›
Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

In Venezia

Patricia LesleyPatricia Lesley
edited September 2015 in Writing
Planning a Christmas visit to Venice.

Comments

  • Baggy BooksBaggy Books
    How to or want to?
  • Patricia LesleyPatricia Lesley
    Hey Baggy! Actually, I was wondering if anyone else had been, and what they knew of to recommend.
  • neilneil
    Read 'Venice' by Jan Morris. Brilliant. Or for a quick overview get the 'Eyewitness' guide.
  • montholonmontholon
    If you haven't already read it, I recommend 'Miss Garnet's Angel' by Sally Vickers. I enjoyed it so much that I made my family follow her footsteps round Venice. My other piece of advice would be to take the water bus from the airport. The sight of the city rising in front of you from the lagoon is one you'll never forget.
  • neilneil
    edited September 2015
    If you arrive by train, walking down those steps from the station to board a water bus to get you to your hotel or whatever, is another unforgettable moment - quite apart of course from all the wonderful things you'll see just wandering the bridges and lanes of this extraordinary city.
  • Patricia LesleyPatricia Lesley
    edited September 2015
    Ciao! Mi piace molto con i tuoi messaggi. Jan Morris's 'Venice' I'll reserve at the library Neil.
    Hi montholon. 'Miss Garnet's Angel' isn't fiction? I'll have a look at it. Amazing how books influence you isn't it. Every time I think of Gerald Durrell's book about Corfu, I want to go. By the by, I planned to travel by omnibus from Treviso airport. The price of the water bus would, probably, necessitate me skulking, about La Serenissima, with a begging bowl!
  • Island GirlIsland Girl
    Is go back to Venice tomorrow - loved it! I'd imagine Christmas in Venice would be magical. Lucky you, Patricia. Enjoy!
  • Patricia LesleyPatricia Lesley
    Thank you Island Girl. I can't, really, believe there's a city on the sea, so I've got to go. What are your plans for Christmas?
  • CarolCarol
    They brought in a tourist tax a year or so ago.
  • Patricia LesleyPatricia Lesley
    edited November 2015
    I've, nearly, finished reading 'Venice' by Jan Morris, and feel, thoroughly, introduced not to a city, but to a favourite, elderly aunt. She writes in detail, and so affectionately about the place. Seems that fog, bitter wind, and bells are what I'm most likely to find there at Christmas though.
  • Patricia LesleyPatricia Lesley
    edited January 2016
    Was loathe to leave. Three days was not, nearly, enough time to be in such a picturesque place, where you can hear what people say outside, because there's no traffic. Nobody's in a rush since the calle are so narrow. Dustmen come and go in a barge; street cleaners push barrow, and broom. Pure poetry.
    'They give you that hooded look.' Jan Morris's description fitted the porter at my hotel, perfectly not to mention a few others, yet they were all so friendly.
  • neilneil
    There's a very good Skyline Instant webcam for Venice, Patricia. Right now St Mark's great bell is chiming and the walking boards for the 'acqua alta' (high Tide) are in postion. Go via Google to Skyline, Italy Veneto. The Piazza San Marco shot even has sound !!
  • heatherheather
    Gosh, that is strangely hypnotic, especially with the sound like a swarm of bees.
  • Patricia LesleyPatricia Lesley
    You know Venice well Neil?
  • ana sana s
    Love Venice. Looks like fiction or a dream. I mean gondolas - you couldn't make them up. Remember seeing the most strikingly beautiful green-eyed girl on the water bus wrapped around a fat old business man.
  • Patricia LesleyPatricia Lesley
    I could not make up the price of a gondola! I loved the way people behaved, that is like humans rather than cars.
  • Island GirlIsland Girl
    I only spent two nights in Venice so envy you your three. But as you say, it's not nearly enough. It's such an enchanting place. The waterways, the alleys, the foot bridges, the gondolas, the artworks, the people...*sigh*
  • doradora
    edited January 2016
    .
  • Patricia LesleyPatricia Lesley
    edited January 2016
    I'd like to upload some photos, but the tech. escapes me.
  • neilneil
    If you look at the Skyline webcam this morning you'll see St Mark's Square under water (the aqua alta) and people walking on the specially erected walkways. Some people even walking in the water itself.
  • ana sana s
    Shouldn't have looked. Turned into a tour of Italy and America.
  • neilneil
    Ha ha! I've been hooked for ages, but largely only Italy. In fact I've just emailed the Skyline people to ask what's happened to one of my favourites - the Umbrian hilltop village of Monte Santa Maria Tiberina. Down for maintenace, I'm told.

    As for Patricia's question 'Do I know Venice?' I've only visited once, but read plenty. For some years however, I've been going annually to Rome.

    Carry on Skylining. Addictive !!
  • ana sana s
    Weirdly voyeuristic, meditative and hopeful in the manner of metal-detecting. Maybe, just maybe, something will happen.
  • snailmalesnailmale
    If it was canals you were looking for, you'd have been better off in Birmingham.
  • LizLiz
    i love the Donna Leon detective books. Gives me a taste, for a while.
Sign In or Register to comment.