Durdle Door

One of the most summery places I have been to in the UK. The beach is like an oasis in the middle of nowhere and the arch in the background makes it all the more beautiful. It is a world heritage coast and one visit to the coast will prove why. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. Though there are a few means of reaching there by public transport, driving down to the cove from London is very easy and takes close to 3 hours. A short walk from the parking lot and down steep stairs leads to the beach. It could be done as a day trip out of London and is by far my most favourite spot in the UK.

Italy Again?! (London -> Rome -> Pisa -> Vatican -> London)

I just got back from a 4-day trip to Rome and I am blogging my experience swiftly when it is still very fresh in my memory. Since this is my first time in Rome my focus was on the standard touristy stuff and not so much on the off-the-beaten-track things one could do in Rome. I had a month before my trip to come up with the itinerary and being the planning freak that I am, I had a plan for every single day. Of the 4 days, one day was dedicated to a day trip out of Rome. After considering Naples, Ostia Antica and Pisa, I decided on Pisa, since Rome itself has enough to offer in terms of ancient ruins and an Italy tour is not complete without a picture next to the leaning tower. DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Rome guide book really helped us get around Rome very easily. It has a concise pull-out map, streetfinder maps, metro and bus routes, history on all the sightseeing places in Rome and much more and was extremely easy to use.

We flew Alitalia from London to Rome and stayed at Hotel Colosseum. Hotel reviews to be added towards the end!

The first day was filled with the usual sightseeing including the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palantine Hill, Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, Pantheon and Piazza Navona of which I was awestruck at how much of the interiors of the Colosseum is still standing. It is such a magnificent structure and  gives you goosebumps to think you are standing in an arena which was actively in use 2000 years ago! I took a zillion pictures in the Colosseum. Although I could have stayed there the whole day, I was forced to leave by the scorching mid-day sun. I read in several places that August is off-season in Rome but there were tourists everywhere and all the tourist spots were massively crowded. It was very difficult to get a picture of yourself without 10,000 strangers in the frame. I cannot imagine how crowded Rome would get during the peak season. Nevertheless, the Colosseum was awesome to explore. I booked my tickets to the three monuments here. The queue to the ticket counter was unbelievable and I was so thankful I did not just turn up at the Colosseum. For those without pre-booked tickets, I recommend getting it from either the Forum or the Palantine hill because queues there were much shorter compared to the Colosseum. We then moved on to the Roman forum which is right next to the Colosseum. Going through the ruins at mid-day wasn't fun. The heat was pretty intense and the entire Forum got quite dusty from the wind. Still I was looking forward to seeing the pillars of the temple of Saturn. It helps to have a good idea of the layout as it is quite huge and you could end up going in circles! If I had known better I would have visited the Forum after the Sun had gone down, but the good thing was there were drinking-water fountains everywhere and having a bottle to fill up is a must. This was followed by lunch and some cooling off in the hotel before heading to the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain.

The Spanish steps is a set of steps leading up to a nice church and overlooking a small fountain. We took our first metro ride to Spagna, the nearest stop to the steps. The metro lines are very easy to master as there are only two and switching between them can happen only at the Roma Termini station where they meet. They are considerably cheaper than the London metro and cost only €4 for a day ticket and €1 for a one-time journey and to our surprise the trains were air-conditioned. We walked most of our first day and walking between the tourist spots could take up quite a bit of energy and most of them could be reached on the metro. The Spanish steps is an ideal place to end your first day in Rome sitting lazily with a gelato and doing some hours of people-watching. Trevi fountain was well-lit and looked very grand in the evening. I did not do the much hyped coin throwing since it was too soon to decide whether I wanted to go back to Rome in future! We had no energy left from the sun and the walking hence decided to do the Pantheon some other day.

Our second day was Pisa day! We travelled to Pisa on a Saturday mainly because trenitalia has a buy-one-get-one-free offer on tickets and that is a good €84 you can spend on something else. The train journey takes almost 3 hours one way. Once at Pisa Centrale station, we walked 20 minutes to reach the tower (yes more walking!). The first sight of the tower was superb. The basilica and the Duomo add to the beauty of the tower along with the lawns which have some of the greenest grass I have seen so far. The tower offers wonderful photo opportunities and if you have sometime to kill before your train back to Rome, people-watching is an absolute must! You are sure to see some really funny poses of people trying to get a picture of them leaning on the tower or trying to straighten it up! Don't shy away from taking this picture of yourself, trust me you wouldn't be alone! Our return train was not until late in the evening, hence we took a quick bus trip to Tirrennia to see the much famed Italian beaches there. The bus ride took 15 minutes and costs €5. Be sure to carry your swim suit as everyone there was heavily under dressed! The beach was beautiful and the sun was ideal for sun bathing. We went back to Pisa for some night shots of the tower and headed back to Rome.

