Dinner at the Danieli

Since it was Hasi´s "round" anniversary surprise dinner should be something really special. After a lot of hesitating back home, chosing between the Gritti and the Danieli, I had finally booked a table at the Danieli - and I am glad I did! They claim to have the best view over the Canale Grande, and I am sure they do. The Gritti is up the Canale, with lots of traffic right in front, and it does not have the wide view you have from the Danieli. For us this was the perfect choice.

Talking about the food there: It was very good, like it should be in a place like this, but I have eaten in other good places before, and the food was comparable but not overwhelming. But just let me say I have never been pampered by a more caring and attentive staff.

The Danieli, like all the other grand hotels in Venice, is actually quite small, so especially if you are from the US do not expect one of the huge newly built 5*-hotels you find in the US or Asia. But the special flair here will definately catch you in an instant.

Hasi loved his surprise dinner and claimed this evening to be "the best evening of his life". Of course I was very happy to hear this! We stayed there until night came with a phantastic blood moon, enjoying all the different shades of light as the sun went down. The view definately is breathtaking! I am not sure if we ever go there again - this evening was so special and such a night to remember, it definately cannot get any better. Happy birthday, Hasi!

Venice - Murano and Burano

Our appartment definately was a lucky strike! It was situated in S.Croce, comfortably away from the masses of people in San Marco, and we lived the easy life of the few Venetians who still can afford to live in Venice. Population is dropping constantly, most locals live e.g. in Mestre and commute into the city every day to work here.

The very best thing about our wonderfully quiet appartment was the little balcony where we enjoyed a lovely view over the rooftops of the city, and where we had breakfast each morning before diving into the huzzle and buzzle just a few steps away. I am convinced you cannot stay anywhere better in Venice, even the famous hotels with their balconies onto the Canale Grande are right in the middle of the - let´s say it frankly - usually very loud Italian life. The vaporetto stop was like two minutes away, and it took us just a short while to ride to San Marco.

One day was reserved for "the islands". Since it was extremely tricky to figure out the vaporetto schedule (and even to FIND the proper line taking you to the islands) we only managed to go to Murano and Burano on this one day. We were so absolutely done in the evening when we hoped to catch a boat to Torcello the captain obviously had decided that he did not want to go there, so all we heard was "oggi non Torcello", so we decided what the heck, called it a day and went back to San Marco.

Murano actually was a bit of a disappointment. It is mostly about shops selling glass, and the glassware you find in the windows are not even pieces of art but made for mass tourism and rather trashy. No doubt you can find masterpieces inside the factories in case you want to order something really special for your villa, but strolling around Murano was not the big thing. I had been here years ago on the Saturday of the Carnevale and remembered a quiet, picturesque island (of course, everyone was in San Marco to party and the shops were closed) and I had been afraid that Murano might be completely different with the shops open. But Hasi really had wanted to go there, so we did. We did not like it, so we decamped very soon  - only to find ourselves in the confusion of the local vaporetto system again. Since we were not able to find the proper direct line to Burano we went back to San Marco and took a boat from there.

As you can see, Burano is a totally different ride. Whilst Murano is just a few minutes from Venice it takes you almost 45 minutes to get out to Burano. But it was so worth it! Burano is absolutely lovely...

 

It is famous for its colorful houses and for its lace and embroidery. And even though you find many shops there the atmosphere is peaceful and easy-going. We instantly fell in love with the place.

Leaving was hard, but we had planned to round the day off with Torcello - where we did not make it, due to the unsolved vaporetto secret.

So back home in S. Croce we dragged ourselves to our favorite pizzeria "Rosa" - one of the places where the locals go, and where you can sit and watch life passing by for hours....

Oh happy day...

    

Beautiful Venice - Hasis "round" anniversary

Benvenuti nella bella Venezia! It was Hasi´s "round anniversary", and I had been planning on this since January. What do you give someone who has everything he wants? Exactly, a dream journey - and a dream Venice had always been for Hasi. His parents had been molto spesso, and I had been years ago at the carnevale with Katja - and somehow he always had been left behind. So I thought Venice might be qualcose di speciale! It should have been a great surprise, I told him one week before we left, to give him something to look forward to - and I am happy to say he absolutely loved it. And when we were there he plunged into it, being enthusiastic about absolutely everything I had organized, loving every minute of our journey. It could not have worked any better!

Venice is a dream come true. At home you think that you probably might not catch all the magic and discover all the beautiful views - but then you are there and you discover the magic is everywhere and you shuffle from one beautiful view onto the next.

I strongely advice you to book a tour when you want to see the Palazzo Ducale and the Basilica San Marco. At Piazza San Marco, definately the must-see of Venice, there are zillions of people, and of course also inside the main buildings. I don´t know what I would have done if I had not booked a tour from home.....

The lion of Venice, which we visited right at the beginning of our tour. I had booked at "Get your Guide", and what we got was a great local guide with lots of knowledge of all the roundabouts. It was expensive - something you have to get used at in Venice - but it was definately worth it.

Hasi inside the Palazzo Ducale. The tour was extremely interesting, especially for us history lovers.

Ponte dei Sospiri - die "Seufzerbrücke" or "Bridge of Sighs"....

The tour lasts for about 5 hours and afterwards we were really, really hungry. What a lucky coincidence that I had booked a table at Grand Hotel Monaco! ("Monaco" meaning not the name of the dwarf state, but meaning one of the old families here in Venice.)

