Hello beasties!
Yes... It's true! I'm just back from Venice...
Okay, so I got back on November 11th - but it feels like only yesterday!
This time I was away with Flatmate Calum - this was my 6th trip and was in aid of my birthday on the 10th; leaving earlier in the week and returning the day after my actual birthday... So, yes indeed - it was a whole birthday week!
This time I was away with Flatmate Calum - this was my 6th trip and was in aid of my birthday on the 10th; leaving earlier in the week and returning the day after my actual birthday... So, yes indeed - it was a whole birthday week!
Before I share with you some of the photos I'd like to announce the first of two episodes that I recorded during the trip:
Here we are for episode THIRTY SIX and this time we're in Italy for the first of two episodes from Venice. It's lovely to be back there - and the weather is fine - but Mr Yeti is under observation and isn't even aware of it! Special guests this episode include Calum W, Harry F and Dr Neph. This episode we also hear briefly from our usual team of players! Our next episode, number 37 - will be part 2 of this adventure. Please email me at shyyeti@yahoo.co.uk if you have any comments - you can even send me a sound-file and I'll include it on the show. The music is by Shy Yeti and Luca. This episode and all contents are Copyright Paul Chandler, 2016. Episode 36 was recorded between the 27th October and the 8th November 2016.
THE SHY LIFE PODCAST - 37: THE DAMEUS TWINKLEHORN SHOW
Here we are for episode THIRTY SEVEN - which is here by way of being an unscheduled intermission between our two Venice episodes. Episode 37 is all about Dameus Twinklehorn and is the pilot edition of his very own show - where, on this occasion he interviews Brenda Boo, Toppie Smellie and ThatPeterG - it all goes very well, at least to begin with!!! The regular cast offer their support and Mr Yeti also pads the show out by sharing some reflections on his appearance on LOTSL back in August and also re-plays his recent Halloween visit to Pickle Hollow via Episode 425 of The Smellcast, entitled Halloween Hootenanny 4. Next time we'll be back for Episode 38 of THE SHY LIFE PODCAST and this really will be Part 2 of our adventures over in Venice. Thank you to Toppie, Brenda and Peter for allowing me to use clips from their shows. Please email me at shyyeti@yahoo.co.uk if you have any comments - you can even send me a sound-file and I'll include it on the show. The music is by Shy Yeti and Luca, with sound-effects by Soundbible. This episode and all contents are Copyright Paul Chandler, 2016. Episode 37 was recorded on and off between the 12th August and the 30th November 2016.
All went well with our journey to Venice - there had been engineering works the day before and so just in case things weren't back to normal we left plenty of time for getting to the airport. We were travelling from Gatwick, but with time to buy cologne and have a nice brunch before our flight. Our only slight hitch was once we got off the water bus - we completely walked in the wrong direction once we reached Rialto Bridge. Anyway! We got there eventually and the hotel was really lovely - very comfortable and with a lift too! We were very grateful for that as our room was on the 4th floor. After checking in and unpacking we nipped out for dinner - trying a restaurant that I'd never been to before, not too far from Rialto Market. The food was nice - but there was some confusion as to when to bring the starters out and I ended up getting mine after Calum had finished his - and it was the same situation for the main course. I think it was something to do with the fact that Calum chose a starter and I chose a "first course" and they couldn't possibly be eaten at the same time! We didn't stick around for dessert as they seemed to lose interest in us after we'd eaten our pizzas; a bit of a shame as the service didn't do justice to the yummy food.
I never sleep terribly well in strange beds - especially not on the first night in a hotel, but I was raring to go by breakfast time as I was looking forward to what they had in store for us. Sure enough they did provide a delicious buffet breakfast - it was definitely a matter of deciding where to start and what I wanted to try first, without being too much of a greedy pig about it... Oh so tempting! After breakfast we spent most of the morning wandering around the streets - taking photos and recording for THE SHY LIFE PODCAST. I did have a destination in mind, even though it was hard to put into words or even FIND in any direct manner. Anyway, I did manage to revisit a number of favourite locations on the way and once I reached where I wanted us to be I was overjoyed to discover that one of my favourite ice cream shops was back open... (When I was there two years ago it suddenly closed without explanation mid-way through my visit!) We didn't really stop for lunch as we were still relatively full after breakfast - and there was also the (not so) small matter of the ice cream... So after we were done in that part of Venice, along the quayside, we headed for the Lido - as I wanted a second opinion from Calum as to whether I'd been visiting the right part of it on my two previous trips, back in 2014. We had a bit of a wander about and I recorded a few bits for the podcast - but we quickly confirmed that the Lido is pretty much dead outside of the summer season. Never mind! We had a drink and then headed back towards St Mark's Square to have an early dinner... (Actually that was the only time we passed through the Square this trip!) We ended up having a nice meal at one of my favourite restaurants in Venice - Rossopomodoro before returning back to the hotel for a nightcap and spot of reading and chilling out before bedtime.