Third day in Rome was planned for the Vatican, the smallest country in the world. We took the metro to Ottaviano San Pietro and walked to St Peters Basilica. The queue to the Basilica wasn't bad at all. But be sure to dress sensibly if you don't want to be asked to cover yourself up by a guard in tuxedo and RayBan's in front of so many people! The basilica was extremely huge and the domes had some really awesome paintings. Under the main dome was Bernini's baldacchino which looked majestic and exquisite under the sun rays falling through the dome. We went up the cupola by climbing 551 narrow and claustrophobic stairs to see the stunning top views of the Piazza and the city which made the climb totally worth the effort. For those determined to climb the cupola, I suggest skipping going up the elevator in Vittorio Emmanuelle II monument. From the top of the basilica you can even see the monument in a distance. Outside the basilica there is a line of tacky souvenir shops selling the usual ghastly souvenirs like the laced hand fan with the pope smiling on it! But if you look around patiently you will find some really good pieces for a bargain.

After the Vatican, we headed to the hotel for the much needed escape from the scorching sun, rested for a while and started towards the Colosseum to capture its beauty at night. This is one of the best things I did in Rome, aimlessly walk with just the camera and the tripod from the Colosseum to the Vittorio Emmanuelle monument. I highly recommend everyone going to Rome to do this, not only will you get fantastic shots which expose a completely different view of the monuments but also enjoy how the pavements come to life with colourful fruit shops, painters, write-your-name-in-Chinese stalls and a million other small but interesting shops. Even the laid back attitude of tourists sitting along the pavement fills you with joy. The Colosseum looked amazing at night, I have more shots of it at night than in the sun. Going around Rome at night is a must as it makes you look at the city in a completely different light.

On our last day in Rome we tried to cover the places we had kept for later, the first stop being the Pantheon. The pantheon aka "temple of all gods" is almost 2000 years old and is the world's largest unreinforced dome. It was being prepped for a mass and was unfortunately not open for visitors. From a glimpse of the interiors, the floor looked very intricate and we got a few pictures of the altar. From there we moved to Piazza Navona mainly to see the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi translated to "fountain of four rivers". This is a Bernini designed 16th century fountain in a very lively piazza and offers good photo op. We then went back to the hotel to head to the Fiumicino airport for our flight back to London Heathrow. We took the metro to Ostiense and from there took the FR1 line to the airport.

My Rome holiday was more a tourism trip than a relaxed vacation. There is always a lot to see in Rome and it depends on how much you are satisfied with, else there is going to be more and more churches and museums to visit and you are going to have to leave unsatisfied and frustrated. Try not to pack your day with too many things to do, have enough breaks, always carry water and dress sensibly.

As for the hotel, I was not very impressed with. The reception staff seemed kind of rude at times and the double room had the smallest shower one could fit in a corner. Breakfast was very average and the least one would expect in an Italian hotel is good Cappuccino, but the coffee was terrible and we happily skipped breakfast 2 days out of 4 knowing we weren't missing anything. Still I would recommend this hotel if you are just looking for a clean place to spend the night and it is ideally located within 5 minutes walking distance from the Colosseum and 10 minutes from Termini station. Just don't go with too many expectations and for all you know you might be pleasantly surprised!

MBA not for me...

Today marks the last day of a 3-week long graduate training program at an investment bank which for obvious reasons I am going to refer to as IB. After 2 weeks of mandatory training, I went into work energised and relieved to be back at my desk. Not that I did not enjoy the training, but I was not particularly enjoying the strict 9-5 schedule. Unfortunately my relief was very short lived when my manager announced I should go on further training on a subject which I thought was entirely irrelevant to my work. To be perfectly honest, in the past 3 years of my professional career I have never been sure of what I wanted to do or what I enjoyed doing. I find it very hard to cook up an answer to the wretched question "where do you see yourself in 5 years". At least my boss knew what I should be doing. Hence without any hesitation I agreed to go on the three day course on Project planning, analysis and control.

