venice to dublin
hello again. it's the day after the night before, and let me tell you - it's not easy being irish. been having a ball here, and today i will spend in quiet contemplation... until night falls, maybe. around here, anything could happen! let me backtrack a bit and fill you in, though.
venice was lovely- you know me, i'm a sucker for a ferry-ride - so many trips on the canals of venice were always going to be on the cards. we did not, however, go on a gondola ride. i couldn't justify the expense, and it was a little chilly out there, so the vaporettos suited us fine. on the first day though we just walked around the island and surrendered ourselves to the alleyways and cobbled streets. we got lost several times but just kept wandering - it's an extremely dreamy city. we somehow managed to find our way back to where we started from at the end of the day, though. we stopped for a drink and to rest our feet, mark had a hot chocolate which was like drinking a mugful of the sauce from a chocolate self-saucing pudding - not bad in the cold weather, let me tell you.
on the second day we went back into the island and took the vaporetto to saint mark's square. the water in the canal was a beautiful shade of blue-green - made me go all poetic and a little snap-happy, as you'll notice from the pictures at the album online when we finally upload them (the address is www.picasaweb.google.com/sakhil just in case). st mark's square and the basilica were lovely, again weird to be standing in a spot you've seen so many times in postcard pictures and posters. very nice. on our last day in venice we decided that no matter how cold it got, we could not leave without having some gelati. so we went to the peggy guggenheim museum and saw some lovely art, then wandered around more, had some gelati by the water and meandered back home. it was a beautiful, slow-paced visit and it would be really nice to go back in the warmer weather. it wasn't too crowded though, and i can just imagine how packed those little streets could get when it's high season.
now, trip from venice to dublin. i thought we had experienced delays getting to venice, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. getting out was a mammoth task. we got to the airport early, around 6.30pm, and our flight was to leave at 9.35. checked in. our plan was to get to gatwick by around 11ish, maybe get a cheap hotel and have a good night's sleep, then catch our next-day flight to dublin around 10am. but no such thing was going to happen. our flight was delayed 3.5 hours, and we finally flew out of venice at a quarter to one. when we finally got through to gatwick airport, there were more delays - it took another three and a half hours for our luggage to get from the plane to the baggage hall. so, by the time we got our bags and got out, it was 6am. so we went directly from arrivals to departures and checked in mega-early, then joined the hoardes of people in the departure lounge, staked out a piece of carpet, and tried to get some sleep. well, mark did - i couldn't bring myself to sleep on the floor in such a public, well-lit environment. so instead i wandered around shops in a sleep-depped haze, because every time i sta down my whole body just wanted to shut down. perked up a bit after some food, then got out my notepad and jotted some ideas down. at least i'll get a piece of writing out of that experience.
arrival in dublin went without a hitch except we somehow managed to walk straight past conor at the arrivals gate! i have had a guinness since we've been here and it really does taste better in ireland! christmas was lovely, all full of family and fun, and st. stephens's day (boxing day to oz) was great fun. there was a snooker tournament at the house across the road and mark entered, i was score-keeper (for the first half of the game at least). mark and his partner were unfortunately knocked out after the first round... the host and his daughter were defending champs. she introduced herself as (phonetically) 'eifer;. i commented that it was an interesting name, and asked her how it was spelt. she paused, smiled, them said 'a, o, i, f, e'. so i was not really that enlightened. apparently it is a common irish name, but i had never heard it before... anyway. we came back across the road to the o'farrells around 4pm, then the dreaded sleep seemed to hint at taking me over again... i fought it though, and glad i did. met some more family and friends, then around six-ish the neighbours all came across after the tourney was over. and then ensued much hilarity and silliness, with tony at the keyboard and all of us singing and larking about. the volumed got higher and higher - it's good to know your neighbours! we then all went off to the local pub and downed a few pints and had more of a sing and a dance. we didn't get up till midday. tomorrow we go on a 'wicked wicklow' tour that mark and i were gifted for christmas from conor, tina and karyn. now, though, i think i need to go stare at a telly for a bit. hoo-roo!
