8.12.08

Venice (1)

Back from Venice with the firm conviction that I would only show a very limited number of photos. However...

During my wonderful ten days in Venice, I had the privilege to share some time with Nathalie and Richard. As you can guess from Nathalie’s (Australian) umbrella, the sky was sometimes grey, but it was also sometimes intensively blue. The water level varied; we had also a bit of “aqua alta”, including one day when the level was the highest since some 20 years (I will revert on this in a later post).

I will try to finish with Venice this week, starting with some pictures from around Saint Mark’s Square (the yellow circle).

Some days gave thus the opportunity to take most photos by mirroring. For some reason it seemed that the pigeons had been replaced by seagulls.


Here are some pictures outside and inside the famous Saint Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace.
The Bridge of Sighs behind the Doge's Palace was (almost) hidden due to renovation works.







The weather was fairly fresh and it felt nice to have a cup of cappuccino or espresso doppio at the equally famous Caffè Florian, Italy’s oldest café (1720)...
... unless you prefer to make the few extra steps to the close by Harry's Bar.




You can find these photos in full and as a slide show on Ipernity.






Rakesh kindly offered me this "Free Spirit and Independent" reward. Sincere thanks!

63 comments:

Chuckeroon said...

Peter! Back safe and sound, and it looks as if the flood failed to make any impact. You achieved everything you set out to do.

Michelle said...

Those pictures are amazing! Love them. You did a great job taking them.

Karen said...

Your photos are breathtaking..I love the "mirror" ones but they are all just grand. Now I have to add Venice to my "Bucket List".

Paris in 8 more days!!! Hope to see you.. I'll e-mail soon.

Ruth said...

GOR GEOUS! And I'm so pleased you don't seem to have had trouble with the flooding. Fun to see Nathalie!! (I don't know Richard, but fun to him too.)

krystyna said...

First photo is very lovely. You met many friends from Blogland and it is very nice.

Thank you for sharing. Great job!

Nice to see you back, Peter!

Jessica said...

So glad you're back, Peter. I missed your photos and have been looking forward to viewing and reading about your trip to Venice. It looks like you had a nice time, despite the weather. Can't wait to read this week's posts!

Virginia said...

Peter,
Welcome home mon ami! Missed your photos but you have given us a lot to enjoy. Great photo of Nathalie and Richard. Glad you stayed dry, or did you??? Looks like"automatic, automatic" worked for you. Your photos are great!!! I came home with 1,100 but many went in the trashcan as you can imagine. Later...
V

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Welcome back Peter!

I'm glad to see a fresh post! I've been missing your pictures all the while when you had gone!

Thanks for these pictures from Venice! I guess you had a great time there!

And many congratulations on the award!

Cheers

Rakesh

Olivier said...

content de ton retour, Venise a l'air vraiment superbe (tu y étais quand il a neigé ?). Une vraie photo culte, la première, très comédie musicale ;o))

Claudia said...

Pure eye candy!

lyliane six said...

Magnifique ces monuments se reflétant dans l'eau!

Adam said...

Fantastic photos Peter. Despite the need for something warm and a good pair of boots, the "aqua alta" must be an interesting time to visit Venice.

Anonymous said...

OMG - how many grappa was that?

hpy said...

Nous avons pensé à toi en entendant parler de l'aqua alta. Tu ne t'es pas noyé, c'est bien!

Anonymous said...

Je suis contente que tu sois revenue. je ne savais pas si tu savais nager... Je pense que tu avais pris tes petits flotteurs en forme de canard. :-) La première photo est fort sympathique. Tout en mouvement, respirant la joie de vivre de tes deux accolytes. J'ai vu que Venise avait connu aussi quelques chutes de neige. Tu auras des photos avec de le neige? Rien de tel que des températures fraîches pour déguster un bon cappucino. L'art de vivre italien par excellence. Contente de ton retour et contente que tu partages tes belles photos avec nous. Est-ce que tu vas nous faire la série des ponts de Venise? :-)
Bises!

Anonymous said...

mince je fais des fautes d'orthographe à la pelle moi. Il faudrait que j'écrive moins vite ou alors que je relise mes commentaires avant de les envoyer. Dans le commentaire précédent, il va de soi qu'il fallait écrire: "contente que tu sois revenu". Sans E à revenu. Car je crois bien que tu es un mâle et non une femelle.

SusuPetal said...

Welcome back! Lovely photos, sigh.

Anonymous said...

Oh,dear!! How much again to look at in your photos ! thank you and greetings from Joensuu - now snow just now here !

alice said...

Je vous imagine tous les trois, sautant de lampadaire en lampadaire au-dessus de l'eau qui monte!
J'aime beaucoup ton goéland qui admire toutes ces merveilles d'un oeil blasé mais je crois que ma photo préférée sera celle des gondoles bâchées de bleu, photo prise du haut du Campanile je pense?
J'attends la suite avec gourmandise.

