Venezia, day 4 – a gondola ride and a last wander round

We decided to do the touristy thing on our last day and took a gondola ride from just past the Rialto bridge. Here’s the gondola stand:

And me with Mr B in romantic surroundings.

We headed out to the Rialto bridge.

And it was quite exciting going under it.

Next we turned into the little side canals. I noticed how many molluscs were encrusted onto the side of the houses, and you can see the water line from the winter.

I also loved the reflection of the water under the bridges.

Our gondolier was very friendly

but it was slightly spooky that he looked very much like my dad (maybe two years ago, before he went into residential care). He showed us the oldest house in Venice, which was apparently 1300 years old.

Then Marco Polo’s house.

Then Casanova’s house (which is now a bank).

Then a monastery building (now used as a telecoms office).

The gondoliers use the walls to balance, as brakes and as a way of changing direction – and at one point we were in a 7-gondola jam!

More panini and ice cream afterwards, a last bit of wandering round (apparently it’s an old wives’ tale that the two different-coloured columns on the loggia of the Palazzo Ducale - seen here in the centre - are that colour because they were soaked by the blood of traitors executed there). We walked back along the Grand Canal from the Palazzo Ducale and spotted two ladies in carnival costume.Then we bought a small watercolour of the square as a souvenir, and went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage.

quick catchup and London

Current work: second revisions (I really *am* going to nail them)
Listening to: Bach
Reading: Sarah Addison Allen (just finished Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen – both interesting ideas; also read Marina Fiorata’s ‘The Glassblowers of Murano’ while I was in Venice, and it was lovely spotting the book locations in real life – enjoyed the book thoroughly)

Life has been immensely busy since returning from Venice (of which still more to come – there are three more posts, all with lots of pics – and yes, I probably am really boring on the subject now). Really, it was a question of catching up on sleep (Milan, not Venice – see, I told you there was more to come) and then obviously it was school holidays. And I came home to second revisions (weep). Actually, I do understand why I’m getting them. It’s not because I’ve suddenly become a crap writer (my agent would’ve told me if that were the case) but the market out there is very, very, VERY tough, so books need to be extra-good now in order to persuade readers to buy them. Which is how come I have to add more ‘Kate Hardy magic’ to the jousting book (my ed’s words, not mine!) and, um, why I’ve been struggling with them for the last week.

I’ve been busy, but not actually achieved a lot; and I’ve also been distracting myself on the question of a netbook. (I might say here that Yvonne Lindsay, Trish Morey and Liz Fielding are Very Bad Influences - and I just know I’m going to crack as soon as these revisions are off my desk. Shortlist of four: so I need a chat with the tecchy people in John Lewis on Saturday, methinks.)

Anyway. I went to London yesterday for a meeting with my agent and editor, and had a very, very nice time. Nice journey in - booking a seat in the quiet coach was a v good idea and I will do that in future. My booked seat was backward-facing (despite the fact I asked for a forward-facing one), but luckily the train was quiet and I managed to find a forward-facing seat: joy of joys, it also had a table, and I was able to spread out the proofs of the Essex book and sort all that out on the way in. (Well, hey. Multi-tasking is good.)

Met my friend and fellow Modern Heat author Heidi Rice for a coffee and a catch-up (and BOTH of us had a camera and forgot to take a pic! How bad is that?), then headed to Kensington. I was a little early and it was a glorious day, so wandered round - the architecture in this part of London is gorgeous.

OK, so I was house-hunting for characters. But look at these. Aren’t they lovely?

There was hardly any traffic; very peaceful and pretty. (And is that a magnolia tree I spotted? I liked this. A lot.)

Then to Chez Patrick to meet my lovely editor Sheila Hodgson and equally lovely agent Dot Lumley.

Lunch was scrumptious: Dot and I both went for the 'Chevre brick' as a starter (the salad had a lovely pesto dressing), while Sheila had the salmon.

Main course was guinea fowl with cream sauce, served with spinach and celeriac (v scrum, lots of nutmeg).

And then the most gorgeous framboise mousse. Dot's ice cream was prune and armagnac - very interesting combination and none of us guessed it!

The food’s good, the staff are charming and attentive without being intrusive, and I’d recommend the restaurant highly.

Obviously I’m not going into details of what we discussed, but broadly these lunch meetings tend to be about how an author’s books are doing in terms of monitor scores (i.e. the reader panel ranks each month’s books and your position tells you whether you’re getting it right or not) and sales, what you’re planning to do for the next year, and a very frank discussion about where your career is going (strengths, weaknesses etc). Some authors hate seeing their figures; I like to see mine because I’m a planner and it helps me to focus. It’s the first set I’ve seen for a while, so it was interesting reading and it’s boosted my confidence a bit – especially after the revisions issue. (I’m still going to moan about it because – well, hey, I’m an author and we’re a paranoid bunch. But I know why they’re happening and that makes a difference.) I feel a lot more focused now, and that’s always a good thing.

