Christmas in Venice/New Years in London

Its been a busy couple of weeks with Christmas and New years. 

Leanne's niece Bonnie and her boyfriend Daniel came across the pond. They would visit us on the front and end of there trip. They landed on Friday and after a quick showing of London they would be leaving on Saturday morning like us. They to visit Ireland and Scotland and us to visit Venice. 

Our view of Venice as we flew in. It was a clear enough day to have great views of it.

A water taxi is the main mode of transportation to Venice. 

The ride would take us down the grand canal, the view were amazing.

The ride was about 45 minutes with a few stops on the way. Leanne had a smile for most of the trip.

This guy does not look happy.

But his attitude changed when he saw the camera.  

More views on the way, we took about twenty pictures on this leg. 

Final off the boat and this is the view we see. We did a lot of "look over there" the whole time we were there.

This is the alley way from the boat to our hotel. There are no cars, its either walk or the boat.

After checking into our hotel it was time to explore. This was our view on the walk to St. Marks square.

This is St. Marks Square, or Piazza San Marco with St. Marks Basilica. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_San_Marco

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark%27s_Basilica

As we walk onto the square we noticed blue flying toys in the air. This was the same sales junk that we saw in a few other countries. They must have a great sales team.

There are lots of birds in the square, we both thought we were going to get hit by one. Both by there droppings and them flying into us.

This Christmas tree was at the end of the square. The picture doesn't show how much the tree sparkled. 

There were great night pictures around every corner. After we took this picture we went into a wine store to buy a bottle of red. As I walked into the store I noticed a pigeon and then another. The owner was feeding them on his counter, there had to be about six of them in the store. There were feathers everywhere. I bought a bottle with out any pigeon poop on it and left.

Shopping, lots of it if you want to spend to much money. This was a fancy shoe store---it did not have pigeons in it.

Having a glass of wind in our hotel room after a long day. Yes, I cleaned the bottle just in case a pigeon landed on it. 

What could be better than waking up on Christmas day in Venice. Well it would have been nice except for the garbage boat being loaded outside our window. 

Up and going a little later than we wanted, but we were moving. Breakfast would be at the hotel and with it came a great view.

An even better view from the outside. 

And looking the other direction, with a beautiful women in the picture. 

Gondolas were everywhere, we had talked about going on one but passed on it when we saw the price. 

The bell tower is the Campanile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark%27s_Campanile

The original one was built in the 11th century and collapsed in 1902. This one was built in 1912. 

Another picture of St. Marks during the day. As we walked around the street scammers kept trying to give Leanne a rose. This was not for free rose, they would hand it to you and if you took it they wanted some money. And you could not give it back once you took it, it was as if you ruined it. We had seen this in other countries so we knew how it worked. You ended up being as rude as they were and told them to go away.

 Leanne could have gotten a few dozen by the time we walked thru there. She deserves flowers, just not from them.

Our next stop would be a tour of the Doge's Palace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doge's_Palace

This was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice. 

There were many rooms at the palace, here are a couple. 

This is the Chamber of the Great Council, the largest room at the palace and one of the largest rooms in Europe. It also has the largest canvas painting in the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_Paradiso

There were a few rooms with ceilings like this. A person could get a headache looking up at them. 

In the palace and attached to it by the bridge of Sighs are the prisons. Among the normal ways to get thrown into prison, another way was to use this post box. If you didn't like a person you could place a  note in the mouth and accuse him or her of something.  

During the prison tour we came upon the  prison cell of Casanova. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giacomo_Casanova

As you can see, the door was very short.

This is the palace courtyard, with a view of St. Marks in the back ground.

Time for Christmas dinner, this was one of our appetizers.

and the main course. Fresh caught Sea bass, cooked in salt. We had fish cooked like this in Naples and really liked it. This one was even better, the best fish we had ever had.

The next day we crossed the Ponte dell'Accademia bridge on our way to the  Gallerie dell'Accademia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_dell%27Accademia

 It is one of four bridges that cross the grand canal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallerie_dell'Accademia

The museum contains masterpieces of Venetian painting up to the 18th century,

She always makes me look good. 