Just three days of droning lectures and pointless case studies forced me into making a very important decision in life, that I would never pursue an MBA degree. So far, all the management lectures I have attended have been extremely vague and theoretical. I do not think I can go into work thinking "I am so excited about performing risk analysis on this project. I am going to do an amazing job at it by following the 7 steps outlined in the ****** guide". To me it all seems a bit of b***s***. Risk analysis is vital, but the idea of doing it by drawing decision trees seems silly from my perspective. Nevertheless I passed the assessment with flying colours!

There was one aspect of the training that I thoroughly enjoyed. Being the only girl, not to mention the only Indian girl amongst 10 Irish guys with the thickest accents I have come across was fun! There were times when my mind went blank seeing one of them talk so fast. It made me wonder if they were still speaking English or some unknown Irish language! They were so amused that I found it difficult understanding their accent. But after a day of hearing them crack jokes, I can now proudly state that I am actually able to laugh with them and not just stare blankly at them. I also loved their interesting names some of which are Dermot, Rory, Fergal, Damien and Cormac. After seeing only Johns and Toms everywhere, it was fun to hear such innovative names! At least I took something out of the course, not to mention that now I know a thing or two about Ireland. Apparently Ireland has only one climatic season through the year (Discovered from one of our discussions on weather which the Britons love to crib about!).

Leeds Castle

My routine every Friday evening has been 

• Search for interesting days out from London
• Get tired of looking
• Give up
• End up going to Oxford street!

Hence I decided to document some of the interesting places I go to during my weekends (In the tag "London days out"), the number one on that list being Leeds Castle

Contrary to the name itself, the castle is not in the West Yorkshire city of Leeds. Instead it is in the county of Kent. After much frustration of wasting a number of weekends, we decided to make an impulse driving trip to the white cliffs of Dover. Just over a 45 minute drive from London Docklands, on the way to Dover is located the Leeds castle, one of the best castles I have been to so far. It totally made me wonder what all the fuss surrounding the Edinburgh castle being the top tourist destination is all about. While the Edinburgh castle does not have much to offer apart from a couple of walls and a good top view of the city, the entry fee I felt was not worth it. Whereas the Leeds castle makes a superb family day out with acres of beautiful parkland where the kids can enjoy and you get to see history nicely preserved and displayed.  On the two occasions I have been to the castle there have been good entertainments in the grounds, once a garden sale and once an ancient game on horses being enacted. It is also good fun seeing all the rooms inside the castle maintained from the past, the most beautiful ones being the library with book shelves shooting from the floor to the ceiling and the tastefully decorated dining room. The parkland is well maintained with lots of flower plants and trees and I even got to see a black swan and a few white peacocks! Parking space is ample, the entry ticket though on the pricey side, gives you unlimited entry through the year and the castle offers fantastic photo opportunities. Overall Leeds castle is a lovely place well worth visiting on a nice sunny day.

The white cliffs of Dover is exactly what it says, white cliffs facing the sea. From the top of the cliffs you can see the French coast and the innumerable ships crossing the English channel carrying freight, passengers, cars, buses etc. I recommend visiting this area if you have enough energy left from the trip to the Leeds castle.

Cornwall

Cornwall is the southern-most and probably the western-most county in England. It has some of the most stunning landscapes and unspoilt country side I have seen so far. Thanks to the royal wedding, we had a 4 day weekend and made a swift decision to do a short trip to Cornwall.

This is my second time visiting this county and I was more than excited to go back to the white sandy beaches, blue-green ocean and amazing views of the Atlantic. Although New Quay is the most popular tourist destination in Cornwall, it is one of those nice cities you can stay at and drive around the rest of Cornwall. But for two people without a driving license, relying on public transport was the only option. We wanted to stay as south as possible, since most of the tourist attractions in Cornwall lie down south. Our search for a nice location boiled down to St Ives and Penzance. St Ives is a small touristic town with lots of beaches whereas Penzance is a more commercial town with good rail links from London King's Cross. We were more inclined towards St Ives after reading about its vast stretches of beautiful beaches. But our hunt for accommodation in St Ives proved futile since everyone visiting the south end of Cornwall stayed in this rather small beach town. After much searching, we managed to find an accommodation at a farm house a few miles from the Penzance city centre.

