Day 10

Apologies- this delayed posting because of coverage issues...Anyway.
Venice.
The long hours and late nights are beginning to take their toll. Yesterday was another 2am and this morning we also only got to bed after 12. We all dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am to get an early start on the expected 6 hour drive to Venice. The highway on the outskirts is wide and fast and immaculate: it is so new it was not on our GPS yet. As you enter the highway to the city proper, you are surrounded by water and realise that the city is really like a big island that kind of broke into a number of pieces. When we started walking, we almost forget we were in a waterlogged place - the narrow alleys and quaint buildings rest peacefully until you suddenly come across a canal at the end of the street. I know this sounds stupid, but I kept forgetting that we were in a city. It feels like a village. Like hundreds of little villages that happen to be next to one another. I don't quite know how to explain the feeling of 'intimacy' of the place. Old buildings almost about to fall down interspersed with spectacular little piazzas. There are 27 churches in Venice and you may say, 'ok that sounds reasonable for a city', but all of them are the size and have the detail of what we in South Africa would call a Cathedral. And remember, everytime you come across them, you shake your head because you had lapsed into village mode again.I am not a travel writer and so you guys have to grant me some slack: I keep running out of adjectives on this trip, but we were floored by this pretty city. Sure we have seen similar buildings in other European cities, but imagine you are walking along a dilapidated street,wondering from time to time if the precariously leaning buildings are possibly going to fall on top of you. Then you pass down another anonymous little side alley with narrow buildings towering over you and turn into a slightly wider street and there, recessed into a centuries old building, is a stunning ultramodern Gucci store, nestling between sleek glittering Hermes, Louis Vutton and Prada shops and all other names, I can't remember and only women know anyway! And around the next building, a middleaged man is playing a classical piece delivered absolutely perfectly on a set of around 40 water filled glasses. I wondered at that middle aged man. A few days ago when we were in Paris and rushing through the tube station, we passed by a busker playing guitar in one of the tube passages. He was singing a song in French that I did not recognise, but I remmeber thinking he had a very good voice and that he had probably had dreams of becoming a musician who performed in theatres, releasing cd's or whatever, but life had somehow not turned out that way for him and he had ended up here on a tube station, udeniably talented, but with nobody really listening. I regret not having stopped. Not only to give him some money, but more importantly to listen - if only to one song. And so when we came across the man with he glasses, we stopped and listened to the inexpressibly raw beauty of the simple and soaring music he made, until he had finished and then we applauded and cheered: 'Bravo!' As people walked by and some dropped money into his hat, he had played head down, not looking up. When we clapped and cheered, however, he glanced up, smiling shy acknowledgement and it was obvious that he was as touched by our appreciation as we had been by his music. Still so weird how the most important things in life cost nothing. We had lunch at a little pizzeria and enjoyed the pasta so much, we had two bowls each, much to the delight of the owner: these people are reserved and humble and the 'delight' was an ever so small, fleeting smile as we complimented him on his food and ordered the second bowl.

After lunch, we walked the streets and found the most amazing jewelery store - there are lots of them. This one was run by a goldsmith and his sister, who changed about 15 years ago to designing silver jewelery - the most unique I have ever seen. Really stunning pieces and again, I think it means so much to artisans when you tell them how much you appreciate their work. He proudly told me he supplies 7 shops in Venice now! This was just so typical of our visit to Venice - so many unique wonderful moments side by side by side! I was not expecting this - none of us were. We had even debated skipping Venice as the trip had taken its toll with all the driving,late nights and early mornings. But it has been the surprise of our trip. We will go back one day, God willing.

After lunch we had a gondola ride. Our Gondolier, Andrea, in his late twenties, loves his job. And Venice. It was a great 40 minutes. He follows in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, in a proud family tradition of gondoliers that he told us goes back 125 years. He also said that this tradition of father to son is sadly declining and there are only a few like him left. He informed us that because the water drops and rises about a metre every 6 hours, and the ground floors are always flooded at the 'high tide' point, nobody living on the canals, lives on the ground floor anymore. They live on the second and upper levels. As we entered the Grand Canal, which is the size of a wide river, it was apparent that this really is their main road: water taxis and busses, a little boy driving a small motor boat with his mother in the front on the way home from shopping. Like a normal city except on water. We did see the main square San Marco, but were too late to see the Basilica. But the square was alive with string quartets and cafe's. Postcard stuff!

It was a sensory overload and one of the most uplifting - and as Richard put it - 'unexpected' places we have ever been. You need to stay in Venice itself for a few days. It has so much to offer that 1 day is just overwhelming - not in size, but more akin to fast forwarding your favourite piece of music or only being allowed a quick glance at a great painting.

But it was back to our house on wheels as Zurich beckons tomorrow.
Goodnite.