venice, italy - part 3

on our final day in venice, we were treated to beautiful weather and bright sun, a very welcome change to the drab, overcast grey cloud of the previous two days.

we decided to leave the main island and check out one of the other, smaller islands around the lagoon. we didn't have a lot of time, since we'd be flying out later that evening, so decided to visit the most popular and well known of them - murano.

murano is known for its skilled artisan glass-blowers, crafting intricate and beautiful jewelry as well as home furnishings such as vases and chandeliers. a signature murano touch is rainbow swirls in the glass, composed of many vibrant colours.

we took the vaporetto to the island and strolled up to the main part of the island (the canals meet in a 'T' junction near the centre of the 'island'). small shops lined the streets, and you could still see some larger buildings which once housed glass factories.

venice isn't that big, as you may have gathered from our previous posts, and murano even less so. pretty soon we were at our sole destination for the day, the murano glass museum. it was a fascinating lesson in the finer points of how glass is made and coloured. we were able to see a showcase of some spectacular works of art, including some enormous chandeliers.

we took the vaporetto back to the main island and, after wandering around for a bit, we found a real gem of a restaurant tucked away on a quiet street. the patrons were locals and the menu was all in italian - generally good signs. the food was excellent, including the octopus carpaccio, calamari and fish soup.

when our meal was done, it was a vaporetto and a bus back to the airport. and, with that, we bid arrivederci to venezia.

on meat

the british take their meat seriously. and well they should, especially since a pillar of british social tradition is the sunday roast. it's a big affair and important that everything is done in a proper fashion.

the roast in question can be any meat; since we've been here, we've been treated to beef, chicken, lamb and pork. stuffing is optional, but always a welcome treat. the british, perhaps in a cue taken from the italians (possibly originally taken from the chinese), surprisingly appreciate pork 'crackling', the skin of the pig, which becomes crispy/crunchy when roasted.

then there's gravy. sometimes it takes the form of au jus. other times (the less often, the better), it's made (did we say made? we meant reconstituted...) from gravy granules. but it's always present on the table.

and the trimmings. who could forget the trimmings? we're continually surprised at how the british go all out. it's not just meat and potatoes. of course, the potatoes are usually beautifully done, especially when properly roasted in duck or goose fat (sold quite commonly in little tubs for this express purpose).

but that's not all. a roast would not be complete without parsnips and carrots. now we had never really taken a liking to parsnips. but this was likely because our previous experience had been boiled parsnips, which were quite bland. but when roasted, they have a lovely sweet taste that brings a nice contrast to the rest of the savoury dishes. incidentally, we recently discovered parsnips crisps, which are also quite tasty. cream cauliflower with cheese is another possible addition to the roast lineup and very rich in flavour.

that being said, we're still on the hunt for a good roast that hasn't been cooked by friends. when you do it yourself, you can prepare it exactly the way you want. when you go out, you're leaving too much to chance. our first couple of forays did not go well. in hindsight, that was to be expected, since we were trying the roasts at chain pubs. the good thing (or maybe bad thing) is that london has a lot of pubs (a LOT). gastropubs, which place more emphasis on the quality of food, should deliver a good product, albeit at a price. hopefully we'll be able to find a happy medium (rare).

venice, italy - part 2

the morning of our second day in venice was grey and foggy, but in a way, it added to the mystique of the city. we started our day with another vaporetto ride. this time, we went in the opposite direction, traveling around the back of the main island. we figured it would give us a chance to see more of venice and we'd already been down the grand canal once.

we alighted just a little further down from san marco, at arsenale. arsenale (not to be confused with the north london football club we support) is the site of the historic venetian shipyards. the might of the venetian empire was built on its naval dominance and the arsenale was the engine powering it. we visited the naval history museum and were pleasantly surprised when our rolling venice card scored us a discount - entry only cost 75 cents each.

the museum itself is probably a little off the beaten path, and we were the only ones there until we were about to leave. although it's not very flashy in presentation, its contents are quite impressive. the first room you walk into contains massive cannon barrels from warships of old. you see scale, 3d models of various fortresses. we were pleased to see quite a few models of fortresses from crete, including the one we had visited in rethymnon.

models were the name of the game here and there were lots of model ships. this included ancient ships used by the greeks (basically glorified covered rowboats) to sailing tall ships to modern supertankers, naval destroyers and cruise liners. there were even ships from other cultures, including chinese junks and viking ships. of course, the museum would not be complete without a model of the arsenale shipyards, showing the progression of a ship being built and set to sea. however, the highlights had to be the full-scale venetian wedding barge and the gondola collection, which includes peggy guggenheim's personal gondola.

