We recently decided to spend 4,000 Air Miles and fly to Venice. To say it was eventful is not an overestimate. On Monday this week we checked in at Manchester Airport and found the flight was delayed due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft. It turned out that Zurich Airport had experienced fog that morning and many flights to and from there were delayed. Of course, we were concerned about arriving in Zurich in time to catch our onward flight to Venice. This is where Swiss Airlines excel!
As we approached Zurich Airport we received the usual information on the monitors telling us the gates from which our onward flights were leaving. Where passengers had completely missed their flights but there were later ones they were booked on them. If there was no possibility of flying on a Swiss flight passengers were directed to the transfer desk. Where the connection was still viable we were given the relevant gate numbers. We fell into the latter category as the flight was delayed by the earlier weather problems but was wanting to leave asap to try to make up time.
It is a long time since Pauline had walked that quickly as we changed flights! Only the other day she had experienced painful arthritis. We got to the aircraft which was a Fokker 100. As soon as we boarded the door was closed and take off was being organised. As we waited for the pilot to get permission to push back and start engines we saw the baggage man drive up and our suitcase was loaded. A few minutes later we were taking off for Venice Marco Polo Airport and the flight took 45 minutes.
It is a long time since Pauline had walked that quickly as we changed flights! Only the other day she had experienced painful arthritis. We got to the aircraft which was a Fokker 100. As soon as we boarded the door was closed and take off was being organised. As we waited for the pilot to get permission to push back and start engines we saw the baggage man drive up and our suitcase was loaded. A few minutes later we were taking off for Venice Marco Polo Airport and the flight took 45 minutes.
On arrival we collected our suitcase and set off down the long walkway to the water bus station. A half hour later we were heading towards Venice across the lagoon. But by this time we had been visited by hundreds of mosquitos and Pauline, unknown to her, was bitten in many places. A little over an hour later we arrived at the San Zacarria landing stage and we disembarked and walked across the wide pavement to our hotel which was opposite. It was Hotel Paganelli, according to the badges on the coat hangers, a Best Western establishment.
We soon unpacked and went out for dinner close by. The food was very good indeed and we experienced some Prosecco Sur Lie for the first time. Later we returned to our room and went to sleep. In the night I experienced heartburn and had to take some tablets to deal with it. This disturbed my sleep to the point where I had to take a morning nap to counteract the feeling of being wiped out. Pauline went out alone and came back with a massive set of insect bites on principally her arms and legs. They were beginning to itch like mad! Not funny!
That afternoon we took it easy and just wandered around the streets and canals once the sun had lessened.
That night we discovered another restaurant and had another excellent meal. The waiter there explained how Venice was more humid than countries like Greece and experienced very little wind. This plus the fact that the whole airport and city was built on a swamp explained the large mosquito community. By this time, Pauline had bought some hydro cortisone cream to put on the bites but it was not as effective as hoped. Like the brave woman she is, Pauline endured the agony in order to get her money's worth out of the visit!
Next day , after breakfast, we walked down to St Mark's Square and witnessed the cafes ripping off visitors to a high tune. Later the queues of visitors to St Mark's Basilica had grown less so we joined them and viewed the inside. It was dark and dismal and we were not impressed at all. There was a charge to ascend the stone staircase to the balcony and another for a visit to the golden altar backing. I think there was one too to see the treasury.
After this we had a walk round the streets and returned to the hotel to collect cameras etc. On the way there we are stopped by a well dressed man who asked if we would like a free boat ride to the island of Murano to see glass making. Is there really such a thing as a free ride we wondered. We told him we were going to our hotel and would return quite soon. Later we returned and located him again. He gave us two complimentary tickets for the speedboat and asked us to follow him. Soon we were bumping across the waves as we sped towards the island of Murano, famous as the place where Venetian glass is created.
We arrived at the private landing stage for the glass factory and were shown in to large area where two furnaces were roaring away and men of different ages and experience were creating glass objects. One young man took his molten glass from the furnace, rolled it on a steel table, and then shaped it with tongs to create a prancing horse. It was beautiful. Next he took another lump of glass from the furnace and turned into a beautiful bulbous vase in about two minutes.
Our next stage was to be ushered into the complex of showrooms to browse the creations displayed. Some objects we were ugly whilst others were tacky. But, for the most part there was a treasury of beautiful glass created by fine craftsmen. We bought a small vase and paid for it as it was carefully wrapped to withstand the journey home. We love it! We expected to be charged for the return trip to Venice itself but this was free too. We shared the speedboat with two of the loveliest Americans we have met - they were two gay men from Hawaii. Chatting with them and enjoying their company, the journey was soon completed.
It was later that day that Pauline and I went shopping for a leather handbag and eventually located the shop we had seen earlier. We also found a glass shop where we bought a Murano dish for a friend who had expressed a wish for some glassware. Along the way we found ourselves in many streets and by many canals we had not seen before. It was fascinating.
On Thursday we had to make our way back to the airport. It was a slow journey by water bus that edged its way slowly through thick fog on the lagoon. On arrival we found another delay with the arrival of our aircraft from Zurich! We had to exercise patience once more and hope the delay was Zurich weather again and that we would make our Manchester flight from Switzerland. Eventually we boarded the aircraft and flew to Zurich. On approach we learned that, whilst others were facing further delays we were lucky and should be able to catch the Manchester flight.
It was harder this time because Pauline found walking difficult with weeping blisters etc on her feet and legs. Eventually we were approaching the area for Terminal B and showed our passports. Next we had to go through security. A member of the Swiss Airlines staff called out for passengers for Manchester and asked the queueing passengers to allow us priority. It was a quick passage through security and then we were collected in a minibus which delivered us to the aircraft. Soon we were flying home on the last leg of our journey to Manchester to collect our car and drive back to Anglesey. Sadly, this time our suitcase didn't make it to the aircraft so we reported this to Global Baggage Solutions who arranged for it to be sent on to us. It arrived the following afternoon.
We had enjoyed our city break and looked forward to our evening meal at the Tre-Ysgowen Hotel and Spa, ten miles away to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was to be a wonderful experience with excellent food cooked well and presented well. It was even less than we had paid in our favourite waterside restaurant in Venice!
Coming away from the Manchester check in area, Pauline noticed Mark Lawrenson, the football commentator and pundit, heading into the check in. As we boarded the aircraft later we found he was travelling on the same aircraft. He was sitting in Economy across the aisle from us. It turned out that he was flying via Zurich to Florence where Liverpool FC were playing that night. The Sky football commentator was flying Business Class!
We have had an eventful time this visit and we are glad too that we went. I suppose this qualifies as a success. Venice is lovely in parts and ugly in parts, particularly where scaffolding is covered in a tacky fashion to allow work not to impinge on the image of the World Heritage Site. It is also over expensive and most of its prices are nut justifiable. But there you are, if you want to see this special city you will have to accept the prices. So we did. But we refused to be ripped off by taking coffee in St Mark's Square like many others. There were very few tables occupied, even though string quartets were playing lovely music for the patrons.
