Epiblog – Thursday 12 October 2017 – Venice to London

Well, the sailing season is well and truly over.  I am sitting on our easyJet flight back to London.  The last week has been very good.  Even the weather improved.  The skies finally cleared and the sun shone in the afternoons making it pleasantly warm.  Of course as soon as the sun went down it got cold and by morning it was only 14C in the cabin, so heating was used on a regular basis.

We basically spent the last week being sightseers.  We even got ourselves Venice travel cards which last for 5 years and reduce the cost of a vaporetto ride from 7.5 euro to 1.5 euro.  You pay for the card, but make up the cost after 9 journeys.  So we felt like real residents.  We did a few things we never did before.  In particular we went to the Biennale.  This is the alternate year international art festival held in Venice.  The art was all very Avant-garde, and generally not great, but the atmosphere was lovely and it is held in a beautiful garden full of specially built “Pavilions” for the various countries who participate.  They were also very interesting.  The exhibition is also in the Arsenale, where countries which don’t have permanent pavilions exhibit.  Again, the venue was more interesting than the art being in the old Arsenale buildings and canals.


After four trips to Venice I finally got to do the tour of the synagogues in the Ghetto district.  They were well worth the wait.

We tried to do shopping, but found nothing we wanted.  The only Venetian glass I really like were Mezuzahs being sold in the Ghetto.  They were beautiful.  So if anyone out there wants one tell me as I would love to buy them.

We indulged in a couple of Michelin starred restaurants and an outrageously priced Bellini in Harry’s Bar.

We had lunch at the Met and were the only lunchtime diners!


All the sightseeing was exhausting.  Richard’s phone counts steps and it regularly said he did 15,000 to 20,000 a day.  I do about 20% more (short steps), so it was no wonder I was exhausted each evening!

The Marina is OK.  
Very peaceful

The marina from the bell tower at San Georgio
We are unimpressed with the lack of staff and lack of help.  We waited all week to no avail for the person in charge of works to come and look and the boat and put things in motion.  So we will have to do that from London.  We are now certain that the water tank is leaking and needs to be replaced.  Richard has been in touch with a company in the UK that can make us a new one in plastic, but the marina will have to remove the old one and liaise with them.

One strange thing happened.  One morning we woke up to find a crab in the saloon!  (Only a little one – not worth eating.)  Heaven knows how it got there.


Speak to you all next year!

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