A colourful day trip to Burano

I love visiting new places, and even though I had been to Italy once before my recent trip, I had never been to any of the islands around Venice.  The perfect day trip from Venice is Burano, which is only around an hour by ferry.  This colourful fishing village would be a dream for any photographer with its brightly-painted houses, cute flowerpots sitting on window sills, and lines of laundry blowing in the wind.  Burano has picturesque wooden bridges and sunny canals which make it the ideal place to stroll around.  The island is famous for lace, which you can find while window shopping in the small souvenir shops that line the canals.

There are a number of restaurants to choose from, especially of the seafood kind.  We visited a family-run restaurant called Da Primo.  We ate at a table outdoors, perfect for people watching.  The service was excellent and we all enjoyed our food.  With most of the items on the menu being seafood, I was able to get a simple pasta with oil and garlic.  It was so fresh and delicious!  For dessert I couldn't resist getting tiramisu after seeing other people eating it around me.  I was not disappointed!

If you're looking to get away from Venice and see something new, I would highly recommend taking the boat over to Burano for a day.  We loved it so much we didn't want to leave!

Venice - The Floating City

It's been a long time ago, but at the end of March I got the chance to visit the beautiful city of Venice again.  The last time I visited was in 2005, and this time around I was still enchanted by the city built on water.  It seemed like everywhere I turned there was another photo-worthy view of a bridge crossing over the narrow canals, a delicious panino in a store window, gelato piled up in small mountains encased in glass counters.  Venice is such a unique place that you can't really compare it to anywhere else in the world.  Sure, I've been to cities like Amsterdam, Bruges, and St. Petersburg which are full of stunning bridges and canals too, but Venice has a certain charm and buzz that can't be found anywhere else.

We visited Venice during the Easter weekend, which meant lots of tourists and "traffic" on the narrow streets and bridges all over the city.  We stayed at a lovely apartment in the Cannaregio district of Venice which was a bit of a walk to St. Mark's Square.  Sometimes it was difficult to navigate our way back from the square due to the winding roads and getting distracted by cute souvenir shops and tasty snacks (thank you, Google Maps for saving us), but Venice is the kind of city I didn't mind getting lost in.

During our stay in Venice we did the compulsory touristy gondola ride, but despite the 80 Euro price tag it's worth it to view the city from the water and experience floating down the Grand Canal, watching all the people indulging at the cafes and tourists clicking photos from bridges above us.

In Venice it is also essential to visit St. Mark's Square, the bustling "Piazza San Marco" in Italian, which is one of the best places for people-watching.  This time around we went up St. Mark's Campanile - the huge bell tower in the middle of the square.  It was well worth waiting in line, and we didn't even need to climb any stairs, as an elevator took us to the top for an amazing view over the city.

In Venice I also discovered one of my new favourite drinks, the "Aperol spritz," an orange-coloured drink usually served with an olive here, which you can find people drinking everywhere in the city.  John preferred the "Campari spritz" which tasted more bitter... I wasn't a fan!  I could spend hours sitting at a cafe drinking spritz and eating pizza, just watching people pass me by.

I've heard a lot of people criticize Venice, saying it smells and is a tourist trap (similar to things I've heard about my favourite city - Paris).  However, tourists go here for a reason.  It's not just about canals and gondola rides!  This city has a quaint charm and many outlying islands to explore.  I liked Venice more the second time I visited and am happy I got the chance to spend more time getting lost in this classic Italian city.

The Maldives... Island Paradise!

Having a long weekend from work, John and I decided to take advantage and book a last-minute trip to the Maldives.  This island nation located just off the coast of India in the Indian Ocean is made up of 1190 coral islands, spread over 90,000 square kilometres.  It has a reputation of being an expensive place, and expensive it definitely was... but it is truly amazing!

We flew on Sri Lankan Airlines to Colombo, Sri Lanka from Dubai overnight, which was under 5 hours.  I had no expectations, but Sri Lankan Airlines were great!  The plane was huge, with a great entertainment system and tasty food which you could order off a menu.  I was pleasantly surprised!  We had to wait a few hours in Colombo before boarding our flight to Male, the capital of the Maldives.  Upon arrival at the small airport there, we got free visas on arrival and were greeted by a guy with a sign for our resort who ushered us onto a bus to take a short ride to the resort's private lounge, where we waited for our seaplane transfer.

Since our resort was around 100 miles away from the airport in Male, a 40-minute seaplane ride was necessary.  This was the first time we'd ever been in a seaplane.  They are quite small and only fit around 20 people I think.  The planes take off and land on water, and fly quite low (and only in good weather).  You have amazing views of the turquoise blue water and atolls (ring-shaped coral islands) of the Maldives below.  I actually hate flying but I wish I could travel everywhere by seaplane, it was so cool!