I was also happy that I had booked from home (concierge@hotelmonaco.it), billiards of tourists are all over the place, and the Monaco is frontline to the Canale Grande, so guess where everybody wants to go. But do consider a very high bill! I won´t mention this from now on anymore - you have been warned! lol)

The little birthday something my Hasi got.

And since our feet were hurting and the place was nice, shady and comfy we stayed there for long hours and enjoyed the view...

Venice is a beautiful scenery for taking photos, so I must confess that it is absolutely impossible to post even a tiny choice of the beautiful photos that we took (most of them my Hasi, some of them simply by my iPhone6), we made thousands of photos, cut the best off´s down to like 800... see, it is hopeless. We did and saw so many great things, and I will try to put some of them for you on display in the next few blogs. For this special day just let me assure you we did plenty of great other things, discovered more or the Piazza San Marco, ventured on a great Vaporetto ride, explored more of the surroundings around our quarter in St.Stae... but for the moment just let me wish you a great rest of the day and say farewell with a photo of our rooftop appartment at sundown.

Happy New Year 2014

Dear friends and blog readers, the kiddos and I wish you a fun-filled, healthy and happy 2014! Have a great time, save travels and may all your dreams come true! XXX

Feuer im Lichthäuschen!

At Longfield Gospel we like to socialize. We meet before concerts to rehearse (and eat and drink and chat), after concerts (to eat and drink and chat), of course during concerts (to - ha, NOT to eat and drink and chat, but to rock the place!!), in Summer we have barbequeue events, in Winter we do Winter things and lots more.

Whereever you find people from Longfield you always find not only people willing to sing and entertain but also to party!

Yesterday a bunch of us were invited to Barbara´s "Lichthäusl" - nobody knew what that was, and we all thought of a fireplace out in the open. Instead it turned out to be a Finish hunting hut with an indoor fireplace and grill. We all came dressed with 20 layers of warm clothing and Winter boots, but instead of a fire out in the rain and the cold we arrived at something cosy and warm and comfortable.

Outside it was pitchblack dark, the wind was blowing and it was raining - and inside it was warm and hospitable and the fire was shining.

It was so warm that we let the door open - otherwise it would have been more like sauna! Thanks Gods all of us had enough layers to take off! Come inside and meet your friends...

Good food, good drinks, good friends - what more do you need? We also had a good laugh! Oh well, a typical Longfield event. We just need a platform to get started.

And honestly, I have never been at an LGS party where there wasn´t too much food and where anyone of us went hungry. We just love to eat, who doesn´t? And it makes inviting people so much easier, because everybody brings along plenty (in addition to the heap you prepare yourself), and afterwards the host has about another week to wonder what to do with the left-overs *gg*).

At first none of us had known what a "Lichthäuschen" is - afterwards we all knew: It is a warm and bright place where you meet friends and feel comfy. What a great idea! We come back any time, thank you so much for having us!

Today I am in a poetic mood, so I want to close with the words of Chris de Burgh in one of his wonderful songs:

"We must send the word to all the people in the land,
 go to every hill and mountain,
 for the time is now at hand
To light a fire!

 

They will see it through the world!"

Mittelalterfest in Eggenburg

The Mittelalterfest in Eggenburg is getting bigger and bigger each year. It was our 2nd time we went there, and we absolutely loved it.

It is in the mild south of my beloved Waldviertel, before Horn you make a left and then drive another 10 minutes down to Eggenburg. If you ask me: The real Waldviertel (the North where I come from) starts in Horn which is about 10 minutes North from Eggenburg.

In pretty Eggenburg the first thing you need to do is get rid of your car. There are a few parking areas, but the signs showing you there are not too good. So you just need to follow your feeling and your luck, and after you found a parking space you will realize that on your way to the castle there are lots of mideval campsites everywhere.

Then we walked up to the main site. It is the main square of Eggenburg where they have a marketing area and an area where they do show and dance.

 

I especially loved the guy with the falcon. He is a falconer in real life and obviously always ready to go to Eggenburg to the Mittelalterfest.

And of course there are many dancing choruses performing medival dances. I especially enjoyed the music.

At the main square there are performances all the time and it is packed with people. I got acquainted with a lovely aged couple who gave me one of their paper schedules which helped me a lot later.

One of the performances we caught was the Witch Dance - I really did not get it at all, but it was amusing. In mideval times if one had said "Hey, I am a witch and I am dancing" the life span of the witch would have been really really short...

 

One of the best performances were the DRAGONS. They came with a lot of noise and they were hillarious! We have a video showing why they were so great but I dont really know how to put it on display. Anyway: They were so cool!

 

Of course there were mideval dogs as well, and they had their own mideval tents. I was so happy I had left my kiddos at home - less stress for me, and less stress for them - but it did not keep me from admiring other kiddos.

There are many lectures in the townhall - here we have a lecturer in Florentine style telling us about Dante´s "Göttliche Komödie". Many professors from my university are here as well, giving speaches like "Was Sie immer über Runen wissen wollten" and "Hey, hey Wikie". Problem: I have done the semester classes, so the 1 hour speach would not have been very satisfying. But still it is fun!



There are so many things to see and do, in fact the whole town of Eggenburg is full of points of interest where you can see lots of things of mideval life.

When we went back to the car we thought that it had been a brilliant day. And who knows, maybe next time we come back with mideval clothes doing mideval things as well? I sure loved the dresses. And everything else...