Venice, October 2009

6 years after our first visit to Venice we once again found ourselves in this city. This time we would be staying at the Ruzzini Palace!
"It looks fairly old..." Dr. Bath noticed. "How old could it be?"
"Well, the architecture points towards Baroque fashion..." Roger started.
"It's built in the 1500 hundreds, but the front is a little later!" McBear interrupted.
"How'dya know?" Roger asked a bit surprised.
"Elementary, as you always point out, dear Roger - I checked the internet yesterday..."

Click each photo to enlarge

This was a fine hotel which became evident as we entered our room.
"Now, this is a posh place!" Roger pointed out, "Let's make the best of it!"
So we started jumping in the bed and had a great time laughing...

Venice, October 2009

Downstairs was a large ball room with fine interior.
"The chandelier is made from real Venetian glass." Roger noticed.
"It looks a bit plastic-ish to me..." McBear said.
Tom was delighted. He believed this hotel would make another fine destination for Teddy Tours.

Roger quickly discovered a piano and he felt an urge to sing "O Sole Mio" like a Venetian tenor.
"No, Roger, please!" McBear begged. "We'd like to stay here more than one hour - we've got nowhere else to sleep!"

Venice, October 2009

From the balcony we had a fine view to a small square with a church.
"This is a real Venetian square, isn't it lovely to be here again?" Roger asked.

Roger felt restless as he wanted to go out to see gondolas. He was wearing his gondolier suit, the one he had got back in 2003 just after our first visit to Venice. And ever since Roger had wanted to have a photo taken of a gondola and him wearing his gondolier suit... In 2003 Roger had got a red gondolier hat, but it didn't really match his blue suit, so he borrowed Tom's blue gondolier hat.

Here we are at the famous Rialto Bridge. The bridge dates back to the 1500 hundreds and it spans 28 meters.

Venice, October 2009

We went to see the St. Mark's Square. He we are in front of the famous St. Mark's Basilica. There were lots and lots of tourists so we had to give up on getting a clear view to the basilica on the photo.
"Why are there so many tourists?" Roger was complaining. "I thought the recession would have changed that!"
"Imagine the amount of tourists once the recession is over..." McBear noticed.

In 2003 we had had our photo taken with this famous background with the gondoliers and the church San Giorgio Maggiore. So, this time we had to have another photo taken...

Venice, October 2009

Next day we went on a sightseeing tour to three islands nearby. On the way to the tour boat we had our photo taken at the St. Mark Square with the 100 m tall bell tower in the background.

First we visited the island of Murano. This island has a lot of factories which make the famous Venetian glass products. After that, we headed for the island Burano. This island is famous for its production of laces besides its colourful houses. He we are at Burano. Notice the coulorful houses. Dr. Bath was speculating why the houses were all painted in different colours.

Burano, October 2009

Pisa has its famous leaning tower, but Venice on the other hand has not one but MANY leaning towers and some of are in danger of collapsing. Now, thank God the huge tower on the St. Mark's Square didn't lean, but this one on Burano certainly did!

The last night in Venice we were invited to a lovely dinner party. McBear as per usual was getting excited and more and more itchy to get started on a huge pizza. Roger, also as per usual, was warning McBear against the dangers of calorial temptations!

Piran, Slovenia, June 2003

While we were in Slovenia we wanted to go on a trip to the world famous city of Venice. From Slovenia we left Piran on a catamaran boat. Roger said it didn't look like a tall ship at all. McBear on the other hand was excited because of its speed and advanced technology (after all, McBear is an Aquarian). Cruising across the Gulf of Venice the boat did 36 knots, and some of us nearly got seasick!

Visiting Venice we bought appropiate gondolier hats. Pinbar, however, was slightly too small to wear a hat while Angus, being born with an ice bag on his top of his head, couldn't find any hat that would fit.

Venice, June 2003

We took a taxi boat round the canals of Venice. Roger got very upset as McBear got a chance to sit by the captain. Roger felt entitled to the captain's seat while McBear - according to Roger - was entitled to become a cabin boy.
"Yawn, yawn," McBear replied, and within 5 minutes they were best friends again.

Venice has around 200 gondolas each of which costs 60,000 euros - enough to buy a big Mercedes! Roger was thinking of buying one.

Venice, June 2003

We ended at the St. Mark's Square with its thousands of pidgeons. As usual, Tom was in a party mood and we had a hard time cooling him down.

Finally we had our photo taken with this famous background often seen in tour guides and on postcards.

Venice, June 2003

On the way back to Piran Roger told us about the various boats we passed on our way. Here, a police patrol boat is passing by.