Wednesday 28 May 2014

Day out in Venice, "the Queen of the Adriatic"

On a flying visit from the UK to Bologna, we took a day out to go to Venezia, Venice, Venedig... The city built on 118 different little islands, famous for the canals and the gondolas.

The view from the bridge just outside the station of S. Lucia
I had been there before and I clearly remember the feeling of walking out from the station, right onto the canals and to think that this city was something special. We only had a few hours to explore, we went to the most famous Piazza San Marco and had a look at the Palazzo Ducale.

We walked around until we reached the "Ponte dei Sospiri" - the Italian for Bridge of Sighs. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells.

Il Ponte dei Sospiri

On the Ponte di Rialto

Monday 5 May 2014

Tourists in the 'Pool

Two of my best friends came all the way from Bologna this week end, including a flight in the early morning which means they are leaving Liverpool tonight at 2:30 am and that I appreciate... I had to do my best to make them enjoy their visit!

So we went for a typical roast dinner in the pub on Sunday - with roast beef, broccoli, spuds, Yorkshire pudding and gravy (the gravy and the broccoli did not go down well!) as well as a walk around the city.
Liverpool is one of the few city that has got two Cathedrals: the Metropolitan one, Catholic and the Anglican one. 



The Anglican is 189 mt long and it's the longest cathedral in the world; in terms of overall volume, Liverpool Cathedral ranks as the fifth-largest cathedral in the world. Believe me, it's massive - inside and out!


Here we are in front of the Catholic Cathedral, built in the 60's as a result of the the Catholic population of Liverpool increasing under the Irish influence. Ultra modern church that can accommodate more than 2,300 people - very different from all the churches we are used to in Italy so well worth a visit.

Photos by Michele - grazie! :D