HZDP said...

Peter,
ahahah, I'm really glad that you're back!!!
Honestly, these are just typical and beautiful european style photos which, in my eyes, are not so different from those in Paris, but I know you can tell a lot lot of differences..

Vagabondage said...

Bonjour Peter,

Pour en avoir plein les yeux et plein de regrets.

Et même.. tout le bleu du ciel..

Ce post est superbe, merci à toi Peter.

Bonne journée à toi. à bientôt.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Mathilde, quel dommage que tu n'aies pas été là, tu aurais sûrement fait une excellente quatrième.

Peter je vois que tu nous as mis en bonne place Richard et moi - nous qui espérions un voyage incognito, c'est raté !!! Morte de rire !!!

Je vois aussi que tu es monté en haut de la tour, tes photos "aériennes" sont géniales, ça me donnerait presque des regrets. La prochaine fois...

Nathalie H.D. said...

Peter I can see that Richard and I feature in prime position - now everyone will know I was in Venice with you, woo-hoo!

What a great time we had. It was bloody cold but so utterly beautiful! A bloggers' field trip at its best. I hope we can do it again.

Nathalie H.D. said...

PS - I'll be posting some of my best Venice shots on my blog over the next few days so stay tuned, those of you who are interested.

Jane Hards Photography said...

Those rainwater reflcetions are astonishing. So much to take in, the architecture, the colours where does on begin.

Anonymous said...

Hm - one w too much in my last comment :) It should be No snow. . .
But right clothing - - -as you said and smiling too, after three weeks days start to lengthen!

claude said...

Mais que c'est beau Venise ! Peter, tes photos sont magnifiques.
Nathalie est partout online, je viens de la voir en Avignon mais en Australie.

Emilieee said...

Bonjour Peter. Tout va bien? J'aime tes photos. Je rêve d'habiter dans une maison à Venise :)

*Gosh, I hope I convey my message correctly. Correct me if I'm wrong ;]

sonia a. mascaro said...

Welcome back, Peter!

What a gorgeous post about Venice! Love all photos, they are just breathtaking!
I would love to know Venice. Thanks for sharing this wonderful reportage!

Thanks for your nice comment on my flowers.

Thérèse said...

De l'architecture et de la "blogamitié" plein la vue.
Superbe!

Maxime said...

Les reflets sont fantastiques, on dirait vraiment que la ville se mire dans l'eau. Et quelle ville !

Mélisse said...

Ahhhh notre grand voyageur est de retour ! J'allais te complimenter pour les reflets mais je vois que Maxime m'a devancée ;-).

Anonymous said...

Great reflection photos. So acqua alta is good for something. and as it seems it didn't do any harm to you.

Shammickite said...

Welome back to Paris and to the blog world! I like those mirror reflection pictures. I saw the floods on TV news and looked very hard to see if I could spot you wading across one of the piazzas but no, you weren't there. Nice to see Nathalie and Richard too... So glad you had such a lovely time. I am looking forward to seeing more photos!

Heather said...

Beautiful photos, Peter!

Nathalie H.D. said...

Pter thanks for your visit in Avignon. I can see that you're back to your usual schedule of very late nights! Off to bed now!!!

Anonymous said...

Peter,
I am so happy to see you back and that too with Venice's photos, one of my fav. places.
Your photos make me feel go there once again.

Mona said...

wow! Those pictures are awesome! specially the ones with reflections!

I love the way they decorate the arches & walls with paintings in Europe!

Anonymous said...

You and Nathalie both got fantastic photographs on your trip. Nice.

PeterParis said...

Chuckeroon:
The acqua alta were not a problem for us, but rather for the personnel in hotels, restaurants, bars, shops... A lot of cleaning and repairs.

Michelle:
Thanks, and thanks for your visit here!

Karen:
ing forwaro your-maildisit!

PeterParis said...

Ruth:
No real trouble... I will revert on the acqua alta in next post!

Krystyna:
Yes, nice to meet other bloggers! When will you come here?

Jessica:
The weather was not much of a problem. We had some lovely days too!

PeterParis said...

Virginia:
I came back with some 700 photos (only)! ... and all "automatic-automatic"!

Rakesh:
Thanks once more for your kind words and the award!

Olivier:
Finalement il n'a pas neigé! On espérait de la neige - pour des photos!

PeterParis said...

Claudia:
All of Venice is!

Lyliane:
Les reflets nous a bien aidés pour les photos!

Adam:
The boots didn't help much the "record day"! However, no real problem - for us!

PeterParis said...

Richard:
Thinking about it... we should have had some more grappas!

