Getting toVenice

The trip here went smoothly.

It was good to see Wendy, Isla and Lainie for an hour at Sydney airport.

My checked in bag weighed 10kg, daypack 2.5, handbag 2.5

I flew from Sydney in a new A380 with the comfiest airline seats I’ve ever had, and the best inflight entertainment I’ve ever seen –many, many movies. I started to watch Australia but decided to watch it later - the small scene does not do the scenery justice. The Duchess was the best of those I watched or started to watch. Main cabin did not appear huge – broken up into smaller areas with food stations and toilet blocks. It felt less cattle penish than other large aeroplanes I’ve flown in. Several times after meals they came around with peppermint tea or hot chocolate. I got my vegetarian meal at 7.20 – pity about having a glass of wine with my meal – I had to wait till the rest of the passengers near me got their meal at 8.15 to get my wine. I could have asked earlier I suppose but the system seems a bit wrong.

The new terminal 5 at Heathrow was an interesting building architecturally. It was quite easy to follow the signs to get to the right place. For all their talk of high levels of security I walked through the metal detecting archway with both my watch and shoes on. ( In Canberra I took off my watch and my shoes were still enough to set the machine off)
I find it very confusing when I am doing something to have a nearby conversation between 2 people both speaking a different language intrude into my brain.

By comparison with the QF plane, the BA plane I flew to Venice on was falling to bits inside. It was also only 1/3 full compared to the QF plane which was very full. (I had a wander and the number of spare seats was roughly equal to the number of people standing up). I read in the BA inflight mag an article about an organization called The School of Life which runs 2 day tours, presided over by Alain de Botton ( of Consolations of Philosophy fame and several other books) to Terminal 5 . There is an upmarket hotel attached to it. According to the School of Life, the airport is a good place for relaxation and contemplation! I’d never really thought about it before but there is an official definition of fog and mist. Coming into Venice the airplane captain said we would be pleased that the fog had been downgraded to mist because the visibility was above x ( I’ve forgotten) metres.

Venice airport is quite small. I walked off the plane at 12.55, straight up to an official who merely glanced at my passport as he stamped it, went to the loo to add a thermal layer of clothing underneath, collected my bag, walked straight through a door saying EU ‘nothing to declare’ ( nowhere was I given anything or did I see a sign saying what you were meant to declare) , (maybe there was an official at the Non EU door) walked briskly ( about 5minutes) to the vaporetto stop, bought a ticket and got on the vaporetto 2 minutes before it departed at 1.15. Not bad. The views of Venice as we approached were quite atmospheric in the mist.

I got off the vaporetto at the correct stop and walked to where my apartment is. I thought I had an hour to wait because the landlady ( who lives in Rome) had told me that she would ask her neighbour to meet me at the apartment at 3.30 - the time I would have got there if I had caught the next ferry. I wandered a bit, then sat and waited in the doorway. I talked to an old man who wandered past and then the next door lady who stuck her head out the window to see what was going on. At about 3.45 I rang the neighbour. She had not received the email the landlady sent about me. She came in about 10 minutes to let me in.

The apartment is on the first floor, is bright and has a nice feel about it. It has good views along a small canal and up a small street. There is a room with 3 windows, lounge , dining table and chairs and well-equipped kitchen. There is a separate bedroom with 2 windows and new but quite small bathroom. I have to be careful as I sit on the loo not to bump into the bidet. I can’t see how anybody taller than me (or with dodgy knees) would manage.

After a bit of sorting out I walked about 200m to the nearest street of shops to buy some food. I was quite tired and my Italian was not very good, but it will improve.