Upon arrival at Kuredu Island Resort, we were greeted with a refreshing iced tea and taken to our beach bungalow.  Kuredu didn't have that exclusive, glamorous feel that many other resorts in the Maldives seem to have.  It was pretty chill but still beautiful.  We loved it!  The staff were great and the island was gorgeous.  The white sand beaches were perfect and the water had the most amazing shades of blue.

The beach bungalow we stayed in had an outdoor bathroom (the ceiling is open but there's a wall).  I liked it but I don't think it would be for everyone.  I definitely saw some lizards scamper away when I opened the door to go in sometimes!  Our bungalow had some deck chairs which were perfect for relaxing on, and we were located directly on the beach.  There were also other options for accommodation on the island (garden bungalow, beach villa, over water villa).  I thought the bungalow was perfect for us!  The best thing was stepping outside onto the beach every day and seeing those spectacular views.

On our side of the island there were signs "beware of stingrays," and we definitely saw a bunch in the shallow water near the beach on our first night, along with baby sharks which swam right up to the shore.  We didn't swim on that side of the island after that!

The other side of Kuredu Island was perfect for swimming though.  The water was so clean and clear.  John has been diving in several locations around Asia and said this was the best visibility in the water that he's ever experienced.  Kuredu has a "house reef" where we saw lots of colourful fish, some sharks, a shipwreck nearby, and even a HUGE sea turtle.

One of the best things we did was book a tour to go snorkelling with manta rays.  Manta rays are very large and a bit creepy looking, but don't pose a threat to humans like stingrays do.  The boat captain took us to the middle of nowhere and told us to jump off the boat and just wait.  Sure enough, the mantas came over to us and started swimming around.  They would swim right by us, and sometimes under us.  It was such a cool experience and I was thankful to have the GoPro camera with us to get some good pics.

Besides snorkelling trips, Kuredu Island offers many other activities.  Every night some sort of entertainment program was on.  John even took part in "pool chipping" contest one night at the pool.  The island has a 6-hole golf course (each hole is only about 50 yards).  We tried it out and it was a lot of fun, my kind of golf course.  No shoes were even required!  Actually shoes are optional all over the island.  I think I took my shoes off the first day and didn't put them back on until it was time to leave!

We got the "all inclusive plus" package from the resort, which included food and drinks.  All the food was buffet style and pretty tasty.  Also included in our package was a sunset cruise.  We didn't expect much on the cruise but were surprised to see dolphins jumping along the boat and flipping into the water!  It was hard to get a good photo of the dolphins, but I was able to get some good pics of the sunset.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend Kuredu to other travellers.  I'd love to go again, but the Maldives is quite expensive.  We have some friends who did a "live aboard" on a diving ship in the Maldives which cuts down on some of the costs, but if you're prone to motion sickness like me and looking for a relaxing beach holiday I'd recommend staying on one of the islands.  Some of the islands are inhabited by locals and offer much cheaper accommodation.  However, the Maldives is a Muslim country and wearing tank tops, shorts, and bathing suits is frowned upon on these local islands, although I've heard each island has a designated "bikini beach."  If you want to experience total relaxation and freedom to wear whatever you like and eat/drink whatever you like, going to a private resort is the way to go... but be prepared to pay for it.

Kuredu was so beautiful, I was sad to leave!  We've been home for nearly two weeks and I'm still obsessed with the Maldives.  I hope to visit again some day!!!

Winter in Prague

After spending Christmas in Paris, it was time for us to go back to Prague.  This city is truly magical, but even more so in the winter.  The Christmas market in the Old Town Square is the best one I've been to in Europe.  You can't beat the atmosphere!  The food is delicious, the street performers are great, there's a petting zoo with cute animals, a huge Christmas tree, and the surrounding historic buildings of the square are beautiful.

This time around we went to some new places.  One that was recommended to us was called U Fleku - a traditional Czech pub.  It was great!  You eat at tables right next to other guests and a man goes around and plays the accordion.  The main draw is the meat dishes and beer of course.  I ordered a traditional Czech meal which was beef with cranberry sauce, lemon, and cream, served with bread dumplings.  This place is popular so if you get in right away you're lucky!  We also went to another pub called U Medvidku which was even more popular with a very long line, but the service was very disappointing and I don't think I'd return there again.  Our friends that visited before said it was worse than the last time they visited!

We also hit up my favourite restaurant Mlejnice which has cheap, delicious Czech food in a cozy setting, and the famous and very old Cafe Louvre for brunch.  The only problem with Czech food is that it's very rich!  You have to walk around a lot to burn all the calories you're eating.

No trip to Prague would be complete without a visit to the Charles Bridge, where we got engaged several years ago.  This year it seemed that Prague was extra busy, and the bridge along with the Christmas market were packed.  I don't remember our last Christmas visits to Prague being so heavily crowded... I guess everyone has realized that this city is the place to be during the Christmas season!