We reached Penzance and were kindly offered a ride home by Terry, the landlord of the Lower Treave farmhouse we were going to stay at. We passed just 3 or 4 farmhouses during the entire 20 minute drive and each one of them was such a gem. With their own chickens, horses, potted plants and pretty country cottages it looked like the most peaceful way to lead one's life. After settling in, we had to rush to catch the bus to Land's End.Unlike in London where trains and buses run every two minutes, in Penzance there were only 3 buses running per day! So one will have to wait at least half a day before getting on the next bus. Luckily for us the bus stop was just up the driveway. The view from the stop was so beautiful, majestic horses in the farm surrounded by greenery and mountains, I could have waited for the bus forever. We waited 10 minutes and the bus had not arrived yet. Being so used to buses being punctual by the second, we got a bit worried we might have missed our ride. But luckily we hadn't! I recommend to those using the bus service in Cornwall to sit on the top deck. We promptly did and the next stop was at Sennen Cove. From the top, the view of the cove was absolutely brilliant. The beach looked so inviting that I immediately wanted to get off the bus. But we decided to control the urge and do Lands end first.

Lands end is the southernmost tip of England with awesome views over the Atlantic ocean. A number of cycle races happen between here and John'O Groats which is the northernmost point of England. For a while we were just standing on the edge of the cliff looking at the vast blue ocean. There is an RSPB centre, more like a shack with some enthusiastic bird watchers who were more than willing to lend us one of their ultra-powerful binoculars we used to view the dilapidated lighthouse and some sea birds chilling on it. I instantly fell in love with their work and signed up for a membership program, which came with a glossy sea life book with amazing pictures of birds and sea life. From Lands end one can go on a number of picturesque coastal walks and obviously we decided to go on the one leading to Sennen Cove. Soaked the beauty of the cove while enjoying a delicious icecream topped with cornish whipped cream and fish & chips! That brought an end to our first day in Cornwall. We took the bus back to the farmhouse from the cove.

Day 2 of this trip is what I was most looking forward to. We planned a day trip to the Scilly isles. Isles of Scilly is a part of the British isles about 28 miles south of Lands end famous for its clear water beaches, big houses with well kept gardens and abundant sea life. We took the Sky bus to St Mary's island from the Lands end airport. It truly was a small bus in the sky, the smallest flight I have been on from the smallest airport ever. We were 8 passengers in total and it felt like all of were crammed into the cockpit. The island was filled with pretty houses with beautiful gardens. It was a good change from the hustle and bustle in Penzance. Everything seemed very laid back and it is an ideal retirement place literally away from the rest of the world. We took a stroll along the streets of St Mary's island. We then treated ourselves to coffee and more cornish ice cream while sitting on a sea facing bench with not a worry in the world. We then decided to go on the wildlife watching cruise to the eastern isles. It was a beautiful boat trip, made us wonder if all of the land masses scattered across the ocean were a part of England ages ago. Spotted a few birds and got off at St Martin's island wondering why we had not spotted any seals yet. After the boat left us at the island, we discovered much to our foolishness that we should have stayed on the boat to continue on the cruise. It was just the two of us on the endless white sandy beach with amazing mountain views. How often in life do we get stranded like this?! So we decided to make the most of it, had some lunch on the beachfront and played frisbee until the boat came back to the island. Since we so badly wanted to see the seals, we hopped on a glass-floored boat to go seal spotting. It was an amazing experience to see the vegetation on the sea bed and shoals of fish whizz past the boat. Finally we saw seals lazing on the rocks, every now n then a head popping out of water. I love watching wild animals in their natural habitat and this was a fantastic experience.  After the cruise, we went back to the Cornish mainland on a cruise ship which left us at Penzance train station.

The next day we decided to take it easy and visited just the Minack theatre and the adjacent Porthcurno beach. The weather wasn't so great and it was a bit of a struggle getting back to the farmhouse. We decided to stay in the rest of the day. On the final day of our trip, we went around the garden and the rest of the farmhouse and left to the train station after a nice goodbye to Jill and Terry! But we sure made a mental note to come back to Cornwall when one of us gets a driving license. Overall cornwall is an extremely beautiful place to visit during the summer. I suggest 3-4 days as being just enough to get the most out of the county. For anyone with a car, I also recommend visiting the Eden project on the way back to London.

Venezia

My first blog is coming in months after my trip to Venice. Recollecting the 5 magical days spent at the most magical, not to mention the most romantic place I have been to so far is in itself a wonderful experience. It is one of those places you hear and read about your entire life, see songs and scenes in movies shot there and to actually visit such a place in my lifetime got me so thoroughly excited.