After that, had a quick wander round (was going to buy the kids something nice in Gap, but then remembered that my mini fashionista has better taste than I do – she picked the top I bought for yesterday’s meeting). Had just enough time to meet my bestest cousin for a drink - she's a City chick, and is utterly glamorous. (Proof: her amazing shoes.)

Lovely to catch up (we have many shared tastes... including Chablis *g*. Rats, forgot to tell her about the Robbie Williams lookalike in Milan). And actually, that was work (wait for it), because a wine bar scene is in a future book; it’s years since my PR/media buying meetings in London, so it was useful to refresh my memory. (Terri was having a guilt trip about the bar bill until I explained that two glasses of Chablis in London = 2 coffees in Florian's.)

Then caught the train home. When I booked, weirdly, it turned out that first class was actually cheaper. Was nice because I had a forward-facing seat and quiet people near me, but there were some braying businessmen at the end of the carriage. (I realised why as I left the train – rather a lot of gin consumed there…) Still think Italian trains are nicer, but see future Venezia posts for details!

Venezia, day 3 – final night (or so we thought)

In the evening, we went out for dinner. Found a lovely restaurant - fresh freesias etc. (Bad photo as DH hates me behaving like a tourist.)

The restaurant had the most amazing wine list - literally, hundreds of choices! I opted for a very traditional Venetian dish - calves' livers with polenta, which was gorgeous. DH shocked me by having the Venetian mixed fish and vegetables (including baby octopus). For pudding, son opted for chocolate mousse (which he didn’t like, sigh – had nuts in it); Madam had fresh pineapple with pomegranate, I had affogato (ice cream with espresso poured over the top) – and then wished I’d had DH’s pudding, this beautiful raspberry torte. (Again apols for the bad pic. DH has a strong sense of embarrassment – sigh, nobody was looking and it isn’t an issue!).

Had a last wander through the Piazza San Marco - Madam and I danced through the square.

Back to our hotel, where we took a last night-time view from the terrace.

Then we relaxed in the reception area.

And son caught up with the papers (he's just got interested in politics).

Will be very sad to leave Venice - gorgeous city and lovely people.

Another 30, 000 steps today. That makes 88k in total since we started.

Venezia, day 3 – Murano, Burano and Torcello

We had pre-booked an excursion for Thursday afternoon to visit the three Northern islands. Actually finding our boat was a little difficult because (despite the fact I’d asked at home in the travel agent’s exactly where we were meant to go) it wasn’t obvious that it was being run by a particular company. We had to ask at several places before we found the one our trip was through (and the place where we had to exchange our voucher for a ticket and the time of the trip were both different!). The man at the rival company's stand was really helpful and utterly lovely – and we made it to the trip with a few minutes to spare.

First stop was a glass factory at Murano.

Here we had a demonstration at the furnace.

Firstly we saw a vase being blown.

Then we saw a horse being made – it was amazing how he just pulled out the glass and it came into shape.

The guide dropped a piece of paper into the finished vase and it burst into flame - apparently it takes 24 hours to cool down (made at 7,000 degrees). Then we took a look round the warehouse – Madam spotted a dog she wanted, son found a fish, and DH wanted a dolphin. (We both spied some wine glasses we really liked, but proper Murano glasses are £60 each minimum, and the likelihood of said glasses getting broken - given that the last set I bought, only four out of six made it through being washed before use - made us decide it wasn’t practical.)

Next was Torcello, which was very quiet and green. There’s an amazing bridge there, the Ponte di Diablo. We also saw the outside of the 7th-century church of Santa Maria, but there wasn't enough time for us to go inside and see the mosaics, which was a bit disappointing. (Next time, we’ll do our own trip rather than pre-book an excursion.)

Next was Burano, which we loved - very pretty. I’m letting the pics speak for themselves.

This church actually had a leaning tower, but I couldn’t get the right angle to show this.

We were naughty and ducked out of the lace factory - we wanted to go to the pasticciera, because Burano is famed for its s-shaped lemony/buttery biscuits. And rightly so, as they're scrummy. They make gelati in the same flavour, studded with little bits of biscuit, which is also gorgeous - Gusto al Burano, I think it's called - though Madam voted for the cioccolato bianco. We also bought another bead for our bracelets each; oddly, they had a nicer selection than Murano! Then it was back to Venezia in time for a stroll before dinner.

Venezia, day 3 – St Mark’s and Santa Maria Formosa

On Thursday morning, I was awake early; we didn't see the sun rising as we didn't have a view east, but the sky in Venice turns the palest shade of pink.

We had breakfast on the terrace, as usual, then went off to visit St Mark's. We were in the queue at 9.15 and it was worth queuing early as the loggia was deserted and we got to see the horses without a rush.

Oh, but first – the mosaics on the west front. Most of them are 19th century repro/restoration, but there is one original one above the west door.

