Videos of Venice

Venetian Streets


Gondola's in Venice



Nelson sings "like a virgin" under the Bridge of Sighs


Plaza San Marco 1


Plaza San Marco 2

Plaza San Marco Moonlight

Venice Dreams, Olive Oil and Sun in Greece

We arrived from Spain to Venice with a bang. We picked up our pre-paid vaporatti tickets (thanks for the tip Mary Lynn) and were soon aboard a bus zipping towards the water. We entered Venice through the long causeway and suddenly we were there. Lugging the bags (Mom's included) was a huge task. We dragged them aboard the Vaporatti (water bus) and set off for the Rialto bridge. Nelz clicked away on his camera barely aware of anything other than what he saw through his camera lens. We haled off our bags and made our way to our internet hotel find (don't laugh at the name) the hotel Canada (so-named due to the owner's father having lived in Montreal years ago). The hotel fit our budget and not so much our desire for air-con... we were back to fans and humid heat. So we made due and used our skills (thanks Michael) and had many daily showers to keep cool.

The streets of Venice are a woven maze that we ventured off into right away in search of the famous Plaza San Marco (I have to say a must see in life). We made our way through the narrow paths and remarked at the shop windows being still filled with masks from carnival (the masks were amazing and one made its way into our suit case). The Plaza San Marco stunned me. We had been mere moments before in narrow and a dense space, and suddenly a massive square emerged. The basilica was stunning, the square gorgeous and yes massively filled with tourists. In spite of the throngs of camera filled hands and babies screaming the sheer beauty made me fall in love with the city. I know now that I have to go back and spend more time.

The food (how could I not mention it) was yummy. The pasta, the risotto, the seafood - all yum yum yum. I of course found the chances to wash it down with wine and fizzy water. But dinner and an evening never seemed to end without another ball of gelato being devoured. The good news about our travel is that while we are eating well we are also walking so much in the sun. My skin grows darker than Nelz's skin daily.

Finally three days later we had to leave the city that took my heart.

Our cruise began in Venice, and the departure from the City was stunning. I climbed to the highest deck and found a little spot to perch on as we sailed hundreds of feet above the city on the ship. What a view of the city. I clicked madly with Nelson's camera as he slept through the amazing passage.

Having never been aboard a cruise ship before I had no idea of what to expect. My first thought was that I had enter Las Vegas and the bling was hard on the eyes. We had our first meal aboard and were impressed with the food. Later Nelz and I snuck off into the night to figure out what was aboard the massive ship. Casinos, pools, baskeball courts, restaurants, and 3500+ passengers.

Our first stop was the next morning in the sleepy little city of Bari, Italy. It was great to suddenly been in a place where people did not speak much english at all and were not used to tourists.

That night we set sail for Olympia. We set off on our first excursion to see the ruins of Olympia (the site of the original olympic games). It was hot and proved to be too much for Mom, so Nelson continued on the tour and Mom and I made our own smaller tour of the grounds. The original stadium that german archaeologists had uncovered was really cool to see. See the next two videos.


Nelson Does Olympia


Olympia

We then sailed for Santorini in the morning and now in the evening we are in Mykonos.

Santorini was interesting. We anchored in the harbour and boarded small boats (tenders) to the dock. We then rode a cable car (instead of walking up 600+ steps) or a long donkey ride (poor asses - our butts too). Santorini is perched on a cliff over looking the harbour. narrow cobble streets wet and covered in donkey dung, white-washed buildings, and tourists galore. After we got back in line and made it again to the steep cable car as it dropped swiftly towards the sea. Our car was filled with some older croatian women from Rijeka screaming in croatian about the fact that they were about to die as they plunged to the sea. I intervened in what seems to be limited croatian - sadly I am losing the language.

Last I will post a short video of our arrival by small boat into Mykonos:

Videos of Cordoba

Bells in Cordoba


Mezquita in Cordoba


Roman Bridge in Cordoba


Royal Palace in Cordoba

Tagalog Message from Nelson in Cordoba

Videos of Spain


Alcazar in Seville 1



Alcazar in Seville 2



Cathedral in Seville 2



Plaza Espana in Seville 2

Spain with no rain on the plain

Wow, the week in Spain is coming quickly to an end and now I find myself with a little time to type and share some stories. But sadly it will be without pictures today - but you should check out Nelson´s pictures on facebook... amazing shots. As for me, the next chance I get I will be uploading many videos from across spain and putting them on youtube and plug them on here and on facebook.