Venice with its narrow winding streets, studded with extravagant mask shops, moisture-locked walls with an occasional multi-coloured flower basket, numerous bridges to cross the waterways where you spot ever so often a gondola carrying tourists, small gelato shops with gelato in every colour you could imagine, street vendors selling counterfeit Gucci and LV bags, high-end brand outlets in the smallest of street corners and every now n then a couple sharing an umbrella in the rain makes me want to pay yet another visit to this Italian marvel. I know for one that I cannot do justice to the magic this place has in store through this blog. But nevertheless I am going to continue writing my experience!

After much struggle getting to the London Gatwick airport and making the entire flight wait for the two of us, we boarded the British airways flight bound to Venice. It was as though the flight took off the second we got on. Never rely on the London metro when you have an early morning flight was a lesson learnt the hard way. The 2-hour journey was not enough to stop panting from all the running we did that morning. But as the flight was descending, the view of the airport situated right next to the sea was breathtaking. The minute we stepped out of the airport, we were greeted by a stunning view that was worth everything we went through that morning. The water-view was never ending, sure I have seen never ending water bodies before, but the thought that a boat was now going to take us to Venice and that we were going to be surrounded by only water for the next week was so very exciting. I had read beforehand that there were no cars on the Venezian mainland and water was the only means of transport. We took the Ali-laguna boat service to get to the mainland. It was my first time seeing traffic lights in the water and every lamp post had an oil bird perched on it! The first view of the city got me clicking away pictures by the tens. A line of faded pink and blue houses with their doors opening to the water and situated right next to a bridge under which sea water flows into a canal leading to the city was the first view I got of the city. It was just so pretty that I almost started jumping in my seat. Everyone on the boat with us were tourists just like us and I wasn't the only behaving mental!

We got off the boat at San Marco, which is the main boat stop for the city and started hunting for our hotel. The first street we stepped into was flooded and at any other time I would've hated the sight of so much slush. But to learn the fact that at high tide the city gets flooded added to the touristy charm of the place. We waded through the water with the luggage and managed to find our hotel. We stayed at hotel Gorizia A La Valigia. Nothing fancy but the perfect choice for someone looking for a neat, decent size room to crash at the end of a tiring day. It was not a great day to begin the trip as it was constantly drizzling and by the time we settled in, my childishness had settled as well and my dislike for rains started kicking in. Nevertheless we made an effort to leave the hotel and explore the city a little. To our surprise the hotel reception was now empty with all the furniture shifted elsewhere. We were shocked to hear that water had entered the hotel and even more shocked to find the staff not so shocked! We learned that this was the norm in Venice.

A two minute walk from our hotel led us to Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square). The entire piazza was flooded and tourists had to walk on raised wooden platforms arranged to avoid walking in the water. The piazza was well-lit and looked beautiful though the water did not let us do more than just stand around and watch, while making plans for the next day in the head hoping tomorrow is going to be sunny and not so wet. We then decided to go to a pizzeria near the Rialto bridge for dinner. It was a nice candle-light dinner right next to the grand canal with the Rialto bridge as the backdrop. You pay more for the view and the experience than for the food itself, but it is definitely worth it. This romantic dinner ended our first few hours in Venice.

The next morning I woke up with much anticipation of a bright sunny day. But to my despair it turned out to be yet another cold and rainy day. Considering we had only 5 full days in the city, we got dressed, stepped out and headed straight to the piazza. The piazza is always a busy place with tourists, street vendors selling cheap t-shirts, souvenirs and bird food for people interested in feeding the  gazillions of pigeons and gulls inhabiting the area. Unlike yesterday, today we got to see the inside of the basilica as the water had cleared and the queue was not bad. The basilica itself was very beautiful with brilliant ceiling paintings, although I do not quite remember the names of the artists. Personally I am more in love with landscapes than I am with paintings and history!

We then climbed up the 12th century bell tower at the piazza least expecting anything but a few telescopes with 10 heads behind each one of them. But to our surprise, the tower gave a fantastic top view of the city which I highly recommend to everyone visiting Venice. The wind on top was freezing cold, but I enjoyed seeing Lido, Murano, Burano islands (though I couldn't tell which land mass was which island!), the top of the basilica and the innumerable ships, private and vaporetti boats dotting the endless stretch of water from the top.

