Now Home

My week in London flew by and, as it was no longer about Venice Carnival, I stopped blogging - except for the one about the costumes in Kensington Palace.  Then, I received a couple of messages asking me if I was okay.  So, I thought I should finish off this edition of my blogs.

While I was in London, I was lucky enough to see Tina:  The Musical based in the life of Tina Turner and her music.  As well, I saw Come From Away which was absolutely delightful and which every Canadian should see.  It just makes your heart swell with pride about this country.

Aside from spending some quality time with my good friends, John and Pedro, I also reconnected with two couples I had met on a Voyages to Antiquity cruise in 2017.  One couple lives not far from London and the other traveled south from the Midlands to spend the day with us.  We started our day with a river boat trip to Greenwich where we walked up to the observatory with its stunning views over London.  Then, we visited Queen's House which had connections to Queen Anne, the subject of the movie, The Favourite.  She had lived there some of the time she was in power.  We also peeked into the chapel at the Naval College, had lunch at The Old Brewery, and shopped in Greenwich Market. 

Our day finished with a lovely dinner party at John and Pedro's where we were joined with a couple of their friends.

My time in London finished with a dinner at L'Aventure just off Abbey Road in St. John's Wood and not far from John and Pedro's.  It was delicious.

John's Artichoke Salad

However, the focus of this blog was Venice and its Carnival.  So, what better way to end this than with some more of the fabulous photos taken by the talented photographer, Kah Kit Yoong.  I'm so glad he posts some of his work to Facebook.

Now I am back home, reflecting on the Carnival experience, crossing my fingers I will be able to return in two years, and, of course, planning my next adventure which will be in less than two months.

What, More Costumes?

Two years ago in Venice, I met a gal from the UK on a pub crawl.  We seemed to hit it off and I have seen her a couple of times when I have been back in the UK.  Yesterday, she came to London to meet me for the day from Stratford where she lives.  We went to Kensington Palace, something I have never done before in spite of being to London so many times.  The visit to the palace was very interesting but what made it even more special was that there was an exhibit of the costumes from the movie, The Favourite.  As it was set in the 18th century, the costumes on display were similar to the ones I had seen in Venice last week.  It seemed like quite a coincidence.  The docent we chatted with gave us a lot of background into the life of Queen Anne and how many of the events that took place in the movie actually happened in Kensington Palace.
 
So, here are the photos I took of the display and, if you have seen the movie, you may recognize them.  

Also, here are some other photos of the interior of the palace, a view from it (too bad it was a dreary cloudy day in London), and one of the three tiaras that were on display.  

The Good, the Bad and Worse!

One of the things you hear here in Venice during Carnival, particularly for the true "believers", is that over the past few years the event is becoming more and more degraded.  While previously, the costumes have tended to be historically authentic or the fantasy one quite extravagant, more and more people are showing up in basically what could be characterized as Halloween costumes and some are in pretty poor taste.  In addition, every year, Venice is more and more crowded during this time.  It was estimated that there were in excess of 25,000 people in Piazza San Marco on the Sunday for the "Flight of the Angel".  There is concern that the foundation of the square is being compromised with that many people in it.  Further, on the last weekend of Carnival, the streets are filled with crowds of people walking around with drinks being drunk, loud and disrespectful.  We saw several signs as we walked around saying "Tourists Go Home!".

We have heard several different approaches being considered to manage this increasing problem including: limiting the number of organized tours coming into Venice during the event; increasing the daily tourist tax from 3 Euros to 10 Euros a day; and even cancelling the event altogether for a few years.  The latter, in my opinion, would be a shame.  However, given that there was police presence everywhere on both weekends to control the traffic flow and, even with that, it was almost impossible to walk around at times.  In addition, the organization of the event seems to be lacking.  Even the official website was incomplete just days before it started.  Hopefully, the Venetians will somehow get all this sorted out and Carnivale will return to its former glory.

We all know that Carnival is celebrated in various parts of the world and some of these celebrations are rather famous like Carnival in Rio and Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  Nice, France, has an event that is growing in popularity, and Basel, Switzerland, has been famous for its version for a long time.  In the German speaking regions in Europe (Austria, Germany and parts of Switzerland), it is known by several names including Fasching in south and eastern Germany, Fas(t)nacht, Fassenacht or Fasnet  in other parts, and Fasnacht in Switzerland. 

Now, more about the costumes. I was in Bavaria in 2006 during Fasching and attended several events (parades and dances) in the small villages around Fuessen.  I was quite surprised at how tacky some of the costumes and parades were.  Not sure I will ever get the image of the BDSM float in the parade in Schwangau out of my head ever - picture a woman wielding a whip on a guy strapped to a St. Andrew's cross and wearing nothing but a black leather thong (and he was NOT "model material", if you know what I mean!).  While I am sure some of the celebrations can be amazing, the costumes I saw there did not compare to the elaborate costumes you see in Venice.  And, from some of what we saw in Venice this time, it appears some of those more tacky styles have "dripped" into Venice.  In hindsight, I wish I had taken more photos of these type of costumes - bunny and Dalmatian "onesies", for example.  However, here are a few of the "lesser" ones:  milk bottles, zombies, and Prosecco bottles.  

As well, there were some costumes that were just plain quirky or weird (my opinion).

These people had balls of yarn on their heads and carried knitting needles

In contrast, the Australian photographer has posted more of his photos and these really show the distinction between the amateurish and the higher end ones.  I think these are amazing.  In a way, I've saved the best for last!!

So, with that, my Carnival experience is over.  Sunday, I flew to London where I will spend a week with friends there.  I may post some other blogs but, unless I can think of something new, this will be the end of the Venice portion.  I may be doing some things in London that might be worth writing about.  Time will tell!

Working Venice

In addition to being a very famous tourist city with its renowned canals, gondolas, squares and churches, Venice is, at the end of the day, a city like others where every day jobs have to be done, including deliveries, construction, commuting, etc.

Given there are no vehicles in Venice, everything that one does in a "normal" city is here done by boat or on foot.  When you sit at restaurants along any of the canals, especially the Grand Canal, you are treated to seeing everything that you would see on a main city street done on the water.  There are police boats, buses (vaporetti), taxis, delivery boats (DHL, UPS, for example), and pretty much anything else that would be done by truck or van.  In addition, the contents from the boats are loaded onto carts and then pulled everywhere down the narrow alleys to their destination.  It is really quite something to see.  I tried to capture some of the sense of this in photos while I was here this time.  Many of the deliveries are done early in the morning and, given that the apartment I have rented, is right on a canal, I have been able to watch all sorts of traffic going by.  Of course, I failed to mention the gondolas which can be hired for about 80 Euros per ride during the day.  Some of them come with singers which costs more.

The following is a video I took from outside the dining room window which gives some idea of the sights and sounds from one of the narrower canals.  It includes one of the famous gondolas plus a boat delivering goods.