A short break to Venice (Feb 2008)

We have developed a habit of taking each other away on city breaks for our birthdays.  So it was Stockholm in October, and Venice in February!  

We took the boat from the airport directly to our hotel in Cannaregio, the northernmost part of Venice - about as far away from the Piazza San Marco as you can get within Venice and all the better for it.  In this area we ate and shopped with the locals - few tourists come this way, especially in February.   

Hanging washing strung between buildings is such a common sight in Venice, and quite charming.

Incredible ice cream 'towers'!

Building ornamentation spotted on the Grand Canal
A fully laden traghetto ferrying people from one side of the Grand Canal to the other
The Basilica di San Marco
Good food and wine with a pleasant lagoon view
Dusk on the Grand Canal

The plateau, part 1 - bathroom (Oct 2007 - Feb 2008)

Once again, this blog has been quiet for a long time!  We really have been working hard on the house; it's just that there doesn't seem to be much to show for it!  Hence the term 'plateau'.  It's been a frustrating period because it hasn't always felt like we were making progress, and the list of tasks continues to feel like it is endless.  But finally the flat is starting to feel a bit more liveable again.  We've spent the last 5 months putting some more work into the bathroom, building/finishing walls and ceilings, and George has re-wired the whole house, installing new lights and plug sockets in every room (all certified by a professional electrician just in case you were worried!).

Part 1 - bathroom

A new hole in the external brickwork, for the extractor fan.

Installing the new wall at the end of the bath was the first step towards our new shower.

Tiling around the bath turned out to be a little trickier than we thought, and our new walls weren't quite as straight as they should have been.

At last, a new shower! After 3 months with only the bath, it was such bliss to be able to stand under hot running water!  

It's nice to have a bathroom mirror as well, and tiles behind the basin.

Our patchwork ceiling!