Venice Film Festival

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Have arrived in Italy after leaving Asia behind. The change is, needless to say, extraordinary. It's been strange to come from Laos, where there are signs of poverty in your face on a daily basis and everything is so underdeveloped, to then be in Italy - and in the north where many people are quite affluent.
Venice is still as spectacular as I remember it. We went to the film festival last week and saw The Terminal. I also saw Steven Speielberg in the flesh and got a glimpse of Tom Hanks. I was surprised the crowd was so small - but then, you had to be lucky to see anything because the press were plonked down right in front of the viewing area and there was no real consideration for people who wanted to watch the stars arrive on the red carpet - nevertheless; it was all a bit of a buzz.
Sunday was the regatta: boat races down the grand canal. Again, alot of people but a magnificent day: clear, not too hot, lots of atmosphere from the crowd and the colours.
Really loving it here. So much to see and do and the food...!!!! The gelati!!!!
Start work on Monday so that'll get me into more of a routine and into the everyday stuff that work entails.
Ciao!!

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