Today was the first of our two day trips out of the city... We headed, by train to Padua - picking our way to the station via the windy streets of Venice; our hotel wasn't too far, but there is no direct route and we were also the wrong side of the canal... Still, any excuse to wander the windy (windy as in wiggly, not windy as in blowy and cold!) streets of Venice! Anyway! We got there eventually and were on the train to Padua almost immediately... I continued recording the podcast as we explored the town - recording some voices for Cromitty out in public; it was really a bit like recording Sutton Park back in the day. I don't have a lot to say about Padua itself, but it was nice to see one of the towns outside of Venice, having visited the area so many times in the past. Once back in Venice we walked towards The Rialto Bridge on the station side of the Grand Canal, we stopped for a drink and then had a burger in a Tex-Mex restaurant - picking up ice cream on our walk back to the hotel. I spent a little while recording on the 4th floor balcony for a bit and that was pretty much my day after a quick FaceTime with Toby... (Or was that Monday night? Hmm...)
You can read more about Padua at the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padua
I didn't sleep so well - I blame the American Elections for that! Nobody is ever going to sleep well again until that man is consigned to the dumpster (trumpster?) of history. Anyway...
Today was the second of our two day trips out of the city... We made our way to the station - pausing once again at my favourite spot where I recorded back on Monday. This was on our way to the trains - but we took a slow pace as there was a gap between services which meant that we couldn't travel until after midday. Treviso was quite a nice little town - we stopped for a drink and some gnocchi (Well, I did - Calum just had beer - we didn't really stop for a proper lunch as we were planning on eating in the evening!) We pottered about after this - I recorded more for the podcast and we ended up on the city/town walls which reminded me a little of the walls in York. To be honest we didn't stay too long as there wasn't a great deal to draw our attention and we don't really do museums or galleries unless the weather is really bad. Once back in Venice we went for a drink in a bar (which had a lot of different beers) near the hotel where Calum, Harry and I stayed back in 2010. We'd been to the same bar on that same visit - but it had been closed the last couple of times I'd been in town. We then went to eat pizza at a restaurant about five minutes from this bar - the food was nice enough, but the service was limited and some of the diners seemed to think that it was fine to play Youtube videos at full volume. (Note: It isn't!) In the end we asked for the dessert menu and the waiter brought the bill and so we took this as a sign to go down the road to eat ice cream instead. We concluded the evening with another nightcap and then I recorded some more bits for the podcast in my new recording studio, ie: the shower! (It was enormous - big enough for two - and a nice slight echo!)
You can read more about Treviso at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treviso
Today was the second of our two day trips out of the city... We made our way to the station - pausing once again at my favourite spot where I recorded back on Monday. This was on our way to the trains - but we took a slow pace as there was a gap between services which meant that we couldn't travel until after midday. Treviso was quite a nice little town - we stopped for a drink and some gnocchi (Well, I did - Calum just had beer - we didn't really stop for a proper lunch as we were planning on eating in the evening!) We pottered about after this - I recorded more for the podcast and we ended up on the city/town walls which reminded me a little of the walls in York. To be honest we didn't stay too long as there wasn't a great deal to draw our attention and we don't really do museums or galleries unless the weather is really bad. Once back in Venice we went for a drink in a bar (which had a lot of different beers) near the hotel where Calum, Harry and I stayed back in 2010. We'd been to the same bar on that same visit - but it had been closed the last couple of times I'd been in town. We then went to eat pizza at a restaurant about five minutes from this bar - the food was nice enough, but the service was limited and some of the diners seemed to think that it was fine to play Youtube videos at full volume. (Note: It isn't!) In the end we asked for the dessert menu and the waiter brought the bill and so we took this as a sign to go down the road to eat ice cream instead. We concluded the evening with another nightcap and then I recorded some more bits for the podcast in my new recording studio, ie: the shower! (It was enormous - big enough for two - and a nice slight echo!)
You can read more about Treviso at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treviso
Today was the last full day of the trip - not to mention my 43rd birthday! Yay! Happy birthday to me! Ahem...