Delphinium:
Je nage relativement bien, sans flotteurs, mais pour ça je préfère d'autres eaux!
On n’a pas vu la neige – tant pis !
Prépare-toi pour les centaines de ponts ! :-))

Delphinium (bis):
Je suis content de voir que même les meilleurs peuvent faire des erreurs! Bises!

PeterParis said...

Susupetal:
Sighs... like the bridge!

Leena:
When I write this, it's (almost) snowing also here!

Alice:
Bravo pour to imagination!

PeterParis said...

HZDP:
Well, there are a few differences... a lot more of canals in Venice! :-) You should come here and make some European comparative studies! :-))

Mathilde:
Bruxelles, Venise... On ne peut malheureusement pas être partout! Dommage! Une autre fois!

Nathalie:
... et oui, c'est raté!! :-))

Nathalie (bis):
To meet bloggers is nice! We should repeat it somewhere!

PeterParis said...

Nathalie (ter):
I'm definitely interested and will stay tuned!

Babooshka:
Walking around Venice, you don't know where NOT to take photos!

Leena:
We all make typing errors! :-)

PeterParis said...

Claude:
Nathalie est une vraie globe-trotteuse!

Emily:
Bravo pour le français!!!

Sonia:
Still hesitating about your Europe trip? :-)

PeterParis said...

Therese:
"Blogamitié", voilà un bon nouveau mot bien trouvé!

Maxime:
Comme tu dis, quelle ville!

Mélisse:
J'accepte des compliments répetés! :-)

PeterParis said...

April:
Only some temporarily wet feet!

Shammickite:
We had a long lunch when it was as "worst"!

Heather:
Thanks!

PeterParis said...

Nathalie:
... and you? When do you go to bed?

Cuckoo:
Venice is definitely worth several visits!

Mona:
Indian architecture is not bad either! :-)

PeterParis said...

Abrahma:
Nice to see you around and that you appreciate! Take care! :-)

Unknown said...

Great photos from Venice! I've seen the flooding on the news...
I've recently posted some shots of Il Gran Canale on my travel blog. A nice coincidence! :-)

PeterParis said...

JM:
You seem to have been everywhere! What's the secret behind all these voyages?

Tanya Breese said...

Gorgeous photos and the first one is so fun! I love when fellow bloggers meet up!

Shionge said...

Great old charm that never fails to awe me and many others who visited here Peter ;)

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

of course you are showing others and not yourself, intersting details, you were looking with "blogger"eyes, I love the photo's all of them, the award is well-deserved, my congrats!

JoAnn/Holland

Cergie said...

Hi Peter, c'est somptueux !
Est ce que Venise est comme cela ou bien est ce toi qui la voit ainsi et donc la montre ainsi ; ce pourrait être une ville du nord de l'Europe cela ne m'étonnerait pas, il y règne un esprit de fête un esprit de noël.
J'imagine que tu as mangé, bu, visité, discuté, acheté, regardé, tu as vécu intensément ces quelques jours. C'est cela : un compte rendu VIVANT

PeterParis said...

Tanya:
You are right, it's nice to meet bloggers!

Shionge:
All touched by the charm!

Joann:
If you are really wishing to se me, you can go to Richard's blog!

PeterParis said...

Cergie:
Venise est bien comme ça! Bien sur!

GMG said...

Hi Peter! Venice is such a favourite that I'll be making the comments on each of the posts rather than joining them at the last...
Well, 10 days is fabulous! Once, I spent a week there in summer (with some days at the Lido, almost like Dirk Bogarde... ;), and it was great... The best experience was strolling there at night, when all the one-day visitors were gone and the tourists that were not staying in Venice had already left to Mestre. The ambiance of those nights was incredible!
Your photos are excellent as always, in particular the San Marco's photos!
Did you try the Belini at Harry's Bar? I wonder whether they still keep the advice on their menu that the use of mobile phones affects significantly the quality of the risotto... ;))
Shame that the orchestras weren't playing at the esplanades of the Cafés Florian and Quadri... ;(

PeterParis said...

GMG:
To quite honest, I didn't go to Harry' Bar this time. With Richard, we hesitated, but continued our walk and stopped at some other bars for wine tasting instead. Better for the budget!

I compensated when back in Paris. The Harry's Bar in Paris is much less exculsive!

French Girl in Seattle said...

Ah, ça, c'est sympa: Comme tu le sais, un de mes rêves est d'aller à Venise, et grâce à toi et à ce volet de trois billets, je viens d'y faire un tour. La mention de "acqua alta" m'a rappelé notre conversation pendant que j'étais à Nice. ;-) Comme d'habitude, supers photos - droites, pas comme les miennes! - et beaucoup d'info. Les voyages entre bloggers ça m'a l'air très bien. Il faudra que j'essaie moi aussi, dès que j'aurai identifié des candidats valables. ;-) == Véronique