It’s day two in Venice and we have been out strolling around the lovely streets and finding lovely little courtyards (oh and a few eateries with wine).
Venice is a lovely city and we have managed to see some sunshine until the heavens opened this afternoon.
It feels such a short time ago when we had our private water boat drop us at the hotel.
But still another full day to go yet and more lovely lanes to stroll – regardless of the weather.
Posted by YourTourGuideChick
So Mrs Fogg saw a cookery programme thingy on the BBC where Rick Stein enthused about an Italian family restaurant in Venice, that doesn’t do pizza, doesn’t do lasagne or tourist menus. Challenge then to find this shrine to apparent good Italian cooking.
After walking and map reading we found it, only to be be greeted by a less than helpful member of staff “not open for another hour and fully booked” what about tomorrow? ” fully booked”, are we really or just not wanting to deal with tourists?
Off then to find food and a fun place where the waitress was fun and they even played Christmas music.
Some alcohol later we staggered out and off to bed.
And a walk back in the rain
posted by the biker daddy.
Welcome to that there Venice, where the film festival and Regatta are due to kick off this weekend.
A short trip from home for food last night saw us at a local Fush n Chups restaurant, which were very nice and where Mrs Fogg exposed her blondeness, when I asked for the Whale Portion (being a tad peckish) and on the menu it is actually called a “Moby Dick”, at which point Mrs Fogg exclaimed that Moby Dick wasn’t a whale, you could have heard a pin drop, bury your head in uneducated shame!
A nice early start 4.40am), then the usual shambles that is the UK airport security and having to queue forn20 minutes to buy a coffee.
Anyway Venice we is arrived! Blue skies, 26 degrees, a gentle limousine to the waterfront and then private water taxi to our hotel.
Food, wine, sightseeing, gondola rides and warmth.
We had justa one cornetto from here.
posted by the biker daddy.
What to do after a 15 mile cycle, a dip in the jacuzzi and then a spot of gardening.
Snooze of course, what Sunday is made for.
posted by the biker daddy.
I have spent the last 3 months being used and abused, I’ve been drenched, scalded and forced to burn stuff, but enough is enough.
So after 3 months of constant abuse I decided to have a wash, pooh that feels good, now bring on the next year.
posted by the biker daddy.
Mouse wanted to say welcome back to Nellie this morning so brought us a lovely half chewed pigeon and two eggs.
Lovely
Posted by YourTourGuideChick
Two weeks seem to have gone in a flash and no sooner had we left that we seem to be straight back in London and thinking about work.
It has been a fantastic trip and we have seen so much together that I wanted to try to capture a brief snapshot of the fun we have had, so here goes:
Visited Tokyo
Enjoyed raw fish at the fish market
Looked for but did not find cat cafe
Tried Maid cafe (for all of 5 seconds, yuck)
Realised we had two teenagers on the trip
Found Nellie is good at sarcasm – beating Mr Fogg on this one!
Saw lots of shrines
Visited Korea Town – twice!
Listened to at least 15 K-pop records at the same time (a bit like cats wailing)
Had authentic Korean food cooked in front of us
Tried Korean face mask – wow fab things
Saw so much K-pop merchandise- we need to change businesses and start a boy band!!
Ate soooo many fruit smoothies and ice cream thingies
Walked miles
Visited Harajuku, Akhibara, shinjuku, Ginza, Asakusa and the Sky Tree Tower
Spotted hundreds of Starbucks ( and Excelsior)
Found new favourite cafe chain called Choco – co
Explored local food stores and amazed at the weird things you can buy
Travelled to Kyoto on the bullet train
Stayed in a 90 year old traditional house- simply lovely
Walked some more miles
Endured 36 degree heat
Visited Nara, met aggressive deers
Ate shaved ice cold tea flavour
Got hot and bored at the Imperial Palace
Visited Ryoan-ji- a famous Zen garden
Got eaten by giant Mosquitos
Managed to buy fabric protector in the local shop instead of bug spray
Entertained everyone with my attempted mine for bug spray to bemused 18 year old in shop
Saw giant green bug in Nellies room – pretty
Learnt that Nellie knows quite a few Japanese words
Found another cake shop – yummy
Ate Chinese food, Thai food and Italian
Became adept at chop sticks
Visited Fushimi Inari shrine – wonderful to see
Visited Kyomiza-dera and watched Mr Fogg drink from the fountain of youth again (it’s not working!)
