Venice with Polly

I met my long lost friend Polly in Venice for 2 days and 2 nights of exploration. I've never really had a hankering to visit Venice, but when the opportunity came a-knocking, I couldn't say no! We both arrived in early afternoon on Monday and met up at the hotel she had booked, then started walking around getting lost.

Self-take of Polly and me

 

We explored on foot and took a few prosecco breaks to rest in between. The weather was very hot and muggy but in a good way -- especially for me coming from such a cool and rainy Britain. When we got too sweaty and tired, we went back to the hotel to take showers and freshen up for the evening. We went to a fancy hotel that had a patio area right on the Grand Canal and so we sat and had some snacks and vino while trying to take stealthy photos of gondoliers paddling past.

Two gondoliers in adjacent gondolas paddling past our viewing area.

We also watched the nearly full moon rise right before our eyes on this gorgeous night. It is the little yellow dot just to the right of the red/black striped post

We found a little bistro to have dinner and were delighted to see that the charismatic waiter we had was wearing pink/ lavender jeans. Nice. This was the view right next to the bistro.

The strange thing I found about Venice is that the people who work there seem to make a huge effort to have people see what they expect to see and hear what they expect to hear. The gondoliers wear the little outfits and everyone is sort of pitching in to give the tourists a proper "Venician" experience. And its strange to be somewhere where everyone is a tourist except for the people inside the shops/cafes.

On Tuesday morning we bought vaporetto (boat version of the city bus) tickets for all day and went out to visit Burano, which is an island about 50 minutes ride away from the main island of Venice.

Burano is known for its colorful and tidy buildings and houses

We got back to the main island and then did some walking around.

Polly on the Grand Canal in late afternoon muggy sun

After a brief stop back at the hotel to refresh, we went back out to see San Marco, which is a big beautiful building and plaza.

Then we started doing cartwheels. We did cartwheels and more cartwheels, trying to capture the blurred movement and the full moon in various spots throughout the city.

Polly cartwheeling with the full moon in the background

Me doing cartwheels with the full moon behind.

There was some crazy gelato displays! I like this one with blue Smurf gelato

The next day we just basically got up, had breakfast, did some quick last minute shopping, then made our way to the airport for our 12 noon flight back to Gatwick. I then went straight to work and Polly went for a little spa treatment before we headed home.  It was a whirlwind trip, but it was really great. Thanks so much for inviting me, Polly!