Travelling: Pictures from Venice

So I went to Venice, Italy for the very first time the week before Easter. And it was an amazing trip. What a fantastic city! It's unlike any other town I've ever been to before and it's JUST like in pictures and in the movies. Allow me to show you:

The beauty that is the Grande Canal that goes straight through the city. Our hotel was right by this canal, next to the Rialto bridge.

 Our daily pre-lunch drink at Piazza San Marco in the sunshine - an Aperol Spritz for my mother and a Rossini (crushed strawberries and Prosecco) for me.

 Piazzetta San Marco with the Doge's palace to the left and... apparently a selfie of my finger. Who recognizes this spot from "Casanova"..!?

Even the Italian pigeons eat pizza for lunch!

View to the laguna outside of Venice.

I had  fruit salad for dessert one evening, Surprisingly enough I didn't feel as healthy as I expected...

And the view from the entrance of our hotel.

In conclusion: If you get a chance to go there, DO! It's a winner! :o))))

Pretty new things

So I went to Venice, Italy the week before Easter and came back with Murano. Completely unintentional.

To clarify, Murano is a small island just outside of Venice and there is a glassworks there. http://www.muranonet.com/
They do make the most devine things, everything from chandeliers and mirrors to drinking glasses. We went there on a tour, fully intent on just looking and not buying. Only problem was that our guide didn't let us go. He was right on our tails into the very gift shop and we felt so unconfortable that we ended up buying a few things. Pitiful, huh? Talk about buying yourself out of problems!

The result was these two things here, a glass frame and a small dish. Not quite sure what to do with the latter, but the colours are amazing, it shifts from blue to purple dependng on the light. In the meantime, it sits on the shelf above my TV, looking pretty.
I'm putting a picture of my cat in the frame (as you may or may not know, his name is Murano as well, so that fits) - the kitten in the picture now came with the frame.

So you'd think I'd spend enough money for quite a while, but nope - not so! Right after I got home, I went to IKEA. Result is that the decor on my living room cabinet looks just the way I want it now, so happy days! (Cabinet still to be painted as previously mentioned.)

And the decor in daylight.
Picture frames IKEA
Fake flowers IKEA
Vase IKEA (originally glass, but I've painted it white to make it shabby chic)
Heart-shaped tray and tea candle holders Nille
White and pink candles IKEA
Scented candle Voluspa (Finnish brand think - It was a Christmas gift)

Inspiration - Favourite interior shop: Gavehuset

Whenever I am at one of my local malls, there is one shop I always must pop by, namely Gavehuset (House of Gifts). They have the most lush selection of candles, lamps, napkins, picture frames and glass.

I will confess their stuff is rather expensive, but I always drop by for inspiration at the very least.

I even find myself drooling at things I absolutely don't need!

They've got a massive selection of Yankee Candles. Look at that small piece of heaven!

One of the things I really am aiming on buying in hopefully the near future is a table lamp likethis with an acryllic/crystal foot. But as you might have guessed. they're really expensive. I have browsed about a bit and several lamps stores have similar ones, but there are no cheap ones. The tallest one in this pic (Brand Casa Nova) is NOK 3,000.....!

All pictures taken from Gavehuset's Facebook page,