Beer Moose

  Join me for a second day in Venice and the last day of Italia 24. With more to see, experience and discover we didn’t waste anytime in getting started.  Coffee is always the best way to start a day. Italy has a reputation for serving amazing coffee, but I’m not convinced. I wouldn’t say I’ve had any outstanding coffee on any of my visits to the boot shaped country. The coffee above was fine but not amazing, the toasty was good though!  We took a water taxi to Murano island, which was stunning. The weather was boiling, which was perfect to go on a tour of the glass furnace. The tour and glass blowing show lasted around fifteen minutes. There were signs everywhere saying no smoking, which the guy doing the glass blowing clearly hadn’t seen as he managed just three cigarettes during the show! He also didn’t bother wearing gloves or any PPE. I guess Italian T-shirts and jeans are fire proof?  At the end you get to look in a shop selling products made here, which was en...

  Venice is a city I always wanted to visit. I knew it wasn’t going to be a top beer destination, but was excited to see the sights and eat some good food. Here’s what me and some friends got up to! We stayed fairly centrally at a hotel run but who I can only describe as a local character klaxon, that’s not a compliment. Anyway, we walked to St Mark’s Square:  We visited Doge’s Palace, which was pretty but I don’t think it’s worth the entry fee. It does have one of the biggest rooms in Europe, allegedly. There was one bit with a sign saying please don’t stop in the corridor to take photos, however I accidentally ignored it. We then climbed (went in the lift) to the top of St Mark’s Campanile. The views were great! It was then time for a beer, so we headed here:  The beer was a bit average, but at least I got to try some localish beers. With the light fading we went to see Rialto Bridge. More on that later, but first food! The carbonara was tasty! As was the beer, I wasn’t...

  After a great day at Mirabilandia, it was time to mop up some plus ones. If you’re bored of seeing photos of tiny coasters then fear not, you’ll also get to see the worst pint of Guinness ever and an amusing pig statue. Let’s get started!  First up was this monster:  Followed by:  This was sparking quite a lot, which added the fun! Next up was: And then this: Oh look something different! Then we rode something half decent… But that’s enough of half decent stuff, back to the sh*t.  With the plus ones done, we headed for a beer!  The Helles was actually ok. Check this out though… It was very cheap, thank goodness, and when they brought it out we all just laughed.  The next morning we visited a proper park, Fiabilandia.  It is a bit prettier on the inside!  Weirdly, we started with a boat ride.  Then it was cred time! Red Mountain (746): Next we rode the highlight of this park, Valle degli Gnomi (747). This is the first apple coaster and ...