Venice When It Floods...

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Good morning world,

As promised here is all the news from my trip to Venice last weekend. Before we went we were worried because of all the flooding from the previous weekend and I was debating whether or not to pack a wet suit. Luckily though it was all sorted out before we arrived, although they had left out the flood boards just incase the rain struck again (see photo). We did a lot of walking over the course of the weekend (bloody bridges and steps every two minutes), but it was nice to see a different area of Venice to where I had been previously.

On the Saturday we went to the Museo di Storia Naturale (Natural History Museum for any simpletons out there), which was interesting. What was quite freaky though was that they had arranged the animals with other dead animals in their mouths, just to really bring the experience to life. After that we had some streetza (that's street pizza) whilst sitting on the riverbank watching the Gondolas go by. Then it was time to hit the shops! I can officially say I completed all my Xmas shopping in just over a hour (oh yeah I know how it's done).

Unfortunately Matt got Man Flu on Saturday night, so Sunday we went for a slow walk down to see the San Marco's Basilica and Doge's Palace in Piazza San Marco. Also had a little stroll along the canals to (unintentionally) find the Bridge of Sighs. The story behind this bridge (according to Wikipedia, and we all know how reliable that is), is that it was built in 1602 by Antonio da Ponte and connects the new prison to the interrogation rooms in Doge's Palace. The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge was given this name by Lord Byron in the 19th Century, to suggest that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. However in reality, the days of inquisitions and executions were over by the time the bridge was built and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals. In addition, little could be seen from inside the Bridge due to the stone grills covering the windows. A local legend says that lovers will be granted eternal love and bliss if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the Bridge Of Sighs (awww).

On Monday I heading back to Feltre, what should have been a relatively easy 2 hour journey however, slowly turned into a nightmare as I missed my connection because the guy who worked at the station wouldn't tell me what train I needed to take, thank God my taxes pay for this fantastic service (ok, so I don't actually pay any taxes over here, but that's not really the point)!! This resulted in having to wait another hour for the next train! Grrrrr...

Apart from Matt getting ill, I had a nice time in Venice. Was a bit smelly though, but I think that was because of the floods, as I went in August last time and it was fine. There's not loads to see there but nice to go somewhere different if you don't mind having a slow stroll about, because half the fun is in getting lost in the hundreds of narrow streets, just like one giant maze of twists and turns and you never know where you'll end up. Now to start planning the next trip to Florence!

In other news I went to see Pippo's school concert last night, the person who shouted out 'encore' needs to be shot! If this is what you are regularly expected to sit through as a parent, then I'm in no hurry to have kids, actually painful! Pippo was good though, he played the electric guitar very well, definately a rock star in the making! We also put up the tree and decorated it yesterday, so it's begininning to look a lot like Christmas now! Woop! Only 3 1/2 weeks till I'm back in London...

More next week!

Stay warm it's a rough tough world out there.

Soph

XxX

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