after we'd seen enough ships (surely for a lifetime), we headed back to the streets of venice. if you wander around enough, you begin to realise that many of the streets (as seen on a map) aren't really streets at all, and are little wider than an alley. some are passages with doors on either end and give you the distinct feeling like you're going down a tunnel. every now and then, a gap appears between the buildings and, voila, you have a throughway. toss in a few dead ends (some end in enclosed squares, others end in a canal), and even with a good map, it's not that hard to get lost. we suppose if you stick to the main streets, then you wouldn't really get lost. but then again, you don't see much traveling that way.

we eventually made our way back to the ponte di rialto, the postcardesque bridge that spans over the grand canal. after a few pictures, we headed across to the western side of the lagoon and the areas of san polo and san croce. running the gauntlet of tourist stalls, we made our way over to the bank with the hope of catching the fish market in action. but it was not to be, as most of the traders had packed up for the day and only a few stragglers were still in the last phases of cleaning their stalls.

to console ourselves, we stopped at a small pub - the ostaria antico polo - for some refreshment. we wanted to try some more cichetti and this ostaria had a fairly good selection from which to choose. we settled on classic venetian choices of baccala mantecato (pureed cod), sarde in saor (marinated sardines), as well as some other tasty snacks whose names we never knew (we simply went up to the bar and pointed "that one"). this time, we washed it down with spritz, which is a typical afternoon aperitif in venice made by mixing soda water, white wine and some form of bitters (sometimes just a lemon peel tossed in).

we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around san polo, passing by the odd open square and more than a few churches. it seemed as if every turn we took, there was a postcard shot waiting for us. venice gets progressively less touristy the further you go from the grand canal, and we noticed that san polo and croce were sleepier parts of towns and many of the people we saw seemed like locals. we tried to find a couple of gelaterias recommended by our guidebook, but unfortunately, they were closed. we were quite disappointed because the guide did quite a good job marketing them. we made up for it by sampling some italian pastries, including canoli and a fornarina di cioccolato e pistacchio.

for dinner, we crossed back over the grand canal and headed up to cannaregio and the jewish quarter in particular. we settled on a little trattoria by one of the main canals in the area and discovered that we were literally the only ones there (it was probably still too early and most italians were still in the ostaria for an evening, pre-dinner drink). we had a delightful meal that included steamed clams, gnocchi with crab sauce, frittura mista, and canneloni, topped off with some panna cotta for dessert.

after dinner we went to see if we could get tickets to see either an ensemble play a tribute to vivaldi (who was born and raised in venice) or la traviata (verdi, on the other hand, was not from venice). we could get neither, so we took another romantic stroll back to our hotel, stopping briefly to pick up yet another round of gelato before retiring for the evening.

to be continued...

venice, italy - part 1

so many places, so little time. if you've grown up in europe, then you'll have grown up with amazing travel opportunities, with most of the first world a mere stone's throw away. if you're us, then you have to balance a list of where you want to go with where it's not so expensive to go at any given time.

we've had many conversations with friends and colleagues soliciting recommendations. and time after time, the same city kept on popping up near the top of everyone's lists: venice. in hindsight, we realise that we've tended to travel in themes. our first two trips, paris and brussels, were linked by the fact that we traveled by eurostar to both cities. the second theme, then, would be cities built on or around canals, venice following in close succession to our time in amsterdam.

we flew into venice's marco polo airport. upon disembarking, we picked up our rolling venice cards at a kiosk in the arrivals hall. the rolling venice card is available to tourists under 29 and gives you discounts on transit passes and entry into some of the museums and other sights. we used it to get a 72-hour transit pass, which works for the land bus that took us from the airport to the lagoon itself as well as the vaporetto (water bus) system that allows you to get around venice.

venice has a lot of historical and cultural significance, but today, it's basically sustained by the tourism industry and the lagoon itself doesn't really offer much else. most of the industry, apart from some smaller glass-blowing artisans, has moved onto the mainland. despite that, it still is a remarkable city and the second you step off the bus and see the grand canal you get the sense that you're in a place like no other.

