city of Tema. Built in 1961, it is the principle port of Ghana and not particularly interesting or picturesque. As we disembarked the ship, there was no native folkloric group to greet us as in Benin and Togo, just the screeching of large cranes moving on their tracks and the banging of containers being loaded on ships.

Our first stop was to be an unusual casket company. It seems that Ghanan's like to be buried in caskets that represent something of their lives and this shop catered to that desire. On the way there, we had to suffer through a horrendous traffic jam caused by people going to and coming from church. Our guide took pride in telling us how religious the country was and that Christianity was the main religion practiced. The fact that it was church traffic didn't make the complaining from some the folks on the bus more Christian.

 

 

 

 

One of the pluses of the traffic was that I was able to take pictures of some of the signs along side the road. I find them to be very interesting and they give clues of what everyday life is about.

 

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What really surprised us was to find that our friends the Lucky's had opened up a branch in Accra.

After the casket company, it was off to Downtown Accra and a visit to the memorial for Kwame Nkrumah. For such a small country, Ghana has played an important and commanding role in African history since the 11th century with the Ashanti tribe dominating the area. Whether in gold or slave trade these warriors held sway and weren't defeated until 1874.

Nkrumah brought independence to Ghana in 1957 through non violent means. Although revered as a world statesman, his socialist policies and poor administration didn't work and he was overthrown in a coup in 1966. The country stabilized in 1988 and today is one of the stronger democratic countries in Africa. His memorial tells quite a story of redemption from his ousting to his revival. The statue in the middle picture was found in a trash heap after the coup and fortunately saved by one of his devoted followers.

 

 

 

Sometimes cities captivate sometimes they don't. I regret to say Accra didn't. Maybe it was the lack of vibrancy because it was Sunday. Maybe it was the constant droning on and on by our British accented guide on subjects no one cared about. It certainly was clean and modern in parts and had it's shanty towns as well with street side commerce, but it had a buttoned up feel. The one time we felt almost in Africa was watching a folkloric dance and drumming show at a swank resort on the shores of the Atlantic narrated by a professor of Primitive Music for the University.

 

 

We saw no one on the street with a baguette....

Dakar was dauntingly alive. It could seem domesticated or dangerous, French or African at the same time. It was clean and modern and down and dirty within the same block. People live in high rises and hovels. You could eat in an elegant, French Cafe or on the street. Shop in department stores or street markets. The streets could be empty tree lined boulevards or traffic jammed nightmares. The people were friendly, but the touts and street merchants very aggressive. Building was going on everywhere and it was clear no zoning codes existed. It was a feast for the eyes and camera. So just let your imagination take you away to imagine the sounds and smells these sights would have produced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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One thing for sure, Dakar did not disappoint. It's a proud place that wants to point the way to the future for all Africans.

 

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