Wet wet wet

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Dear Max and Dominic,

Have you heard about the city of Venice? In the middle of a shallow part of the sea on the coast of Italy a few muddy islands rise out of the water, and for 1300 years or so people have been living on them - not in shacks and baches but in palaces and huge buildings made out of heavy stone. Can you imagine what has been happening with all that weight on the mud in the middle of the sea? You're right - the city is slowly sinking into the water. When it's high tide the city can flood badly. Some of the people have abandoned their ground floor rooms and just live on the upper stories of their houses because the sea is slowly winning.

We wanted to see Venice but the first day we were going there, the flooding was so bad that you couldn't walk around anywhere in Venice without very tall gumboots or standing on raised platforms above the water! So we got off the train early in a town called Padua and had a look there instead. It's a lovely city. I've included a photo of St Anthony's church in Padua. It looks a bit like a gigantic cake covered in icing I reckon. (Don't ask me what Anthony's jaw bone, tongue and vocal chords looked like - they are preserved inside crystal cases inside.)

Yesterday we finally made it to Venice, at low tide of course! See how the main street is actually water. Even most of the side streets are water. You can walk around some parts, but other parts you have to go by boat. It really is an extraordinary place.

The people that lived here were very very rich at one stage. The main cathedral has golden tiles everywhere, and up at the altar, a huge golden picture covered in jewels and precious stones. Look at the photo of just a small part of it. Amazing - and 900 years old too! I've never seen so many precious stones in one place (15 rubies, 300 emeralds, 1500 pearls as well as sapphires, amethysts, and topaz). But even there, the floor is really uneven and lumpy because the church is sinking slowly beneath the waves.

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Comments

[Christine]

Informative and enjoyable
Hi Matthew I really do enjoy reading your blog. Really inspiring and making me want to come back over! We are all looking forward to seeing you and Jus back home in a few weeks time. Take care Christine