And so to Venice
At the end of January Alan and I had a week in Venice. It proved to be the perfect time with very few tourists, and although it was cold it never rained. I had to persuade Alan that he could not take his bike as they are not permitted on the island but he soon discovered that travel by water is good fun. We flew in to Marco Polo airport after an early departure from Gatwick and caught a bus to Piazzale Roma on the island of Venice, where all motorised land vehicles terminate. Here there is an enormous car park next to the train station. As advised by my guide book we bought a week long season ticket (pretty cheap) for the vaporetto and walked to the Ferrovia water stop to catch our boat down the Grand Canal to San Angelo, the nearest stop for the accommodation we had rented. Here we were to meet a guide to take us to our place. Two students were waiting for us and we all wandered around aimlessly for about 45 minutes until we eventually found the apartment. It was dark by that...