Our next stop was the Peggy Guggenheim collection. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Guggenheim_Collection

At one time this was her house and is now a museum that has her collection. Among the Picasso, Dali and Pollock are these great works of art.

Blue on red along with green on red.

a black stripe on a white background.

a painting with vertical and horizontal lines.

I didn't understand those last paintings either. My grand kids could do that for half the money.

This is a view from the outer area of Venice. The buildings on the left are on another island. 

Crossing back over the Ponte dell'Accademia bridge with a view down the grand canal. 

And this is the view looking the other way, the church in the back grown is Santa Maria della Salute. More about it later in the blog.

One of the many squares in the city. 

And then there are the funny doors, this street had a few of them.

Another church, there was a lot of them

Did i mention we had great sunny weather. I did not say warm, just sunny.

Must be time for a break and pitcher of local wine.

I think this is my second lunch. You should always have at least two lunches while in Italy. The first one being Pasta and the second one----well that should also be Pasta.

More waterways, we never got tired of the views.

My grand-kids call my daughter Heather, Aunt Ha Ha. I would have bought it for her but there were one to many Ha in this one.

Night view of the Doge's palace. The round pillar's look like there missing a base. The building has actually sunk and walk ways covered them up.

This is the bridge of Sighs, it connects the Dog's palace to the new prison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_Sighs

The new prison was built in the 16th century, so it's not that new.

Coffee and Baileys for breakfast, life is good.

I had to show the bath room in our hotel room.

The main entrance to our hotel and the high water mark from November 4,1966.

Last day in Venice we saw the grocery boat go by.
 

Next on our list of things to see was the Santa Maria della Salute.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_della_Salute

This is a view of our hotel from the Santa Maria della Salute. Ours is the one with the darker stone.

The church had a few alters, this one had a good vibe with the sun shining thru.

Another square, this one has a tree. There must be a tree tax as there is not many trees in Venice.

Another grocery boat, this one is a vegetable stand.

Leanne checking the book as to where we're going next. We had Pizza here, it was great.

Next church to visit was the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frar or Frari church

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_Gloriosa_dei_Frari

The outside is plain,

the beauty is on the inside.

Time to head back to the hotel to grab our luggage and a boat ride back to the airport.

Another water view.

There's always time for chocolate gelato 

This is the famous Rialto Bridge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rialto_Bridge

It looks good from a distance but up close there is just a lot of people.

There are always a lot of places to eat where ever you go. The one place you do not want to eat is a picture menu restaurant like this one. The food is always bad.

We went by the picture menu and stopped here.

Must be time for second lunch, and a pitcher of wine.

It took us a few days to figure our what these were for. These are elevated sidewalks for when it floods. There on all the main walk ways.

Another gondola, 

and another beautiful women.

And as our Christmas vacation ends 

we say good by to the gondola's.

Waiting for our plane at the airport, more wine of course.

You know your vacation is over when this is your view.

We got back on the 27th and Leanne's niece and Daniel got back on the 30th. They would be with us till January 2nd.

On the 31st Leanne and I went to the National Gallery, we plan on going back.

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

Bonnie and Daniel went to the Tower of London, the only problem is it closed early.

 For New Years eve it would be an american meal of steak and potatoes. 

For the new year we went to Windsor castle to look at the state apartments. It was a rainy day and i got this picture of the women trying to stay dry.  They just happen to be standing outside the kitchen entrance.

The morning of the second we took Bonnie and Daniel to the train station and bid them farewell.  It was a better day then the day before so we walked home. We had to cross in front of Buckingham Palace and they were getting ready for the changing of the guards. We quickly got away from all the craziness. 

We did get to see the Royal Horse Guards go by.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_and_Royals

Coach wanted to get closer, we told him no.

A nice long walk, not quite 5 miles to get home. 

Coach said i had enough fun and will be taking a break now.