Venerable Venezia

Lee-Ann’s sister Biddy left today after spending 10 days with us. Last weekend we all headed off together for wonderful weekend in Venice. We arrived on Friday morning to find the city under a mysterious mist. As the sun broke through, we were amazed at the beautiful old palaces lining the Grand Canal and the smaller canals weaving their way through this unique city. Murano, the island famous for glasswork, was a highlight. This ‘mini Venice’ was full of tiny shops displaying amazingly creative glassworks and masks. As per usual, the fruit and veg. market in Rialto was a highlight for Lee-Ann: grapes the size of plums, plump artichokes stacked into wooden crates and bright citrus. The Grand Canal is central to life in Venice, with the candy-striped wooden poles used to moor gondolas and wooden water taxis. The arched bridges, doorways and windows soften the angular square structures of the buildings and the water laps against the doors leaving strips of seaweed at the base of entrances. The highlight for the boys (and adults) was the “awesome gondola ride”. Our gondolier was a very expressive chap who navigated his way through the canals, ducking under bridges and steering us past the other water traffic with great skill - while also serving as tour guide. We found the city very peaceful as the water has a lulling effect on everyone and the pace of life adjusts to the lack of cars and rush. The Bradjolina circus was also in town, but fortunately our paths never crossed. As with all adventures, one can’t escape the odd challenge or two: Mike’s VISA card was ‘swallowed’ by an ATM at San Marco on Saturday afternoon! Problem solved quickly by Visa (in the US), but after a week we’re still waiting for our NAB ‘personal banker’ (!) to respond to any one of the three e-mails we’ve sent!