Venice man!!!!!, Day 16

An early start, no breakfast. A quick goodbye to Marseille. We literally fly along the ground to the airport with our taxi driver, who is a cross between comedian Lenny Henry and Goodluck Jonathan. The term driving doesn’t really fit with what this guy does. I would probably describe it as hollywood stunt work. At the airport with plenty of time to spare. We fly Air France to Venice. After some nice savoury nibbles and a cup of tea, we’re there. We connect with our transfer who was looking for Fary Hodges. Hey thats me, the birthday boy. Must be a bit of transfer humour. Yeah, very funny. After a short wait we are on the water. Strange experience with all of the boats buzzing around. Great feeling. Soon enough we are moving through to the Grand Canal and on our way to our Hotel. We opt for getting out of the transfer speedboat to our hotel, over the top of three gondolas, or is that gondolae? Rock n Roll. Up into our hotel, and into our room. Clearly the smallest room ever built. But, this is Venice man. First world problem. After setting up our phones and ipads we set about calling our girls in Oz. Don’t think the dogs recognised us over the phone. Strange. We take a bit of a stroll around the precinct near our hotel and find a nice spot for some lunch. Our appetites satiated, we start walking. I’m keen to see the Peggy Guggenheim Art Collection at her publicly bequeathed gallery on a canal. We find some great stuff on the way. Alot of very original art work, including glassware, jewellery, clothing and so on. Its getting late in the afternoon so we resolve to check out the Guggenheim thing tomorrow and perhaps do a walking tour as well. I’m asked for a donation to a drug rehabilitation centre. I sheepishly engage with a woman who is, supposedly, an ex heroin addict. Good person? I give a small amount of money and we move on. So much history crammed on to this island. Apparently the printing press was invented here. In regard to the island itself, there are something like 400 bridges and the place was started in the seventh century. Weatherwise they struggle with humidity when the temps ramp up. Back in the hotel I speak with a young guy who has jetted in from NYC for the architecture component of the Venice Biennale, starting today. A pretty cool dude. Very sophisticated. Very Creative. Very stylish. They are probably my first impressions of Venice, along with Very Mind Blowing. Now some dinner for the birthday boy.