Venice! And onto Rome...

28 May – Monday
The sun came out, as did the magic and charm of Venice. What a difference sunlight makes! During the night the main island of Venice was flooded owing to a very high tide, but by the time we arrived in San Marco Piazza the water had receded and the shops were pushing the remaining water out. A quick visit to the Murano glass blowing factory for a demonstration and exit via a mind-blowing shop. The glass in Venice is just superb, with prices to match of course.
The crowds and pigeons soon started to build up, and it was very easy to spend 30 minutes sitting on the steps of the piazza (can’t afford to sit at a table!) listening to the music and watching the crowd. I’m afraid some Australians can make one cringe, especially the man who sat at a table, shouted "Garcon" and after he received the menu (and saw the prices) loudly stated they would go to McDonalds to eat.

The gondola ride through the small canals was wonderful, and being so close to the buildings really reinforces the problems that Venice has with the water rising and the land subsiding. Unfortunately, the gondoliers no longer sing. The hustle and bustle of all the different types of boats is the most amazing disorganised chaos imaginable, however, they all seem to know where they are going and just "push and shove" until they can get to a landing.

Then another boat ride to the island of Burano, famous for hand made lace, for a typical Italian meal. Enough said. The thunder and lightning started, as did the torrential rain, which really marred this beautiful island with its unique architecture, a combination of Greek and Maltese, with all the houses painted in bright colours. A leaning tower (not Pisa!) was the major landmark. All went well until it was time to leave and two of the American ladies failed to show up. We waited an hour for them, before having to leave. I don’t think the tour director is having a good evening.

29 May – Tuesday
Well, the ladies turned up later the previous evening. Evidently they didn’t take any notice of the tour director when she stood with us in front of the restaurant and pointed the way to the boat. They just set off they way they thought it would be, "didn’t realise the island had another side to it!" Anyway, they had to get a water taxi back to Lido and came to no harm.

Today was spent travelling from Venice to Rome, through mainly rural areas growing corn, wheat and sunflowers. Whilst we were crossing the Apennines our Italian coach driver suddenly realised he was in Italy and should be driving like an Italian. We were all very pleased to actually arrive at our lunch stop. This was an interesting place as instead of having a roadside restaurant on either side of the highway, it was built over the top of the highway and accessed from either end.

Dinner was at a small restaurant directly across the road from the Colosseum! A pleasant Italian meal with the first European red wine that I have actually enjoyed. The entertainment was an accordion player and two fabulous trained singers (certainly put the baritone in Vienna to shame) who sang a combination of operation and well-known Italian songs. This was followed with a bus tour of Rome after dark and a visit to Trevi Fountain to throw our coins. Such an immense fountain, and such a crowd of people and hawkers. One kept attempting to give me a red rose, just to make me happy, and despite me giving it back a number of times, insisted I keep the rose. When I took it and started to walk away, the rose was immediately snatched back!

Much cooler today, with snow on the mountains behind Venice and some rain before reaching Rome.