VENICE, ITALY 8 JULY 2009

We docked in Venice early in the morning; all the passengers rushing off on gondola trips, etc. were allowed off first. Tom was very tired so we let him sleep, even though this was the place he really wanted to see. I'm a bit of a cultural slob so wasn't fussed one way or the other. We got off the boat at noon, got to the bus/water bus (vaporetto) station and saw the wheelchaire sign, so thinking Tom could go on the water bus, we bought three return tickets for the 40-minute ride to St. Marks Square. We had to wait for four water buses before one came along that sat high enough in the water to get Tom on board. He was very pleased; I worried that now we had him on, would we get him off and if we got him off, would we get on one to come back . . . . The storm returned; thunder, lightning . . . and us on a boat very close to the water. A water ambulance went zooming by with its sirens going and caused a huge wake that rocked the boat and threatened to flood the houses on the side of the canal. Not sure if this was American navy or Italian navy. [Former Communist; probably USSR, sold and used as private residence.] We'd had a joke at our table that when anyone asked us what we did the previous evening, we said, We were out on the town. But we were at sea, they would say. Oh, we just jumped in our mini-sub and went ashore, we'd reply. So when we saw this, we had to take a photo to show everyone our mini-sub. This was a very nice bridge. We actually got off at St. Marks Square, but could only spend 30 minutes before trying to get the vaporetto back to the docks. I showed the return tickets only to be told they'd expired and I had to buy more tickets; someone explained that they only last for one hour. Well, a 40-minute journey and the destination chosen should have told the ticket salesman I would not be returning in the hour; perhaps that's too British an idea, so Venice will not go down on my 'return-visit' list. It was dirty; very expensive: 12 euros for a coffee; that's 10 GBP or 16 USD; not wheelchaire-friendly and full of very rude, pushy people. We should have stayed on the water bus to the Lido terminus, let it about turn and take us back again, we would have seen more and been less stressed.

ON TO CORFU, GREECE
WITH JACKIE & TOM HERE