Venezia

Off to Venice for five days. Neither of us have been to Venice for quite a long time.

The islands of Venice were inhabited when the Venetians fled dry land to escape the barbarian invasion to occupy the islands in the bay and in the process they created the worlds most beautiful city.

However its uniqueness and beauty can hide many issues. Firstly it has a loss of citizens every year who are going back to mainland areas to live. At present Venice has only 50,000-60,000 inhabitants

Secondly it is sinking at an alarming rate of 2.5 inches every ten years

Also properties are decaying, unoccupied, with water pollution and rat infestation

So charm and beauty confronted by the ravages of the sea and time

We entered Venice by the public transport system, bus from airport to Piazzale Roma then a vaporetta (ferry) to a stop near our hotel. (yes Carolyna is still doing buses)

Our hotel was well situated on the other side of the Grand Canal, away from St Marks Square.

 Its an area called Dorsoduro and is much quiter than the more popular San Marco area with its hordes of Tourists. It is a pleasure to meander through the quite, narrow streets of this area.

This is La Salute church, next to our hotel, looking across to St Marks Square

We went to Venice at this time to see the Sydney Dance Company performing. They, along with other international dance companies, were performing for the Venice Dance Biennale

This is The Malibran theatre where the dance company performed

The dancers after one performance accept warm applause from the audience

Venice survives totally on tourists. It is chaotic particularly around St Marks Square where tourists mass to get into St Marks Basillica

and the Doges Palace (building on the right below) with the bridge of sighs

St Marks Square has been the heart of Venice for more than a thousand years

Florians Cafe (opened in 1720) in Piazza San Marco

A number of cafes in the Piazza have music both day and night

Very enjoyable

The canal system dominates the city. It is subject to all the issues that you would expect including debris, tidal movements, flooding and pollution. But it is still amazing. And of course there is always the mandatory gondola ride.

The eastern most group of Islands is known as Lido. We went there one day. This is the beach location for Venetians and in its day was chic and filled with artists and literati. Today it is just a shadow of its past. Still a pleasant visit to the beach facing the Adriatic and a casual lunch

The Grand Canal has three bridges of which the most famous is the Rialto Bridge. It houses shops and on the eastern side is a very popular seafood market

In general Venice is very expensive. In fact we would say it is the most expensive city that we have been to. A casual lunch for two with one course plus a half litre of the house wine will set you back 60-80 Euro.

The following are just some pics of various scenes from Venice

And of course the happy (and lucky) couple

Breakfast at the hotel

Well back in Roma now

bacci a tutti

Carolyna e Alan

La Famiglia

Last Sunday we were invited for a family lunch by a waiter at our local restaurant.

Mimo invited us to his home about 10km from Roma centro.

He had a top floor apartment with balcony. They shared the apartment with another family.

Mimo and his wife have three lovely children, two girls aged 12 and 11 and one boy aged nine.

We got there at just after 12 and eventually were driven home at 7pm

They made us feel so welcome

Primi was antipasti, then pasta con funghi, then abbaccio (lamb) con forno, beef, schnitzel and insalata followed by dolci.

We also had wonderful wine including a barolo vino rosso

The following are some photos of this special day

Well ciao for now

i baci a tutto

Carolyna e Alan

Sabato

From time to time you get an urge to do something energetic

Well Sabato (Saturday) was such a day.

Carolyna was up first and said "andiamo" (let's go)

So off we go. Firstly to the Appia Antica (the Appian Way). One of, if not the oldest, roads in Roma. From 400 BC

Around Appia Antica (just outside the old walls of Roma) are a number of Catacombs where early Christians were buried. They are extensive and each catecomb covers may kilometres of underground burial areas. The one we went to was St. Domitilla which is the oldest of the catacombs.

You enter through a sunken 4th century church. Pardon the pics as no photography was allowed. So these are photos of photos

The tunnels housed burial areas for many thousands of Roman christians. In most instances remains have been removed to other burial areas

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You can see the burial cavities in the walls in this pic

The bodies were placed in these wall cavities and sealed with tiles or marble depending on the degree of  wealth.

Some families had their own vaults.

This second century fresco is very impressive. It had just been restored. It depicts the last supper

The tour takes about 45 minutes with a guide. It is not possible to "go alone" as you would easily get lost in the tunnels

After "la catacomba" we caught a bus back to centro where we went to the Fondazione Roma Museo to view the Edward Hopper exhibition. Edward Hopper is a famous American painter form the early to mid 20th century. The exhibition was well worth a visit

The photo below is of Hopper

The quote is "all I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house"

They recreated one of his works into a "real life" situation.

All dummies of course....mmm, maybe except for one

Here is an example of his most typical work

After pranzo (lunch) we went for a long walk to Piazza della Republica.

 It has a wonderful (amongst many in Roma) Basilica. Santa Maria Degli Angeli

Then of course, what does any self respecting Roman do before cena? Aperitivi of course

and where else than at the Spanish Steps

So, ci scussi

Dobbiamo andare a cena addesso

(we must go to dinner now)

Bacci a tutti

Carolyna e Alan