From the Charles Bridge, we returned to some great places like the John Lennon wall (one of my faves, it's so colourful!) and took a hike up to Strahov Monastery for some great views of the city and to check out the opulent monastery library again.  This time we stopped at a small pub next to the monastery to try some blueberry beer which was brewed there.  It was pretty good!

Something else we did that was new for John and I was attend a hockey game in Prague.  We went to O2 Arena by metro to catch a game - HC Sparta Praha vs. another local team called Mountfield Praha.  Tickets were very cheap, less than $10 I think, and it was a lot of fun!  The fans were actually really intense and always cheering and singing songs.  The Spartans won to the crowd's excitement!

Before leaving Prague we went to St. Jilji Church where we got married in 2014.  What a beautiful place!  I know that we'll be back yet again some day... :)

Paris... je t'aime!

After my third visit to Paris I'm still not satisfied.  This city just keeps me wanting to go back.  It's my favourite city, even more than Prague I think.  Prague is so beautiful and a great destination, but I find that Paris has so much more to see.  You could spend days upon days there and still just have scratched the surface.  Some people don't like Paris, complaining that it's too dirty or expensive, but to me it's a beautiful place that still intrigues me.  There are so many diverse neighbourhoods of the city and so many brilliant museums, cathedrals, and tourist attractions.  Yes, it can be expensive, but if you look hard enough you can find reasonable options for food and accommodations.

This time around we stayed in the Latin Quarter near Place Saint-Michel and Notre Dame, which is a touristy area but is also known for being home to many university students.  I really liked this area of the city, as we were within close walking distance to many restaurants and also to the Seine river which we loved walking along.  The weather in Paris was quite mild when we were there.  It felt more like fall weather than winter time.  Due to the lovely weather, we walked almost everywhere.  We could have easily hopped on a metro, but with all the rich foods we were eating on the trip, it was great exercise to walk around, and a nicer way to see the city.

One place that I've been meaning to visit was le Musée d'Orsay, a beautiful art museum which used to be a train station.  It's much smaller than the Louvre, but you can easily spend all day there.  My favourite thing there was the Impressionist paintings.  I got to see some of my favourite Monet paintings in person.  There were also a number of sculptures that we enjoyed by a French sculptor named Pompon.  The biggest one he had was a huge polar bear, entitled "L'ours blanc."  The museum has a beautiful view of the Seine and Montmartre in the distance, where many of the Impressionist painters lived.

One of our favourite things we've ever done in Paris was to go up l'Arc de Triomphe to see an amazing view of Paris.  We didn't go up there this time around, but we did visit l'Avenue des Champs-Élysées and the Christmas market there.  It was huge, but it didn't have the traditional Christmas feel like other Christmas markets in Europe have.  There was also a Christmas market right near the Eiffel Tower.  My favourite Christmas market is still the one in Prague, but Budapest impressed me a lot as well.  Maybe some of the lack of Christmas spirit stemmed from the recent tragedy in Paris.  After the bombings, security was on high alert.  We saw lots of police around the city, and at many tourist sites there were bag checks and police dogs.  At the airport we saw guards with huge guns, and I felt a bit nervous to be travelling there so soon after the bombings, but I admire the people of Paris for being so resilient and having the courage to move on and say that they are not afraid to live their lives.

On Christmas day we went to Montmartre for a Christmas mass in the morning.  The last time we visited Paris, we stayed in the Montmartre area.  I love that part of the city even though it's a bit far from the main attractions and requires public transportation to get there.  I love wandering around the streets there!  The view on Christmas morning of the city quiet below us was beautiful.

Another new place we visited in Paris on this trip was les Jardins du Luxembourg.  This places was very close to our hotel.  We visited the park on a sunny day and enjoyed watching the birds and people while sitting on the chairs near the pond there.  If I lived in Paris I'd go to that park all the time!

We also visited la Sainte-Chapelle which was a beautiful chapel close to Notre Dame.  It is famous for its stained glass windows.  People often try to time their visits perfectly so that they can get the sunlight shining through the windows at the right time.  We visited on a day with some sun and it was a beautiful place.

Over the two previous visits I've made to Paris, I've gotten photos of the Eiffel Tower from a range of viewpoints.  This time we went to Trocadero to get a new view, and it was pretty spectacular.  There was a huge crowd of protesters and a bunch of construction going on at the time we were there, but it didn't stop us from enjoying our time and getting some lovely pics.  I'll never forget the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower... it will stay with me forever!  Views of la tour Eiffel never get old for me. 

Even after three visits I still feel there is so much more to see of Paris.  I feel a bit of sadness looking back on this trip, as I still wish I could be there!  Until next time...