Venezia-Venice

Taking advantage of the bank holiday the first Monday in May, we took a long weekend and went to Venezia as the Italians say or Venice.  It is a 2 hour flight from our part of England.  It takes longer to get to the airport, check in, board the plane then it does to fly there.

Being an island at the north end of the Adriatic Sea, it has one access point by land and the rest by water. It actually is 118 small islands connected by canals and bridges, but you think of them as one island.  A cause way has been built for trains, buses and cars.  It arrives at the north end of the island and that is where all land transportation stops.  From there on it is all water or foot transport. Vaporetti, water buses, connect points along the Grand Canal which runs down the middle of the Island. 

Grand Canal

Probably the most expensive bus system in the world at $9 for a single trip, or $24 for a 12 hour ticket of unlimited rides. 

Vaporetti at St. Mark's stop

We took a bus from the airport to the island and then a water taxi to our stop at San Giglio. 

Walk way from our Vaporetto stop to our B&B

 From there it was a short walk to our B&B. We were on a side canal and our room over looked the canal. 

 

Walk way and canal in from of our B&B

 It was used by the gondolas all day, and they often came by serenading the passengers.

View from our window

We spent 2 ½ days walking all over Venice.  It was easy to get mixed up as the buildings are tall, and it’s hard to get your bearings.  We actually got good at wandering around the neighborhoods and finding our destination.

Scala Contarini del Bovolo

 There are bridges everywhere, about 400, as well as dead ends that ended at a canal. Churches are everywhere.  There are over 81 of them in the approximately 6.25 square miles that make up Venice.

San Giovanni Bragora- Vivaldi baptised here

They are very unobtrusive and you can easily walk by a church without realizing it’s there.  Most of the outsides are unimpressive but the interiors are expansively decorated.

The Basilica Di San Marco or St Mark’s is the most famous church. It has certainly the largest square. 

St Mark's square, church and bell tower

The clock is magnificent, the bell tower impressive, but the church is over the top.


Clock in St Mark's square. Chimes,tells time in Roman numerals, and give current astrological sign.

             It has on the outside every imaginable kind and color of marble.

Main entrance to St Mark's

 The mosaic floor inside is dizzying, and the gold, silver, copper and glass tiles on the ceiling are the only impressive and unifying factor. It was not our favorite church.

Floor of St. Mark's

 

Ceiling of St Mark's

 John’s favorite church was the Basilica Di Santa Maria Della salute because it is built in the round with all of the side chapels round also.

Basilica Di Santa Maria Della Salute

Interior of the Basilica

Mine was San Moise because the carvings behind the altar were so unusual. 

Church of San Moise

They are life size of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God.

Altar of San Moise

          The Palazzo Ducale connected to St Marks is a very impressive palace.

Largest Hall in Palazzo Ducale

We both enjoyed wondering through its expansive and lavish rooms as well as crossing the Bridge of Sighs and touring the jail.

Bridge of sighs- connects Palace Ducale on left to Jail on right

 Many years ago our Renew group was asked to choose a saint as our groups name sake. We looked for the oddest saints we could find. We picked St Rocco the patron saint of communicable diseases.

Statue of St Rocco

While in Venice, we found a school named after St Rocco. So a visit was a must.  It was one of our favorite stops. It was called a scuola (school), but was really more of a guild hall.

Upper Hall of San Rocco scuola

The paintings were by Tintoretto, and they call it his Sistine chapel. They told the complete history of Christ in life size paintings. Every surface was covered in paintings.

Ceiling of Albergo Hall in San Rocco Scuola

 The Saint Rocco church was next door but under renovation so was only open for mass on Sunday morning.  It holds relics (bones) of Saint Rocco. It would have been nice to see the inside of the church.

John at entrance to San Rocco church

The Rialto Bridge is impressive and stands where the first bridge crossed the Grand Canal. 

Rialto Bridge- the site of the first bridge over the Grand Canal.

It is massive and has shops all along the center of the bridge.  It is a mass of people on weekends. Anywhere near it is crazy with shoppers. 

Middle of the Rialto Bridge

While we liked the bridge, it was nice to get off into the quieter

neighborhoods away from the tourists and shoppers.

Murano glass studio

We spent part of a day on the island of Murano which is known for its glass blowing factories.  They make amazing creations including jewelry, vases, chandeliers, statues, glasses, and dishes.

Glass sculpture on the island of Murano

 

A gondola ride in Venice seems a must, but we did have second thoughts as its $107 for 40 minutes.  We bit the bullet and did enjoy the ride through the canals.

Our gondolier John

 Our Gondolier, John, was young about 30 and spoke English well, so he was able to point out special sights along the way and answer all our questions.  There are 425 gondoliers in Venice and the job and boats are handed down from father to son.  They start training with the boats at the age of 12. 

There are some gondolas that serve as ferries across the Grand Canal where there are no handy bridges, about $1.30. On these you’re expected to stand on the journey across so we didn’t venture onto one.  The Grand Canal was very choppy, and I didn’t fancy standing in a gondola to cross it.

The Grand Canal has the Vaporetto or public water buses, private taxis, gondolas, delivery boats, garbage boats, service boats, ambulances, police, and private boats going all the time. It’s not a tranquil water way.

Verona's Roman Arena

Verona is an hour by train NW of Venice, so we ventured there one day.  It has the largest and best preserved Roman Coliseum or Arena in the world.  They still use it today for concerts.

Interior of Arena- set up for the up coming opera performance.

 

We also visited Castelvecchio a castle built by the medieval rulers of Verona the Della Scala family. Very different from English castles.

