Venice, Italy

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Monday 13th July 2009 Venice

Today is our free day in Venice - hooray!!! This is one of the places on my list that I am really looking forward to!! I wakeup at 7 and can hear the planes flying overhead as our camp ground is near the airport. This camping ground is part of the nationwide chain that we have stayed in at all our stops in Italy. At 7.30 Joy knocks on my door and we all get ready thinking that breakfast is at 8 but we find out it’s been changed to 8.30 so we all troop over to the internet facilities. I try ringing home but they hang up on me ☺ not intentionally of course…. Lol….

At nine we load up on the shuttle bus that is provided by the camping ground which takes us into Venice which is really close and we walk through the streets and over little bridges until we get to St Marks Square - this is about a 30 minute walk. It’s so great that the lanes and paths are all pedestrians - no vehicles in this area at all. In the square there is a large stage with seating all set up and barricaded off for an upcoming performance of some kind.

The location for the lace making demonstration is pointed out for us to meet at 12.30pm and we then go around the corner for our gondola ride!!! ☺ Nice and relaxing and we get to see the Rialto Bridge from the water, unbelievably one of the girls in the gondola ahead of us is sick!!! I have to say you have to spend the time in the boats looking up - the water is absolutely foul and you really don’t want to see what is IN the water, touch it or smell it - after all it IS the septic system for Venice as well - GROSS!!!!

I take some photos of the Basilica but there is a queue to enter and I make an executive decision!!! No sightseeing for me today - it’s all about the SHOPPING!!!!! I go nuts!! I found a venetian mask - there are some really beautiful ones out there but they are really expensive and gosh how the hell am I meant to get it back home assuming it survives the rest of the tour on the bus!!??? But I buy a small red ceramic one which is apparently called Samira and is representative of wind and sun…. and I got myself a couple of necklaces with Murano Glass Hearts in different colours which are just beautiful!!!

Had a really great day wandering the little alleyways and getting lost, didn’t run into many other people except running in Jacinta about 4 times!!! Jacinta bought some really fabulous stuff which I would have loved to have found as well…

I missed the lacemaking demo but not upset about that, finally managed to find my way out of the city - Brooke recommended allowing an hour to do this as it really is difficult to navigate and she wasn’t wrong!! I get back about 4.30pm and use the internet to update my blog about Dubrovnik!!! On the way back to the shuttle bus stop ( it leaves every hour I think on the half hour?) I meet Jacinta again and we look at some of the shops on the way back - we see this mask that looks exactly like one our tour mates Charlie. The shop owner allows us to take a photo to show everyone!! Hilarious!!! You are not allowed to take photos with the masks on or of the masks in most places 😞 there are some serious FANTASTIC masks out there though!!!

There is a few of us at the internet back at the camping ground so we all find each other on facebook!!! Had dinner at 7.30pm and then it’s time to repack, do more washing and have a glass of wine thanks to Joy who bought the cheapest wine in the supermarket (red) which was FABULOUS!!! (I hope you were sitting down reading that Uncle Don!!)… A fabulous way to end a fabulous day.

Absolutely loved Venice!!!

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