Venice...that's amore!

Well, I don't know where to start...I kept a journal while we were away and I'll type up an essay when I come home to tell the story of our five days in Venice. For now I've included photos typical of what we saw every day and a brief note of the memories we have.

Friday and Saturday night we spent at Lido di Venezia, home of the Venice Film Festival. Friday night we attended the presentation for 3D movie of the year plus a screening of Joe Dante's (remember Gremlins?) 3D movie "The Hole". The presentation was at the Sala Grande and I was worried we were going to have to follow in George Clooney's footsteps across the red carpet - I was seriously underdressed!! As it turned out, the public don't enter via the red carpet but file into the complex behind what I would call modesty screens which hide you from the paparazzi - I might just have missed my one minute of fame!

Saturday night, again caught the vaporetto waterbus to Lido to see the public screening of the winner of the Golden Lion for best film - Lebanon. The entire movie is filmed inside an armed tank and through the crosshairs of the tank gun sights on the first day of the Lebanon war. The return boat trip from Lido to San Marco was a real soother.

During the days we just wandered around taking in the sights. Everything was a surprise. Narrow cobbled streets between tall, crumbling walls; tiny iron bridges and grand stone bridges like the Rialto and Accademia; words like calle, sestiere, sotoportego (my favourite), corto, campo, osteria, ristorante, gelateria, trattoria; the gondolas and their gondoliers; the traghettos which are gondolas used for public transport from one side of the canal to the other; the public transport vaporettos that ferry passengers from stop to stop along set routes; the tiny hole-in-the-wall shops (strictly cash, and no sale if you haven't got close to the right money!).

The coffee was fantastic; Brent thought he'd gone to pizza heaven; caffe coppe - vanilla ice cream doused in a shot of espresso; limone gelati with seltzer - like a lemonade spider; paninis, paninos and pasta; marmaletto croissants (croissants filled with marmalade); chianti and prosecco. At our local osteria, Al Bacareto, when you receive the bill you also receive a tiny dark chocolate cup filled with liqueur. You pop the whole thing in your mouth and as you bite through the chocolate it mixes with the liqueur and mmmmm.....

Sunday we visited the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (20th century art) and the Gallerie dell'Accademia (history of Venetian art back to the 14th century). Both fabulous. In the evening we walked through Dorsoduro sestiere to visit the chiesa (church) of Sant Angelo Raffaele which was important in the book "Miss Garnet's Angel".

Monday we set out to visit Giardini Pubblici, one of two exhibition sites for the Biennale Internazionale D'Arte. Not only was Giardini closed on Mondays - that was all right because the second site at Arsenale was open and within walking distance - but we were lucky enough to experience Venice's surprise thunderstorms! After huddling in a doorway for almost an hour, with no sign of abating thunder, lightning and rain, we decided that the Biennale would go on without us and made a dash for the vaporetto and home to dry out. I was disappointed, but also thrilled to be able to go back to the apartment and watch the canal life go on despite the weather. I can only imagine what it must be like in winter.

I did notice how difficult it is for the elderly and the disabled to get around in Venice. Not only do you have to contend with boats as the only form of transport, often standing room only, but the vaporetto stations are also floating platforms, so even when you get off the boat you have to negotiate rocking walkways to land.

Tuesday, our last day, the weather had cleared up. We had breakfast at Al Bacareto (warmed apple pastries and espresso), packed and headed to Sant Angelo vaporetto stop for the trip to the airport.

Venice is an incredible city and we feel fortunate to have experienced it. I hope we get the chance to return.