Italian Riviera (Ventimigila)
We stayed in a hotel for the night, the next night we stayed somewhere
else for much cheaper, then there was a misunderstanding and we learn't we couldn't stay
the next night so we moved back to the first hotel. Musical hotels. We had a great time
here. We spent all our days here on the beach, Zoe got browner and I got burn't, Lyndon
kept reading his never ending novels.
The beach was stoney and in many parts you had to pay to sit on it. We
hired an umbrella on a beach where we also had to pay to sit on our second day. We had
used the umbrella maybe an hour and a half when the guard came along and put it down
saying it was too windy. Great no umbrella and we had paid for it. We didn't go back there
again. The sea was beautiful and warm. Where we swam there were man made lagoons created
by placing large rocks between the main sea and the beach. It was calm and not too
deep. We swam one night after dinner at 9pm and it was still nice and warm. There was lots
of ice-cream too many to choose from but we did very well eating as many as possible - Zoe
certainly didn't complain. Moepeds those bikes with pedals and motor and scooters,
abound in Italy and at night when they keep buzzing past your hotel room like wound up
mossies you could strangle their drivers. Zoe would sleep through all noise blissfully
unaware on her earth mat while Lyndon and I lay awake waiting for the pesty bikes to stop
their buzzing. Also during the day we wandered the streets and found nice shops and a park
for Zoe with a great playground. One evening some farmers brought a lot of farm animals
into the park and we were able to show Zoe chickens, pigs, goats and small ponies. She sat
on a pony but looked a little unsure. Zoe was kissed for the first time by a boy and an
Italian one at that on the Riviera. We will remind her on her 21st birthday. We constantly
keep meeting other families and travellers and chatting about our experiences.
Venice
Venice lived up to our childhood expectations completely. The streets were
all flooded as Lyndon describes them and the buildings were beautiful and full of
character. We spent a week just out of Venice in an awesome camping ground called
Albad'oro that was cheap to stay in. We had a great tent and the camping ground had a
great pool that we spent a lot of the week sitting beside. There was a restaurant and
supermarket (cheaper then the central Venice ones) and laundry, so easy for a mother! We
met lots of nice people from around Europe that came and went as the week went by. There
was a bus that went each day from the camping ground to Venice. We spent 4 afternoons in
there. The shops were full of things that one doesn't need, like glass ornaments, nice
clothes, and masks, sweet food and of course the neverending ice-cream (Italy is the birth
place of ice-cream). We had a very expensive gondola ride you can guess how much we paid
as I'm not telling. It was very pleasent and I'm glad we did it, you can't go to Venice
and not ride in the gondola. (It is a boat for those of you who think it is a cable car
thingamajig). We enjoyed two meals at a lovely Chinese restaurant in Venice - so much for
traditional Italian fare. On our train ride to Venice from the Riviera we shared a
compartment with a nice couple from Portugal. He was actually English but living with and
in business partnership with this Portugesse lady. We had a really good chat with them not
just about housing development which they were involved in but about God and personal
relationships. I enjoy meeting and talking like this with people and Lyndon does too it
seems to add flavour to our travels. Venice was great - most excellent and by this stage
in our trip I was feeling more comfortable with the travel thing. I felt like we were
getting better at it - finding places and doing things, making the most of our time and
relaxing when we had had enough.
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