Day 3 Diary Entry – Italy

Tuesday 26th August 2008

My feet have never felt so sore! Or so tired! Or so throbbing!
We went to Venice today. The way there was a nightmare though in comparison to the luxurious Azzura boat we used last year. We had to catch a bus near the hotel (number 2) to Piazza Picchi; the bus station. There we had to change to a number 5. Marley was gasping for a drink, and we almost missed the bus due to having to pop to the cafe to buy some water! Good job we did though, because we were squished onto this bus for ages, and it was hot hot hot! The bus took us to Punta Sabbioni, the port, and I knew I had heard of it, but mistakenly thought it was the one we sailed from last year when Alex and I went to Venice for the day.

When we finally got to the boat, the journey was quick and was actually okay, apart from two posers who were sat opposite us, posing and pouting for photographs!

Venice was lovely, just as I remembered it before. It’s very touristy on the main touristy parts, which is to be expected, and it was slightly more difficult with prams than I imagined it would be, but all the same, I loved it. I loved the fact that once again we went with no plans, and we just immersed ourselves into everyday Venice and into the real parts by getting lost on purpose.
I didn’t expect that it would be so unbelievably roasting hot though, but my light kaftan top thing came in so handy to stave off the (even more) sunburn.

We stopped for a (MASSIVE) pizza in a little trattoria (with a fairly rude waiter), and then we meandered through streets, over countless bridges, and even managed a trip on water bus number 1, which stops at every stop along the Grand Canal past palaces and other speeding boats.

On the way home, I managed to persuade Alex to cough up for a bit of luxury and splash out on the Azzura boat! Yay! Space, heaven and a quick trip home at last. Or so I thought! We then decided to walk the whole way from the port back to our hotel, which was a cool 11 kms! (I don’t know what that is in miles – 5 or 6 or something?) Either way, it took us about 3 hours to walk back – the cause of the blisters and sore feet.

We had a treat of Venice bought paninis to munch on when we got back to our terrace.
I so can’t wait for a day of chilling and relaxing beach-side tomorrow.

Day 2 Diary Entry – Italy

Monday 25th August 2008

Today has been crammed full of sand, sea and sunshine. So much sunshine in fact, that I am not sporting a nice pink hue to my skin, and so is everyone else, despite the Factors 25 and 30 being liberally applied.

Evie and Marley have been out shoulder deep into the sea, and I’ve managed to swim quite a bit out there too, which I love.
Alex built them a car made out of sand on the beach, which later turned out to be multi-purpose, as it was later used for burying the kids in. Obviously only up to their heads, or that would just be wrong.

Tonight we decided to go for a walk once we’d purchased our travel tickets for a trip to Venice tomorrow. And I mean WALK! Miles and miles of shops and restaurants surrounded by throngs of holidaymakers. We made our return to the hotel via the promenade walk along the beach, which abruptly ended behind the hospital, so it was dark, empty and even slightly eerie at points.

The kids have been angels, but I do think we will all ache tomorrow.