Sunday 25th August

We woke to another beautiful day, a bit cooler to what it has been which was a blessing.  Breakfast was fairly basic in comparison to what we have been used to but it filled the spot.  The plan in the morning was to do our own thing and then meet up for lunch then go on the vaporetta (a boat system that's like a bus as there are no roads here) to one of the other islands.  We got a 48 hour ticket for 30 euros (not that cheap) so we had to get our money's worth didn't we!!  You can imagine we have covered every inch of Venice on the vaporetta.  They are very noisy, have lots of fumes, are very crowded and bash into the wharfs.  You would not believe that we bumped into each other TWICE when we were doing our own thing.  On this trip so far Peter has bumped into a guy that he used to work with in the corridor at the hotel we stayed in Sydney before departure, he also literally bumped into one of Jess' friends while shopping in the menswear section at John Lewis in London (yes the menswear as we were shopping for a dinner shirt for Peter!!) and last night we went to the rooftop of our hotel to take some pics and met another couple from Aus who are going on the same cruise as us and they are from Newcastle and they are from Merewether.... It's a small world!! And no we didn't know them but we do now..... Ray and Annette.

Back to our day... after we rendezvoused we set off for Lido which is where all the beaches are and the old Lido Hotel that is now vacant and going into disrepair.  What a waste as it is across the road from the beach and a very grand old building.  After Lido we went to the island of Murana where all the glass that Venice is famous for is made.  Thankfully all the shops were closed by the time we arrived.

The sky looked like we were going to have a massive storm and I had recollections of the last time we were in Venice and got totally drenched coming back from Burano.  The rain came just as we were going out for a late dinner but that didn't deter us from another feed!!  Another late night and another great day.  Tomorrow we board our home for 7 weeks.... Can't wait!!!

Lido

Murano

View from the rooftop of our hotel