To Venezia 30th May

To Venezia 30th May

 

As is usual we rise to a breakfast the magnitude of which we would never consider on those hum drum days at home - here consideration of the effects of food and drink on the volume of the human presence are left to another day.

 

The Villa Iris bids us farewell and we head for a parking pasture where our Eurocar steed will rest and recuperate while we annoy the Vaporetto of Venice - a few wrong turns - in defence of Tommy perhaps more the driver than electronic navigator - we reach one of those commercial parking lots that feed off the greed of commercially operated airports - the steed is put to pasture and we are shuttled through the airporto environs to the Allilaguna ferry terminal for the ride into Venice .

 

 

The initial impression is of a tired, untidy and soiled waterway.

 

 

 

 

 

Gradually as the main island is approached the waterway becomes similtaneously busier and cleaner while the visage becomes that of the postcard.

 

 

 

We stay aboard past ferry stages at places with famous names like Murano, Lido and St Marco - we alight at Zatterre on a very hot, sun shiny day - Venice promises to be what Venice has always promised to be!

 

500 meters to the Antica Locanda Montin - a diversion - no room for both stone masons and pedestrians in the laneways of Venice - we pause for an instant - joined by a Venician who quickly corrects our way - the restaurant is closed - ring the bell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice young man greets us - shows us to our room - room overlooks a canal - a private bathroom over the hall - Bernie is relieved - she was a little concerned about low cost accommodation in Venice .

 

 

 

 

Time to absorb Venice - we smile at the people with recipes in their hands - they seem so preoccupied with what the writers from Lonely Planet and Frommers want them to do that they cannot see what is surrounding them - they spend so much of their time with their heads in a map wondering how they will get to where they need to be next that they don't realise what is surrounding them - we hear one say to another 'where are you going to do after Venice' - they are do busy 'doing' Venice that they do not let Venice 'do' them - we wonder if they even hear the music that is the banter between the locals - there is something special about the sound of the Italian language.

 

We wander to Academia - wander into the University - admire the Vice Chancellor's boat moored at the front steps on the Grand Canal

 

We are not 'doing' Venice - sit and lunch on the square - laugh at our fellow tourists with their heads stuck in their recipe books while their partners express either boredom or frustration - OK smart Alex lets see if you can find your way back to the Antica Locanda Montin - some wrong turns but we make it! - the essential nap!

 

Wake refreshed and hungry - wander to the waterfront at Zattere - grace a waterfront table - watch wondering what we have done to deserve this life - admire ferry boat captain after ferry boat captain as they transplant people from land to sea and from sea to land - another bottle of local Pinot Grigcio -

 

 

Wander home through the quite, narrow alleys and along the even narrower footpaths beside the canal - be impressed by the silence of the place - life without the noise of cars and trucks is an unknown pleasantry for urban dwellers!