Other activities in Venice

Venice is beautiful: at every twist and turn colour, texture and artistry flood the senses. The lapping of water, the calls of people and the bells add to this. With both the walking, the museums and the heat, there is the need for rest too. The Venetians do not cater with many benches and seats for the weary of foot. The Churches however came to our aid. We sat and contemplated and rested our bones in them, cooling down in the shady cavenous spaces. I even took to lighting a candle in each, and remembering friends and family and asking for blessing for them.

The mosaic on a step within one church just caught my eye, and the attendant kindly let me take a picture. I love patterns and maybe I'll be able to use this one as an inspiration for a knitted project or other craft such as patchwork or quilting which I am starting to explore.

Back at our lovely flat, with views across the water, we watched boats of rowers. From 4 to 8 to a boat, mostly standing, we watched teams putting their backs into rowing, some were all ladies, other mixed, some men only. They seemed to be most numerous around 5 to 7 p.m. The flat was well endowed with books and a few DVDs. One evening we watched the complete Bleak House end to end, and went to bed the latest we have done for years. Much white wine, tip bits and olives were consumed.

I picked up a book of short stories set in Venice which helped people the place for me. In addition I had my knitting and worked on the second of a pair. I now have a new pair of socks, with memories of Venice and knitting by the side of a motorway whilst waiting for the recovery people to repair a flat tyre.