We then took a walk around the Doge's place. It wasn't until my last day in Venice that I noticed the Bridge of sighs behind the ghastly billboard covering half of Doge's palace. I have cursed that billboard everyday of my stay in Venice, since it managed to spoil every picture that I took of the bridge or of the palace! It would really make a big difference to not have that blue billboard sprawling along the entire side wall of the palace covering the entire bridge of sighs. History has it that the bridge was used to transport prisoners from one cell to the other and they used to sigh every time they caught a glimpse of the beautiful city outside, hence the obvious name.

A stroll along the sea at the other end of the piazza reveals the mainland and the Venetian islands in all their glory. The evening is the best time to soak the beauty of the city since it is so well-lit and looks so idyllic. I felt like I had to capture everything my eye could see. But pictures just cant do justice to what the eye beholds. One thing about Venice that I truly admire is, although the entire city floats on water, the water is still such a beautiful blue and green colour and most of the water is still litter-free. I have read people write about how the Venetian canals are used as sewage ducts and now I am sure those people have not visited Venice in their lifetime. For lunch that day, we went to a very warm and cozy Italian restaurant. The spaghetti in white sauce that I had is the best I have had so far. My search for an equivalent of that in London is yet to prove fruitful.

The next day was the best day of our trip. It was a very sunny beautiful day and this made us so cheerful. We planned to take the Vaporetti routes 1 and 2. Vaporetti is the public transport in Venice, much like the metro trains are in London. The frequency is good and it is a cheaper way of seeing the city than taking a private water taxi which is over-hyped and over-priced. The vaporetti routes 1 and 2 are well-known among tourists since they cover the entire city and the view you get of the Rialto bridge and the Venetian houses from them is nothing like what you see from the land. I promptly went to the front of the boat and it was a brilliant experience. I completely felt like I was shown around the city on a private tour. I fell more in love with the city after these boat trips. Some of my favourite pictures of Venice were taken on these boat rides. On these rides we discovered the more modern part of the city with the Mestre train station and decided to take a tour of it. Luckily we found a buffet place which was called "Buffet" serving good Italian food for a fraction of the price. I suggest this part of the city as a getaway for anyone overwhelmed by the old buildings and too much water as it is more modern and fast paced with buses and not just boats everywhere! On the Vaporetti, there were announcements at every stop in both Italian and English. I loved the way the Italian woman stressed the "R" in words, so much that even days after the trip we kept repeating "Rrrrriyalto" (Rialto) and "Murrrrano" (Murano)!

The next day we went on our boat trips to the islands of Burano, Murano and Lido. Burano is a pretty island with chocolate box houses and glass-ware shops. The entire island is dissected into two by a canal running the middle. Murano is symbolic of the world-famous Murano glass artifacts. On this island, we went to a glass factory where a skillful designer demoed how they make such exquisite art pieces. From here we made our trip towards Lido island. Once on Lido, we were so pleasantly surprised since the island seemed very modern with nice cafes and modern hotels. The Venetian mainland definitely is stuck in history and that is what makes Venice such a gem. But Lido is a good option for anyone wanting to stay on the modern side and travel to the mainland just for the day to soak in the oldness of the city. Since the time we discovered "buffet", we had all our meals there.

Anyone reading this never-ending blog would imagine if we ever did the trademark-of-Venice Gondola ride. Before leaving for the trip, we had decided we wouldn't do it, since it is not worth the money, we see all that on the Vaporetti etc etc etc. But once there, we could not resist but jump into the bandwagon of I-have-been-to-Venice-And-I-Have-Done-The-Gondola-Ride! We sucked it up and paid quite a large sum for a ride along the Grand Canal. The gondola ride, though expensive is nothing like the Vapoterri. It is a one of a kind experience and I am happy I did it. We took around 112245345000 photos on it, off it, with it, with the gondolier, of the gondolier, without the gondolier, of the gondola, of us, of Rialto, us with the Rialto, gondolier with the Rialto and on n on n on! We then wandered about in the fruit and sea food market, saw a variety of fruits and fish (duh???), bought a number of souvenirs, enough to make our home feel like a Venetian souvenir shop and it was then time to pack up and leave to the airport on the Ali-laguna.

Although I was ready to get back home, away from the slow romantic city of Venice to the fast life in London, Venice is nothing like what I have heard so many people say, that it is over-hyped and it is not as romantic etc etc. In my opinion, Venice is a gem of a city tucked away in the middle of nowhere capable of bringing out the romantic even in the most un-romantic person there is! I absolutely loved Venice and would rave about its beauty forever and ever.

Travel Tip: Visiting a city like Venice with someone you truly love makes it more than just a city on your must-visit-before-I-die list!