And then we went inside and it just blew me away. The entire walls and ceilings are covered in mosaics. (Again, this is a naughty pic, but it was taken with respect because this… this was just stunningly beautiful and moving and I want to share how incredible it is.)

Each tessera has three layers, the top one being glass, which is why they shine so brightly.

We went up the incredibly steep steps to the Loggia dei Cavalli to see the horses. The ones you see outside on the Loggia are reproductions (even down to the scratches and partial gilding, thought to make them catch the sun better).

The repros are good, but the original horses really moved me. They date from the 2nd century BC and were stolen from the hipprodrome at Constantinople in 1204. It’s the only quadrigia (group of four horses harnessed to a chariot) in the world. They were cast in bronze, in two pieces; the collars hide the join.

The view from the loggia is pretty good

That’s the Doge’s palace on the left (which we didn’t get to see, sadly - we ran out of time) and the library on the right. The two granite columns you see at the end of the pic (a stretch of land called the Molo) is where criminals were executed, so superstitious people don’t walk between them. (Usually it was beheading or hanging, but three traitors were buried alive head-down here in 1405.) On the top of one, there’s a modern copy of the statue of St Theodore, the patron saint of Venice (the original is apparently in a courtyard in the Palazzo Ducale), and the bronze winged lion on the other column weighs 3,000 kilos. The lion was taken to France at one point, but in 1815 the French engineers broke it into 20 pieces to return it to Venice. It’s thought that the lion was originally a Middle Eastern monument, dating from 300 BC, and has been in Venice since at last 1293 (when documents talk about restoring it).

Inside the Basilica, we saw the Pala d'Oro; this is the famous golden altar screen, which commissioned in Constantinople in 976 and then enlarged in 1105, and then in 1209 enlarged again to incorporate items taken during the Fourth Crusade. It’s set with 15 rubies, 300 sapphires, 300 emeralds, 400 garnets, 1300 pearls and several hundred other stones, as well as enamelled plaques, roundels and chiselled figures.

The floors were marble and beautifully decorated. What really surprised me is that it wasn’t that noisy, despite being packed, as most people observed the notices requesting silence.

We also saw the Doge's rooms, which had incredible ceilings. The displays included beautiful illuminated books of hours and also 14th-century books of music - notation back then was very different so it was fascinating to see.

Then we went out for a wander to Santa Maria Formosa – a really, really beautiful church.

The bell-tower here is seen on the right of the dome in the pic above. This was probably DH’s favourite inside, and it was a huge contrast after the glitter of the Basilica – all plain and calm. I think the flowers were being arranged for a wedding.

Then we headed to the Rialto; hot panini and gelati for lunch. Madam and I both opted for panna cotta, while the boys were boring and had their usual cacao and fragola - we voted it our favourite flavour so far. And my favourite sandwich was a ‘piadina’ – a flatbread stuffed with prosciutto and pecorino cheese, toasted. Then we headed back to the hotel to drop off our shopping, so we were unencumbered for our islands excursion.

Venezia, day 2 – more churches, the traghetto and the Bridge of Sighs

The youngest research team member was desperate for a drink (she likes the freshly squeezed OJ here) so we had a break in a caffe.


Then we took the traghetto across the river at San Toma.

A traghetto is a public gondola which takes people across from one side of the Grand Canal to the other between bridges for the bargain price of 50 cents each (DH said taking this one would save us a two-mile walk, but really it was because he'd read up on them and really wanted to try one). This is the one before ours.


Apparently most Venetians stand up to go across. You can spot the tourists because they go all twitchy and sit down! Which we did, as it rocked like crazy as people got on (not to mention the floorboards moving).


Visited the church of San Stefano. Beautiful paintings by Tintoretto and a stunning ship's-keel roof. (Sorry, no pics for this one. You’re not supposed to take pics inside Venetian churches. I’ve taken naughty snaps without a flash here and there because I wanted to share the joy of the architecture, but felt that it would a bit disrespectful to flout the rules openly and put the curator to the trouble of coming over and telling me not to take photographs.)

On the way out to dinner that eavening we passed Santa Maria della Visitatione (aka La Pieta) - the church where Vivaldi was the choirmaster.
Close by is the house where Francesco Petrarca (aka the 14th-century poet who pretty much gave courtly love poetry a facelift with his sonnets to Laura) lived in the 1360s.

We ate at a little osteria (risotto with langoustines and rocket, followed by tartufo panna). The waiter, Marco, was absolutely charming - Madam was tired and he really was so sweet to her.


Then we had a wander home along the quayside. The Bridge of Sighs (Ponte di Sospiri - so-called from the sighs of the prisoners who were dragged across it to the prison) is currently being restored, so only part is visible. (That's the middle bit. The rest is a huge Bulgari ad.)


Ice cream tried today (obviously not all me - we tried one flavour each and shared tastes) - crema, fior di latte (white vanilla), fragola, cacao, limone, vaniglia, caramel.

Steps today: 28,000 (924 calories); so far, 58,000 steps.