after quickly checking into our hotel, we set off on the vaporetto for the san marco area. the vaporetto took us at a leisurely pace down the grand canal itself, taking us past the rialto bridge, ca'rezzonico, the guggenheim collection and finally to san marco itself. we made our way to the piazza di san marco, the famed open square of venice. being late november, we were quite fortunate as there were fewer tourists around and it hadn't yet hit the height of winter, where the square itself sometimes gets partially flooded. the piazza is hemmed in on three sides by continuous buildings accented with columns and even has an astronomical clock.

at the far end of the piazza sits the basilica di san marco. we decided to wander inside for a look and were blown away by the craftsmanship involved. at a glance, the ceilings look painted, albeit a little glittery. upon closer inspection, however, you realise that that the expansive and elaborate murals are actually mosaics made up of tiny tiles gilt in gold and other colours.

we next turned to the adjacent building, the palazzo ducale which is the palace of the doge, the governor of venice. the palazzo contains a seemingly endless array of rooms and the tour path takes you through almost every single one of them. every room was elaborate, as you'd expect a palace to be, with massive, ornate doors and mouldings. highlights included the entrance hall with ancient maps drawn across the wall and two large globes (one of earth, the other of the stars), the meeting hall of the government, the armoury and the dungeons (not recommended for the claustrophobic).

from the palazzo, we basically wandered around the narrow walkways and passages of the san marco district, gradually making our way in the general direction of our hotel. we stopped for some espresso and hot cioccolato. we passed by the theatre and rows of shops, including many that sold elaborate masks. we came to realise that masks - the type that you'd wear to a masquerade ball - were something of a local specialty in venice. they ranged from generic, mass produced versions manufactured for tourists to high end masterpieces, breathtakingly beautiful and intricately crafted. of course, the price tag for the finer ones was also enough to take your breath away.

we stopped again for a little snack of an involtino, basically a rolled up slice of pizza flattened in a panini press. our particular one had artichokes and ham and we washed it down with a glass of prosecco, dry sparkling wine made in the veneto region and a typical afternoon drink for venetians.

the main throughfare took us parallel to the grand canal and we eventually reached the rialto bridge again. by this time, it was already quite dark and some shops were beginning to close for the night. we stopped at a local bar recommended by our guidebook and had a glass of vino bianco and some cichetti, bar snacks that are essentially the venetian version of tapas. at this bar, we were served some polpetti, deep-fried meatballs which were quite tasty. the vibe of the place was great and it was packed with locals catching up with each other. of course, that made it a little difficult to get served, although we finally managed with our broken italian.

we strolled a bit further down the strada nova. although it's probably cliche to some, just knowing you're strolling around venice makes it romantic. and you don't even have to go on a gondola ride to get caught up in the romance. every few blocks or so, you're taken over another tiny bridge and get to glance down a quiet side canal, the sound of the water gently lapping at the edges.

we finally decided to head back to the hotel and found a place to have dinner. although probably a bit of a tourist trap, we were too tired to care, and the daily menu did include some local specialties. we had a fisherman's risotto, spaghetti al nero di seppia - where the sauce is made from the black ink of squid/cuttlefish - and fegato alla veneziana (liver, venetian style). it wasn't the most spectacular meal we've had, but it did the job and allowed us to sample something out of the ordinary. we topped off our evening with a trip to the gelateria and headed back to the hotel to recharge our batteries for our second day in venice.

to be continued...

life in london: 3

3. notes on vocab

the british actually do use 'brilliant' as much as portrayed in the movies. and they actually still use 'chap' and 'bloke' in everyday language. or at least some do. some even still say 'cheerio'.

here are some terms/usages we've only ever heard used since coming here (it may only be because we're linguistically and culturally ignorant). for the record, we haven't listed some of the more typical ones (flat vs. apartment, brolly, wellies, etc.):

naff - tacky, unstylish, uncool
camp - fruity; can also be used to mean 'OTT' (over the top)
knackered/shattered - very tired, exhausted
(get) stuck in - get into, engage, dive in
sorted - taken care of (note the absence of 'out' after)
biro - ballpoint pen
stuffed (up) - screwed (up)
take on board - learn, internalize
wind up - tease, irritate
bespoke - tailored, custom made

minging - gross

gutted - very disappointed

blokey - masculine

chav(vy) - derogatory and un-pc, this is the british version of 'white trash'

fit - apparently means more than 'in good shape' and is used to describe something positive or someone very attractive; interchangeable with 'hot' when used to describe a person

this is clearly not an exhaustive list. as with accents, we tend to mingle with people from a lot of different places, both within and outside of the UK. we'll continue to add to this list as we pick up more slang. feel free to send in your additions!