venice was lovely- you know me, i'm a sucker for a ferry-ride - so many trips on the canals of venice were always going to be on the cards. we did not, however, go on a gondola ride. i couldn't justify the expense, and it was a little chilly out there, so the vaporettos suited us fine. on the first day though we just walked around the island and surrendered ourselves to the alleyways and cobbled streets. we got lost several times but just kept wandering - it's an extremely dreamy city. we somehow managed to find our way back to where we started from at the end of the day, though. we stopped for a drink and to rest our feet, mark had a hot chocolate which was like drinking a mugful of the sauce from a chocolate self-saucing pudding - not bad in the cold weather, let me tell you.
on the second day we went back into the island and took the vaporetto to saint mark's square. the water in the canal was a beautiful shade of blue-green - made me go all poetic and a little snap-happy, as you'll notice from the pictures at the album online when we finally upload them (the address is www.picasaweb.google.com/sakhil just in case). st mark's square and the basilica were lovely, again weird to be standing in a spot you've seen so many times in postcard pictures and posters. very nice. on our last day in venice we decided that no matter how cold it got, we could not leave without having some gelati. so we went to the peggy guggenheim museum and saw some lovely art, then wandered around more, had some gelati by the water and meandered back home. it was a beautiful, slow-paced visit and it would be really nice to go back in the warmer weather. it wasn't too crowded though, and i can just imagine how packed those little streets could get when it's high season.
now, trip from venice to dublin. i thought we had experienced delays getting to venice, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. getting out was a mammoth task. we got to the airport early, around 6.30pm, and our flight was to leave at 9.35. checked in. our plan was to get to gatwick by around 11ish, maybe get a cheap hotel and have a good night's sleep, then catch our next-day flight to dublin around 10am. but no such thing was going to happen. our flight was delayed 3.5 hours, and we finally flew out of venice at a quarter to one. when we finally got through to gatwick airport, there were more delays - it took another three and a half hours for our luggage to get from the plane to the baggage hall. so, by the time we got our bags and got out, it was 6am. so we went directly from arrivals to departures and checked in mega-early, then joined the hoardes of people in the departure lounge, staked out a piece of carpet, and tried to get some sleep. well, mark did - i couldn't bring myself to sleep on the floor in such a public, well-lit environment. so instead i wandered around shops in a sleep-depped haze, because every time i sta down my whole body just wanted to shut down. perked up a bit after some food, then got out my notepad and jotted some ideas down. at least i'll get a piece of writing out of that experience.
arrival in dublin went without a hitch except we somehow managed to walk straight past conor at the arrivals gate! i have had a guinness since we've been here and it really does taste better in ireland! christmas was lovely, all full of family and fun, and st. stephens's day (boxing day to oz) was great fun. there was a snooker tournament at the house across the road and mark entered, i was score-keeper (for the first half of the game at least). mark and his partner were unfortunately knocked out after the first round... the host and his daughter were defending champs. she introduced herself as (phonetically) 'eifer;. i commented that it was an interesting name, and asked her how it was spelt. she paused, smiled, them said 'a, o, i, f, e'. so i was not really that enlightened. apparently it is a common irish name, but i had never heard it before... anyway. we came back across the road to the o'farrells around 4pm, then the dreaded sleep seemed to hint at taking me over again... i fought it though, and glad i did. met some more family and friends, then around six-ish the neighbours all came across after the tourney was over. and then ensued much hilarity and silliness, with tony at the keyboard and all of us singing and larking about. the volumed got higher and higher - it's good to know your neighbours! we then all went off to the local pub and downed a few pints and had more of a sing and a dance. we didn't get up till midday. tomorrow we go on a 'wicked wicklow' tour that mark and i were gifted for christmas from conor, tina and karyn. now, though, i think i need to go stare at a telly for a bit. hoo-roo!
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