Here is one to start you off: Madrid Video

We started our week really back in Guelph Ontario) see previous post. But the next stop on our Journey was Madrid. The flight in business class (you have to love travel points) was great and relaxing. It made our mid-day arrival in Madrid very cushioned. After dropping our bags and a shower we were out the door and on to a hop-on-hop-off bus. I have never really liked them, but with Mom travelling with us it makes for a really easy way to quickly see an overview of the city and for it to be accessible for her. It also gives you a quick visual layout of the city and visual stimiluation for about 1 hour. After the bus we stopped for a nice dinner at some small little cafe and began our drinking of copius amounts of water daily in little side walk cafes.

The next morning we hopped the train in Madrid´s Attocha station which is filled to the massive glass roofs with a tropical jungle. You descende into the jungle on the esclator and feel the humidity of the jungle - it is quite a lovely approach to a train station.

The trian ride was on one of spain´s fast AVE lines and in 2 hours we were in Cordoba (Southern Spain). What a sweet and lovely little city. I managed to find a cute hotel 1 block form the main attraction (The Mesquita). This very old Islamic mosque was a delight on the eyes and I must admit I shook my head and giggled when I read some of the litereature (clearly written by Christian authorities) that portrayed the Muslims as the big bad bullies and the christians as the innocent victims. The mosque was amazingly huge and so beautiful. It was so big that when the Christians took back this part of Spain they built a huge cathedrail right in the middle of the mosque and the cathedral looks like comparitively like a tiny tear drop in the ocean.... it is almost hard to find it in the middle. We walked around in the mosque for 30 minutes before we even saw that there was a cathedral.

Next we ventured to Seville (about 40minutes by train). Again I found a great hotel only 1 block from the central cathedral and the Alcazar (a beautiful moorish palace). Spiritually the Mesquita in Cordoba blew us away, but the Alcazar palace was stunning. The tile work and the Islamic art was gorgeous. You could feel the amazing power of the moorish empire in Southern spain the wealth of days past.

We also enjoyed a few horse rides compliments of Mom in these cute horse-drawn carriages. Usually an older guy with a very hard (even for me to understand) accent telling us tales as he drove us around.

Finally we made our way to Barcelona and to our lovely apartment in the Xiample area of the city and interestingly on the edge of Gay Xiample. We rented the apartment online and it worked out great. Comfortable, 1 block from the metro and great food and grocery stores close.

We also had a great evening with my old friend Ruben from Venezuela. Ruben and I met over 13 years ago in Vancouver when he was in the city studying. Ruben now lives here in Barcelona with his hubby Roberto.

We also made our way around again by a hop-on-hop-off bus. What a great city - the architecture is amazing and provoking. The main draw for me was the cathedral Sagada Familia by the artist Gaudi - you have to see it to fully appreciate it.

So tomorrow we are off to Venice - may the canals open to us and that we float about soaking up the city of Venice.

Guelph, guelph everywhere, but no turtles snapping

We arrived in Guelph to cheers and hugs. The rain was however streaming down on us in a torrential storm as we drove towards Guelph in our little rented car on the very dark 401 highway at 10 pm - at times barely able to see the cars weave in front of us. But the rain was quickly swept from our minds as the yummy spread of food on the porch welcome party was quickly devoured. Then Julia and Lise went to Mark's house and hauled him out of bed to join in. Annie, Julia, Lise Mark, myself, Mom and Nelson laughed and yakked into the early hours.

The next morning was a visit to Mark's restaurant (the corner stone) and a surprise to see Ravi having brunch with us. Ravi is a cool guy I met in Guelph 3 years ago - great energy and smart. Sadly Mark was not there, but left a calling card that the brunch was on him - what a sweet guy.

After breakfast we surveyed City Hall with Lise giving us a tour and surveying office space of Councillors followed by a visit to #10 office. Nice to meet with people 1 year before the election.

There was also a quick tour of the city and a hot sales pitch on real estate in Guelph - Nelson looked interested ;-)

The final cherry on the cake before we left town was a yummy dinner with Tony, Julia Annie and the three of us travelers. Good beer, great food, laughter, plotting schemes and yet once again not allowed to pay for meal - thank you Tony.

Will Guelph join the EU? ;-)

sending you all hugs. Thank you Annie for coordinating and giving up you bed - you rock!

Oh yes.... and the map of our travel... god... what were we thinking ;-)