Venice the Menace

Ok, so I'm backdating...

Final days in Venice were hardwork. Lots of packing of boxes, inventories and lethargy in 7 degree venues with poor lighting. It was hard, but it got done. Enjoyed spending time with Sophie where we 'worked' but also spent some quality time shopping and eating.

I knew I was ready to leave water-world when Sophie and I went to a cachetti bar (Venetian version of McDonalds) and I ordered an aranciatta with mozzarella and polenta *ik* and, while I ate it at the diner tables I was forced to watch the rear end of a husky being hand fed fried things by its owner whilst listening to the happyhouse mix of Popcorn... on repeat - no, i'm not exagerating either. I think living anywhere will eventually break you down but Venice has an incredible capacity to make you whince with both wonder and bewilderment. Its parochial beauty infiltrates the culture of the place, and its people, who struggle to live in a Disneyland of discomfort and unsuitability. It's hard not to get mad when you are charged Euro 4.50 for a glass of tap water in the only club in town above a supermarket.

That being said I've been incredibly fortunate to be here. And I've particularly enjoyed spending time with some of my local comrades over some lovely dinners on the mainland at Mestre with Nasko and Massimo, and Brooke and Niko but also in Venice with Simone and Biljana. Mestre felt normal: it had cars and buses and supermarkets and coriander! It was wonderful and normal and the company was splendid. Brenda and I got a little tippled at Naskos and gave an intense and straight-up version of Australia, warts and all. I hope our guests found it interesting - we obviously had complex opinions about Australia which we'd discovered since our absence from home - both good and bad.

I spent some catch-up time doing touristy things: Basilica San Marco, the clocktower, Campo Frari and its church, Torcello (one of the outlying islands on the laguna), the Academy, the Doge's palace. The amount of renaissance painting that dons the walls of so many buildings is shocking. You get neck cricks from having to tilt for the next Titian. Too much to talk about regarding the sights but it was more engaging than I had thought. S. Marco is just gorgeous with some terrific mosaics and the reliquaries and bits of holy bodies in jars and crystal boxes. On top of the church you can see the people and pigeons in the square below and we'd been told about a certain tidbit of carnage on the west side. Sure enough, two concrete pillars facing Giudecca housed an array of disembowled pigeon carcasses being picked over by the I-can't-believe-they're-not-seagulls that are more super-petrel than gull. Jess almost threw-up despite her morbid interest. I've got pictures but available only request - bit too graphic. I nice visual metaphor for Venezia: happy tourists below ancient pillars housing carnivorous fauna.

Ended up moving into a Venetian sixties 'set of a soft porn' apartment. Brenda and I enjoyed a small photo shoot in our final days to celebrate the beauty of it. My room was salmon pink and had a lovely leather setee in which you could admire the brass vase with ostrich feathers, the madonna above the bed and the fully carpeted floor to ceiling curved room. mmm-mmm.

Amid goodbyes and farewells it was time to leave Venice the menace.