View of castle's entrance and outer walls from the Castle. Hole if forground remnants of a church.

Castle (white) with part of outer wall

Verona is the stage for Shakespears Romeo and Juliet.  Juliet's family home is quite the attraction.  the balcony was added in 1921 to play up the tourist angle.

The house of Capulet (Juliet's family)

 On the return to the airport, we took a water taxi. It made a complete circumnavigation of the island stopping at outlying islands and then heading to the airport. 

Kathy in water taxi on the way to the airport.

It was a good way to sum up our trip and leave. We enjoyed our visit, but Venice is a very expensive city.

Wood Stove Saga

When we moved into the house here, the landlord said he’d get the wood stove attached.  It was sitting in place, but was not attached to the chimney.  A year later he hadn’t done it.  I talked to him, and he said he couldn’t find anyone that wanted to come out and do that small a job.

 

John researched where to get the necessary part, and we purchased them.  After detailed instructions from the fireplace shop, John came home and installed the wood stove.  The sealers needed 48 hours to cure, which we gave them.  In the meantime, John had a large bag of hard wood delivered.  We excitedly started our first fire on a snowy March night.  There was some smoke, but John thought it was due to the fire not having enough kindling to really get going.  So he added more paper.  It produced more smoke.  As the ground floor filled with smoke, we took the fire apart and put the still hot wood outside in the snow. A disaster and the main rooms were colder than before as I had opened all the windows and the French doors so the smoke would blow out.

The next day, when everything was cool, John pulled it all apart and looked up the chimney.  He couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like something was in the chimney.  He borrowed a strong light from a co-worker, and sure enough the chimney was packed with sticks. 

Sack full of sticks removed from chimney- great kindling

Stick that were in chimney

That weekend he moved all the furniture, and the rug out of the room and with a long tool pulled all the twigs out of the chimney that had plugged it.  He finally saw day light. The stove was reassembled, and it worked fine.  A week later, I heard something fall down the chimney and hit the stove.  John ran outside and there were birds on top of the chimney throwing stick down trying to build another nest.  We built a fire, and they flew away.  Not wanting to have a fire going all summer to chase the birds away, we called our landlord and he had someone come the next day and they put a cover on the chimney to keep the birds out!

 

It all works well now, but with spring we haven’t used it that much. England is cool so I know we will.

Brodsworth Hall and Garden

South side- Summer house in distance

This hall was different from those we’ve visited in the past as it was built in 1860 so was very modern. Most Victorian Halls were built to impress and this one was no exception.  These country houses took up to 50 servants to run.  As times changed and new opportunities arose for people after WWI and WWII, it became harder to find the necessary domestic help needed to run these houses. This house had sections slowly closed off as the family numbers and servant numbers declined.

Main entrance in background and main stairs

 Many of the big houses had the paintings and furnishings sold off to pay for upkeep or taxes.  Brodsworth was different.  The rooms were closed with the furniture and furnishings still there. The final family member to live there was one women until 1988. After her death, her daughter gave the Hall and gardens to English Heritage. English Heritage then bought the furnishings for 3.5 million pounds or about 5.25 million dollars. They then left the house as it was at the time of her death. It is fascinating to see what rooms were still used and what were just closed off.

Parlor off entry- the pillars seemed to take up too much room.

Main hall leading from entrance to the Library in background.
Hall ways were used by Victorians as indoor excercise areas for walking.
That is why they are heavily decorated and have seating areas.

View of House from the summer house. Rock garden on left and contourted evergreens beyond path.

The gardens are unusual as they were mostly contoured evergreens. There is an extensive rose garden, fern garden, as well as a pet cemetery, archery range, rock garden, croquet lawn, and fountain garden.


Fern Grotto gravel in bottom is supposed to look like water.
 

Rose Garden

 

Eye catcher is found at the end of the Archer range. Not a structure, but just designed to attract your attention.

 

Weather

Today the 12th of March, we still have snow on the ground.  It has snowed off and on the last three days. Not a lot has accumulated, but after a day of sun, it's surprising how much is left.  Today it is 28 degrees, and we have wind out of Siberia so it feels like 5 degrees.  The wind is dying down and the 28 will soon feel warm! Enjoy Spring if you have it.  We have flowers and trees blooming but the temperature forgot to go up.

Bolsover Castle

Horse yard and Little Castle

Horse yard -Terrace block in background Riding School left

 

This castle was built on the site of an early wooden castle.  Sir Charles Cavendish bought the old fortress in 1612 and built his Little Castle project. 

Little Castle entrance- Hercules over door

It was not designed for defense but as a retreat into the imaginary golden age of chivalry, courtly love, and opulent wealth. All the fireplaces are opulent whether in a drawing room or the top floor bedchamber. 

Star drawing room

First floor drawing room

First floor drawing room

Upper floor Bedchamber - Notice fireplace

Servants hall off entrance - Hercules paintings

His son, the first Duke of Newcastle, had a passion for training horses in dressage and built an indoor riding school.  It is one of only a few in the country. 

Riding school main doors to arena

Arena - Stable master rooms over viewing at the far end

16th century saddle designed especially for dressage- very uncomfortable!

He also added a terrace block, now in ruin, with a great hall, entrance/ballroom, and dining room.

Rear of Terrace block- little Castle in distance

Entrance hall/ ballroom of terrace block

  His goal was to invite the King and his court which he did.  He has an original play written and performed for the king in the fountain garden. 

Fountain garden. Wall thick enough to have rooms in them with fireplaces.

Venus fountain in the fountain garden

 The visit of the king and entourage would have cost in today’s pounds about one million or a million and a half dollars.