The weather forecast had originally indicated today would be a bit clearer than yesterday but it has turned out the opposite ! We woke this morning to fairly steady rain so we thought we would take advantage of the 11am checkout, have a lazy breakfast and then get our bags packed.
At 11 we checked out and left our bags in storage and organised a taxi (a water one of course) to take us to the airport at 4pm. Our plan was then to have a bit of a walk around – Adrienne had some last minute shopping planned – find a cafe for a slow lunch and then go back to the hotel lounge toward 4 to wait for our taxi. We headed down to the square in steady rain and found that there was significantly more high water than yesterday. Adrienne only had an umbrella and we realised she would need her raincoat so we went back to the hotel to get it out of our bags.
We were almost drowned rats already when we got back to the hotel and wondered if it was worth heading out again. But we thought we might as well go out again, get wet and then come back to the hotel or find a cafe to spend the rest of the afternoon and dry off. While at the hotel we noticed they were putting in their high water barrier near their water taxi entry and we could see the water flowing “inland” along the canal. Anyway we headed off into the rain again and every canal we went past we could see the water was very high and there were lots of water barriers up.
We have a leak !
We wandered the alleyways – getting wetter and wetter – trying to find the shop Adrienne wanted, eventually finding it (boy I have built up some brownie points !!!) and we also found another drowned rat – a real one !!. Well it wasn’t drowned but it was obviously trying not to be with the water rising in the basements ! We were walking along in single file – not much else you can do in the alleys when everyone is holding umbrellas – and there was a family with a young girl just in front of me. All of a sudden there was a piercing scream and as I looked down a rat came running past the little girl, past me, past Adrienne and ducked up another alley. Luckily it had pretty much gone up the alley again before Adrienne saw it otherwise I’d have had another piercing scream !
Gondola carpark
The weather and high water was obviously playing havoc with the gondolier trade. Further on we found a huge number in what looked like a gondola parking lot ! All the gondoliers were huddled under a big awning looking bedraggled. We also passed near the main square again and the alley under the archway into the square was completely flooded. Nearby we could also see hoses sticking out of windows and pumping the water out of their basements !
Plastic Uggies !
The high water also brings out a new fashion accessory – knee high shoe covers – bright blue, yellow, orange and red – a bit like knee high plastic ugg boots. Jewellery shops also suddenly have stock of gumboots ! Very enterprising !
Wet and in need of a dry spot, we found a nice little restaurant with a window view across a little canal, had some lunch, Adrienne looked up on her Ipad and found the Roosters had won the grand final and we just sat there in the dry for an hour or so – all was good in the world !
The sinking square
And then we headed back to the hotel about 2pm. We thought we might as well head to the airport and use the lounge facilities rather than just sit in the hotel. When we told the hotel concierge we were ready for a taxi anytime, when he checked he told us that due to the rain and high water (which means a lot of the taxis cant actually access the canals because it makes the gaps under all the bridges too low) we couldn’t get a taxi earlier than the one we had booked at 4pm – so we sat in the lounge and started our blogs.
Off to the airport in our water taxi
About 3 pm the concierge arrived again and said he had found us a taxi so we headed out to the airport. By this time of the afternoon, the high water had receded and the weather had eased a bit so the gondolas were back in force, so our taxi had a slow crawl through the canals picking his way through the gondola crush. But as we were headed to the airport, once we were in open water he was able to put his foot down ! In the canals nothing except the police and ambulance boats can do any speed as they are not allowed to make waves.
It is a bit of a bizarre experience having cars replaced by boats everywhere. As we headed into open water it is like going onto a freeway but it is in the water. There is a big channel marked by poles, the fast taxis pass the slow taxis – basically they drive on the water like they do on the road – and you pull into the taxi rank at the end which is at a wharf ! It is then a 7 minute walk to the terminal – thankfully under a covered walkway out of the rain most of the way.
We have now arrived home. Our trip home was uneventful – just long and with little sleep being the disadvantage of travels home from most places to Australia. We spent an hour or so in the lounge at Venice airport before boarding our flight to London Heathrow, we had little time here other than to transfer from terminal 5 to terminal 3 for our flight to Dubai. We managed to have a vacant seat beside us for this leg of the flight so we had a little extra room to spread out but it really didn’t help us sleep.
In Dubai it was again a fairly short stop – the A380 planes are so big to disembark and re-board when full that they pretty much have you out at the gate, and through the transfer security and back to the gate ready for re-boarding. We also had 2 security checks, the normal one through the transfer lounge and then they decided they were going to hand search all the carry on luggage going back as we re-boarded.
In Sydney at last, we were on of the first in at curfew opening so the run through customs, luggage collection and immigration was a dream and Simon had just walked into the terminal to collect us as we walked out and we were home by just after 7am.
Sadly, our conquest of Italy is at an end. It has been a wonderful trip – we are still talking to one another – and we will have lots of fabulous memories to keep.