Day Eleven

DAY ELEVEN

We slept in this morning and after breakfast we went to reception to make use of my laptop to go onto the internet. The campsite does have internet access but only within 20 meters of the building. Since there is no where to sit and they don’t have computers for you to use, you have to use your own. That would be fine except for the small issue of battery power. They don’t have a plug point for you to plug your laptop into and so we drove there in Betsy and proceeded to use the internet to load the blog and attend to quick facebook needs until the battery ran out. We caught the 10.00am ferry to Venice and for the first time in Italy we had a beautiful sunny day to walk and explore Venice. The weather was around 3 degrees when we left the campsite.

We started our day’s exploration in Venice with a trip to the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition. Up until now, we had both been a little confused as to why there are so many churches on the island and with the exhibition being held in a church building, we now see the significance. The exhibition included around 40 reproductions of items that Leonardo designed himself but never had a chance to make. The exhibition showed inventions such as – Gears, the Differential used on a car today, Hang Glider, Ball Bearings, Pulleys, Machine gun and perhaps the first Bicycle. The sketch of the Bicycle designed by Leonardo was only discovered by accident in 1974 during a review of drawings and papers left behind by Leonardo. The best part of the exhibition was that you could actually try out the reconstructed machines and see how they work.

We then walked onto the Main Piazzo in Venice and decided to have a coffee in the sun in one of the well appointed outside café’s. Now I think its best that I explain about the cost of things in Venice. The late lunch we had yesterday that Glenn wrote about, has to have been the most expensive Spaghetti and Meatballs I have ever had in my life. The two plates of food and coffee cost a little over R 500. The real curtain raiser however was the two Lattes that Glenn and I ordered in the Piazzo. The cost included 2 glasses of “manky” Venice water to wash them down. The price for this unforgettable experience was R 210. Glenn currently has this fixation with Sweets and Chocolates for presents for his loved ones back home and everywhere we are near a shop, he has to buy some more chocolate. He bought some hand made sweets in Venice and didn’t ask the price before placing the order. He came away with paying over R 80 for a sweet.

We left the Piazzo and proceeded to try and find the Navy Military museum that Glenn had been going on about for two days. We walked and walked for some time and then after several detours in and out of the streets of Venice we found the Museum only to discover that the Museum had closed. We did however get to see a Man driven torpedo that would have been controlled by the marine until it neared the target and the Torpedo would have then been let go. It was around 8 meters long.

We went into another church to see an exhibit on the history of the Violin and other stringed instruments. There were Violins, Chellos and Mandolins dating back as far as 700 AD. I have never seen such a large and extensive exhibit of these beautiful instruments dating back that far.

We then decided to head back into the city for a Lunch. Now let me first explain that although we did find a Burger King in Venice, my standards just wouldn’t let me stoop to eating a take away Burger for Lunch. Just for the record for those of you who think I am completely mad, due to finance restrictions, we only have 2 meals per day – The Michelin style breakfast cooked by me every morning, and a meal in the city we are visiting. My ever vigilant discount nose led us down a rather interesting passage where we found an authentic Chinese restaurant. Glenn had duck with Sweet and Sour sauce and I had Duck with Chinese sauce for main course. We both had Wanton soup for a starter and they followed the meal off with Saki – on the house.

I forgot to pay attention to the time of the day and before we knew it, it was 2.10pm and the next ferry departed at 2.30pm. Despite our best efforts to race back to the ferry point, we were 100 meters away when we heard the final whistle blow only to see the Ferry depart for Fusina – where Betsy lives. We had another hour to wait for the next ferry and therefore had to kill time by having yet another coffee at a streetside café. We did the same thing yesterday at the same café and so the waiter now seems to know us quite well. We got back to Betsy at 4.00pm and after a somewhat protracted discussion with the staff at reception, found the general direction of a “shopping centre” where we could acquire provisions. Glenn’s friend John-Mark – who lives and works in Interlaken – Switzerland is coming down to Venice by train today - Sunday and will be here later this afternoon. We are right down on provisions and with the new guest arriving, it was necessary to go down to the supermarket and stock up for the next two days. We are staying in Venice until Tuesday morning, where we will depart for Slovenia en route to Poland and beyond….

Last Note – we arrived back to the campsite yesterday evening to find that “Fat Betsy” had once again managed to attract other mobile camper vans. There are now 5 vans parked in the immediate vicinity and just like what happened in Rothenburg, Betsy attracted the campers and well now we have some company.