Walked more miles
Saw lots of pretty dragonflies
Navigated the busses
Went to Arishiyama and saw the monkies.
While at Arishiyama visited the bamboo grove – both teenagers pointed out how dull it was
Found another pretty shrine
Watched a dumb American irritate the monkies
Found Nellie prefers big cities to rural stuff
Sweated buckets!
Travelled to Hiroshima via bullet train
Enjoyed bento boxes on the train
Stayed in ryoken – great reception and service but it’s gone downhill since we last stayed.
Possibly got stomach bugs from inedible food
Slept in same room – Mr Fogg snored loudly
Met Masato-San for a tour of Hiroshima – saw the Peace Park, Hiroshima Castle and the Peace Museum.
Also saw actual ground zero – we thought it was the A bomb domb but we were wrong
Learnt more about Hiroshima and aspects of Japan we did not know
Took a train and ferry to Miyajima Island – and decided this was our favourite place
Stayed at the Watanabe Inns with the Watanabe family – 90 years of Ryoken ownership- a magical place.
Had amazing food at the Ryoken
Ate a fish which looked at us from the plate (I now know what you call a fish with one eye) – delicious
Ambled in traditional yukata robes down to the waterside to see the shrine lit with lanterns at night
Saw lots of friendlier deer
Saw more shrines
Travelled to Kobe
Ate the worlds best beef in the tiniest restaurant
Had beer
Stayed at the Hotel Trusty – nice place, shame about the name
We were too tired to explore much so chilled rather that sightseeing
Returned on a 4 hour bullet train to Tokyo
Ate more bento boxes
Tired Nellie out completely (we suspect she will sleep for the week when in Cumbria)
Had one last wander in Tokyo at night
Got up at silly o’clock for the train to the airport
Got posh family behind us on the plane with spoilt brat
Slept
Ate
All told a magical two weeks. Would we repeat this?? Yes, any time. It has been good to explore Japan and see some area with different eyes.
Bye bye Japan – for now
Posted by YourTourGuideChick
Hoorah, we are back in the UK and it is actually sunny and reasonably warm – although a little cooler than the 36 degrees we have been used to.
We entered Heathrow without incident (well almost, we all tried to use our electronic passports and Nellie apparently is too young to use it, so Nellie and Mr Fogg went to the counter and hurrah a first challenge to is this your child came, arriving into the UK, authority paper in hand this was duly presented and the chappie seemed happy but not overly concerned) so it was then time to get to the Finks house with our first challenge- the gate would not unlock!
So, we opted to shunt me over the wall. Oh boy, I’ve just realised how little leg strength I have. So The Finks nearly had a collapsed wall (yes I ended up just laying over the wall and flapping around uselessly) and unfortunately my dismount was equally dodgy. I am afraid to say that despite my best efforts I crushed the blue wheelie bin lid and broke some of the wood on the wall.
Tomorrow we get to do it in reverse!
Anyway, we are in and sorted. Thanks to Mrs Fink we have food and alcohol and are just about to order take away – and no not Chinese!!
It’s been an absolute blast and we will be sad to wave bye to Nellie tomorrow.
Posted by YourTourGuideChick
5.30am rise and 3 calls to Nellie to make sure she was awake. Packed, washed and dressed, we were out for 6.30am.
Next stop Narita airport and then the 10 or so hours flight home.
Bags packed
The best way to see Tokyo, at 6.30 without the baking heat
On the Narita Express for the airport
All checked in, now where are this shops to spend all our money
After pointing out an unattended bag to the local jobs worth, we moved swiftly away as he used all his skill and training to see if it was dodgy, pick it up and drop it!
posted by the biker daddy.