Monday, February 26, 2007
Friday 2nd February 2007
We had a short 2 hours hop to a campsite next to Venice. Sited easily in the sunshine and went in search of a supermarket. On the way back we were completely taken by surprise at the sheer speed of the dense freezing fog that rolled in obscuring all landmarks previously noted. The fog stayed with us all night and the following day. Unsure how long this fog would be with us we decided it was best not to delay a trip into Venice. After a hair-raising walk along a dual carriageway, in places devoid of pavement, we traversed a pedestrian walkway and arrived just in time to catch the bus into the heart of Venice.
We purchased an all day ticket to use the ferry service that travelled up and down the length of the main canal. These ferries are not particularly big, about 2/3rds of it is a covered seating area and the rest is pretty much open to the elements. We were dressed as warmly as we had been going to the top of the mountain and we were still feeling cold. I think we did pretty well admiring all the architecture, different boats, many traditional Gondolas, and the general ambience of the place through heavy fog before we retired to the warmer covered section in the back fifteen minutes later. The boys excitement about being on a boat wore off pretty quickly too.
We alighted at St Marco’s place which is a must see in Venice. The boys were in awe of the hundreds of pigeons that swarm about the place, they are fed and have become so tame that even when the boys ran through the centre of them shouting, they did little more than step contemptuously out of the way. We journeyed into the Basilica and were truly awed by the golden mosaics that filled the entire ceiling. The four life-size bronze horses were pretty awesome as well especially as they dated from 200BC even if they had been pinched from Constantinople. The boys liked the horses but were not really in the mood to walk reverently through a place of worship and admire the many artefacts on display. Intent on being loud and feeling the need to touch everything in sight, we hot tailed it out of there as quickly as possible.
We wandered the streets for a while and did a bit of window-shopping admiring all the masks, glass, art and fashion. The shops were interesting bright and colourful. After lunch we made our way to the Guggenheim Art Museum, we are not beyond a bit of culture now and then you know! So with much trepidation we bought tickets and made our way around the art gallery. It became apparent quite early on that the boys were not at all interested in behaving, instead they had to climb on the sofa’s, giggle loudly and exclaim hysterically, also very loudly, about the women showing their boobies. Determined to see the whole collection including a few Picasso’s and Dali’s and many others that I don’t know and can’t remember, we rapidly marched through all the rooms and gave each a cursory glance. By this time we were quite stressed out, tired and cold that without further ado we made our way home.
Venice a lovely place to visit and probably very romantic in the sunshine but don’t take your children!
And would you believe it, the following day we awoke to glorious sunshine!
