September 2, 2011
There’s a certain sense of style and panache in arriving by boat for your dinner, even if that is the only mode of transport available. For us terra firmers, a few days spent on boats is magical. Add to that a serendipitous city where there are no roads, no cars and there’ s only one place that comes to mind: Venice.
The Metropole hotel is located near the piazza San Marco and houses the only 2 star Michelin restaurant in Venice (and one of two Michelin restaurants). The first thing that strikes you about the dining room is its masculinity. It reminds one of gentlemans clubs, smoking rooms and the like, handsomely decked out in browns, tans and gold.
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September 2, 2011
Having been toasted in Tuscany and well-watered in Venice it was the cool climes of Germany and the Netherlands that embraced us. Driving from Dusseldorf to Amsterdam makes one feel like Don Quixote with his windmill chasing antics – apart from the new power producing windmills that dot the Dutch countryside, there are still a few functional farmhouse windmills still gracing the landscape. Even though we seemed to have attracted monsoon style torrential rain throughout, our drive was nothing short of beautiful – the never ending flatness of the Dutch plains, roadside orchards and the vast open green spaces.
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September 2, 2011
“Water, water everywhere
And all the boards did shrink,
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink”
…
.
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The ancient Mariner might have been stuck out at sea with a malevolent spirit, but in Venice, in spite of the dominance of the Adriatic sea there are many a watering hole for the parched traveller. You’d be forgiven for using every word in the thesaurus for beautiful, charming and the like to describe Venice as it’s only when you get here that you realise that everything people say about this magical city is true (I know I said that about Florence, but it’s true!). Aside from its romanticism, charm and arresting beauty, Venice is placid. Venice is peaceful. Venice is a city that should be on everyone’s itinerary at some point in their life. And lest we forget, this is the very city where Shylock protested for his pound of flesh on the Rialto!
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There’s a certain sense of style and panache in arriving by boat for your dinner, even if that is the only mode of transport available. For us terra firmers, a few days spent on boats is magical. Add to that a serendipitous city where there are no roads, no cars and there’ s only one place that comes to mind: Venice.