I had well-laid plans for my birthday - although I cut part of my original itinerary when I decided that trying to go to one of the galleries would probably make for too much of a hectic day and also I feel it's a bit of a shame to spend the day inside when it's a lovely sunny autumn day outside. After a nice breakfast we headed for a cafe that I like on the quayside that faces Murano - where I was aiming for us to spend the main part of our day. We did a little grocery shopping - had a spot of gin in the cafe and then hopped on the boat. It doesn't take more than about 15 minutes to cross from Venice to Muruno and as I've been there a couple of times before, at least I know my way around... Part of me really wanted to explore some of the bits of Murano that I'd never seen before - but the stronger half just wanted to go sit by the quayside in the sun where I've recorded Youtube videos in the past. So this is what I did, although Calum and I did explore a little further on from where we had been sitting. Following this we sat and had a little drinky and then I had a quick look around the glass shops for a little bargain, which I found and paid for with my spare change! After this we left Murano as the sun was going down - getting a boat back to St Mark's and then along to the Academia Bridge. There were still so many places that I didn't get to visit on this trip - but that's why I always want to go back - I don't really care about seeing too many new places, I just want to make Venice a place that I feel at home in - like when I wander around London. You'll never completely know London, but you can play on its streets and find your own home there. I had hoped to find a restaurant near where we'd left the water boat - but we weren't having any luck and I drew us back towards The Rialto Bridge to a restaurant that we'd walked past on a number of other occasions. There were also plenty of waiters on duty, unlike some of the other restaurants that we had previously eaten in. I had a good birthday meal - which was nice, considering that our other meals have been a little mixed. We headed back to the hotel after this and I had a little chat with Toby and recorded some last bits for the podcast.
I had well-laid plans for my birthday - although I cut part of my original itinerary when I decided that trying to go to one of the galleries would probably make for too much of a hectic day and also I feel it's a bit of a shame to spend the day inside when it's a lovely sunny autumn day outside. After a nice breakfast we headed for a cafe that I like on the quayside that faces Murano - where I was aiming for us to spend the main part of our day. We did a little grocery shopping - had a spot of gin in the cafe and then hopped on the boat. It doesn't take more than about 15 minutes to cross from Venice to Muruno and as I've been there a couple of times before, at least I know my way around... Part of me really wanted to explore some of the bits of Murano that I'd never seen before - but the stronger half just wanted to go sit by the quayside in the sun where I've recorded Youtube videos in the past. So this is what I did, although Calum and I did explore a little further on from where we had been sitting. Following this we sat and had a little drinky and then I had a quick look around the glass shops for a little bargain, which I found and paid for with my spare change! After this we left Murano as the sun was going down - getting a boat back to St Mark's and then along to the Academia Bridge. There were still so many places that I didn't get to visit on this trip - but that's why I always want to go back - I don't really care about seeing too many new places, I just want to make Venice a place that I feel at home in - like when I wander around London. You'll never completely know London, but you can play on its streets and find your own home there. I had hoped to find a restaurant near where we'd left the water boat - but we weren't having any luck and I drew us back towards The Rialto Bridge to a restaurant that we'd walked past on a number of other occasions. There were also plenty of waiters on duty, unlike some of the other restaurants that we had previously eaten in. I had a good birthday meal - which was nice, considering that our other meals have been a little mixed. We headed back to the hotel after this and I had a little chat with Toby and recorded some last bits for the podcast.
Friday we were heading home - although it wasn't too much of a rush as we weren't flying until 4.30pm. There wasn't much point in doing anything before we left though and we stayed in the hotel until around midday. Once checked out we walked to a different vaporetto stop to get our boat back to the airport. This was the actual stop nearest to the hotel that I stayed in twice back in 2014 - which was only a stop away from our hotel from this trip. Anyway - the long and the short of it is that we got to the airport fine and had no real problems with our journey back, although as usual the UK trains suffered more delay than the aircraft did. I would like to go back - but probably not for 2-3 years. We'll see!! Clearly if I win the lottery then I'll be back a lot sooner...
Coming up next - some of my photos from the trip...
The photos above were mainly taken in one of my favourite parts of the city - as mentioned in my diary entry for Monday the 7th November. It's also an area where I recorded a number of poems for one of my Shy Yeti Youtube videos back in 2012. Here are a few more...
The photos above were mainly taken in one of my favourite parts of the city - as mentioned in my diary entry for Monday the 7th November. It's also an area where I recorded a number of poems for one of my Shy Yeti Youtube videos back in 2012. Here are a few more...
Anyway, more soon - take care!!
Yeti hugs,
Paul xx
P.S. Just a few last photos to share with you before I go...
P.S. Just a few last photos to share with you before I go...
This post and all contents and Copyright Paul Chandler, 2016.
