Simple.

I’ve decided it’s the best way. Simple thoughts, simple conversations, simple values, simple food.

Things don’t need to be complicated. More is not necessarily better.

We are here in Venice after a long but pleasant trip.

We both arrived in Sydney on separate flights within five minutes of each other. Victoria picked us up and we headed to La Perouse for lunch (well more that’s where we ended up rather than headed). Neither Victoria nor I are mad on hamburgers but somehow we managed to find a trendy hamburger place for lunch. My southern fried chicken burger with spicy slaw was actually delicious!

We drove around eastern Sydney, took Victoria shopping for a new outfit so she didn’t have to go home before going out and eventually she dropped us at the Airport about five hours before our flight.  Our holiday book reading got a good start!

The Qatar airlines flight took  off early and arrived in to Doha early. Wow – what an airport. We are stopping on our way home in Doha and Bahrain. That should be fascinating.

Venice airport is a little less understated, so say the least, but our bags arrived without issues and after a longish walk to the airport ‘pier’ we boarded our first Vaporetto and an hour, five stops and a bonus scenic tour from the water, later, disembarked at San Zaccaria wharf, right in front of the famous Danielli Hotel. We are staying there for a night later in the week, but for the first two nights we are staying at the very pleasant 3C Bed and Breakfast, just a very short three minute walk from the waterfront and the famous San Marco square. Its a small place, only three rooms and I really love it. An extremely comfortable bed, a deep bath and extremely clean. Fabio met us on arrival yesterday and showed us around. He recommended places to see and suggested where we should go for dinner.

The one bit of advice I got from friends and family who have been here before (and also from tourist websites and blogs) is “Get lost in Venice”… so we immediately did just that 😉

We set off on a walk, through St Mark’s square (San Marco’s), up to the Grand Canal,  past the Rialto Bridge and then headed east through many alleyways . I think it was east. After about an hour we came across the lagoon. We were starting to get lost-ish, sol I pulled up Google Maps on my phone (Thanks for the tip Dad to pre-load the maps) and we were, in fact, nowhere near where we thought we were!

Not to worry, we looked up where the restaurant recommendation was and managed to get there after another hour of cobblestones, canals and bridges. All so amazingly beautiful.

Dinner was amazing. Always take local advice on these things.

Simple.

There is generally nothing complex about the average fare in Italy. I had local clams with spaghetti. The ingredients were fresh and simple. Clams, white wine, garlic olive oil, parsley. Dave had Veal Milanese (breaded veal), simply fried in olive oil and served with a wedge of lemon. Sautee courgette with garlic for a side, some fried potato and we were set. I love how you always get a basket of fresh plain bread with every meal. Simple. Tasty. Authentic. Nourishing.

On the short walk back to our digs, we shared a gelato cone. Tiramisu flavoured. You can’t travel to Italy without a daily gelato. My mum and I were in Tuscany about 15 years ago and she insisted on a daily gelato then. It’s a tradition I have continued.

By 7pm it was just getting dark and the need for sleep got the better of me. A warm bath, a few chapters, a little Facebook and I was off to sleep.

Its now 7am here. We have been awake for hours, as you do with jet-lag. Breakfast is served at 830, then off to see more of Venice… first stop the vegetable markets and then to try to find places from the scenes of James Bond’s Moonraker (1979) and Casino Royale (2006)