Monday 21st September 2015
Blue sky heralded another hot and sunny day as I had breakfast in the hotel's dining room. I sat with a lady from Tasmania and we enjoyed each other's company while discussing our time in Venice.
Our hotel has a small roof terrace with access from the 4th floor and I made my way there next. The views were amazing I thought, as I could recognise several places I had seen yesterday. There was the Jesuit church and its campanile, there part of the lagoon between Venice and the Italian mainland, and over there the distant mountains. Down below there was very little activity on the canal and up here it felt like a little oasis, with pretty flowers blooming and a few seats, and views out over the rooftops.
I finally checked out of the Ca' D'Oro and walked around my local streets. I met the man with a cart collecting cardboard and rubbish from the houses. I later saw him getting them loaded onto a small barge to be taken away. I saw someone pulling an armchair on a trolley along a very narrow lane and which he delivered into a doorway. I stopped on a corner and there was a shop with a carpenter making and planing oars, with many more on shelves around him. This is normal life, maybe not as we know it in our own towns or villages, but what a difference it makes when your city is built on an island called Venice, with no roads but canals and bridges everywhere.
I walked into a new area this morning, took a short vaporetto ride on one called 'Slip of the Tongue' to S. Toma,
and again enjoyed the sights and sounds all around me. The University buildings were busy, with an exhibition outside in the courtyard. I stood beside a gated entrance to the canal, with the water lapping below. The Academy Fire Service head office was imposing, and in the porch was a sad sign naming fire officers who had died in service, including one from cholera during an epidemic in 1873.
I enjoyed lunch and more sightseeing and much later finally had to make my way to the bus for Marco Polo Airport. I had enjoyed my time in Venice tremendously and realise there is still so much more to see and enjoy - I need to plan another visit. Staying here had been a wonderful end to 'More Ferrying in '15'.
