Jamesq

As things have been really hectic it was great to get away for a short break last weekend to Venice. We left on Thursday and it took the full day with two transfers to get there so didn’t arrive till evening. With just Friday and Saturday to enjoy we walked for miles and did a few of the must sees. Our favourite bit though was definitely Ombre e Chicchetti in a Bacari down some narrow back street. White Wine and tapas style nibbles whilst standing at the bar to save on the additional charges for sitting down.

Our other favourite bit was the hotel which was absolutely stunning. We stayed at the Bauer Hotel which was right on the Grand Canal about 500 metres from San Marco square. On arrival they told us our room had been upgraded free of charge to a Suite. Never had this happen before so this was fantastic. The suite had two bathrooms a living room with TV radio and writing bureaus, two walk in wardrobes and a door bell! Really could have spent the two days in there.

It was definitely a weekend of opulence and Venice is an easy place to spend your money on not very much. We avoided the €5.70 charge each to sit on the tables in the San Marco Square and tried were possible to find the more down to earth places. Glad we’ve done it and a fantastic place to see.

We did the Peggy Guggenheim museum, the main art gallery, rialto etc etc so feel we’ve ticked the boxes you’re supposed to on a visit too but for me just walking round the amazing architecture and marvelling at the uniqueness of the city was just as enjoyable.

The battles for the Isle of Man Steam Packet seem to be continuing with not only the loss of jobs in its Belfast Office but also the “Use it or lose it” comment made in respect of the second fast craft, Snaefell. It’s a shame that in all the negativity that has surrounded services and decisions recently, no matter whether it has been justified or not, has been met with equally negative retorts from the Steam Packet itself. I was even more surprised by the Steam packets refusal to comment over the redundancies in Belfast.

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Found a great little plugin for Wordpress called NextGen. I’ve added a few photos in a number of different galleries. Isle of Man, Thailand, Paris, Birds, Random Pics and Wales. I’ll hopefully add a few more galleries. If I can work out Albums I’ll sort them all out a little better.