Venice

I slept reasonably well, my throat not as raw, but I did wake a couple of times for nose blowing and to suck on a lozenges/have a drink of water. We dawdled in bed for a bit because there are no tea making facilities in Italian hotels and we had to wait for somewhere to open for breakfast.

We left our hotel around 9 a.m. and found a nice little place for a croissant (apricot jam in the middle) and coffee. Then we set out to find S.Marco. We'd been told to just follow the signs, thinking that we would just reverse the signs on the way back. We stopped at a campo to sit for awhile and bought some postcards. We spoke to a young woman, from France, who said our English was very clear and she could understand us quite well, which was not always the case for her as some people ran their words together.

I found a farmacia where I bought some more lozenges and some cold/flu medicine. Then we found a post office, but the line was taking too long to move so decided to buy stamps next day and post at the same time. (Posting boxes are inside the post office here.) I then found a shop to buy some fazzoletti (tissues) as I'd run out with all my nose blowing.

All the places we walked were lined with shops, selling everything from leather to glass, clothing, and food.We saw a little store that sold fridge magnets, and I bought 6 for €5 and Lindy a spoon for Tracy Bell. Then we came across a shop with stuff for kids, and Lindy bought a little Pinnochio for Ryan.

We finally reached Piazza San Marco, which was packed with people. I heard one man comment that 'this is madness' and he was right. Lindy managed to get a few shots and we moved on to the wharf to find where we would get a boat to Murano and Burano the next day. On the way, we found some artists had set up stalls and bought one small watercolour each (€10 each or two for €15).

By this time it was midday, so we decided to walk back to our hotel for a rest before venturing out for the evening. We began following the signs in reverse but soon realised we were going in circles. It got so that everywhere we went we had the feeling we'd been there before, but whether it was on our way out that morning, or just then, as we were trying to find our way, we didn't know. We were sure we were in the right area, but reading maps here is almost impossible. The streets twist around on themselves, and the bridges all look the same. We saw a lot of people doing as we were, studying maps, looms around for signs, scratching their heads and looking puzzled. We were also by this time desperate for a toilet. Kept seeing WC signs but they never actually led to a toilet! We recon led it was a trick to get you to visit a bar or restaurant, where toilets were available but only for customers.

After 2 hours of this we finally chanced upon the bridge we wanted, and from there it was just a few metres, and we had arrived. 

We shot upstairs for the toilet and then collapsed on our beds (now separated) and sighed with relief. 

Later, we set out again but this time stayed on the straight and narrow path in front of our hotel. We bought a gelato each and stopped alongside the canal to eat. Then we found a little store - bakery, liquor, hot drinks - and bought a cannoli each. Lindy had pistachio, and I had chocolate. She had tea, and I had flat white coffee. We also bought a block of chocolate. We figured this would be dinner.

wE Returned to our room at 7 p.m. to catch up on postcards, email, Facebook and our diary entries.