{"id":1977,"date":"2013-06-05T12:33:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T11:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=1977"},"modified":"2026-05-25T06:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:06:36","slug":"birthday-in-venice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2013\/06\/05\/birthday-in-venice\/","title":{"rendered":"A Birthday In Venice"},"content":{"rendered":"

The start of Rodney\u2019s birthday on Tuesday was not quite as we had hoped.\u00a0 We both woke up feeling rather ill and only a hot shower and some breakfast outside in the sunshine made us both feel slightly more human.\u00a0 We wandered over to the bus stop later in the morning and the no. 19 bus whisked us over the causeway to Piazzale Roma on the west side of Venice.\u00a0 First stop was a pharmacy to get something for sore throats and then the aim was to just wander around, no plan, no goal, just a bit of a roam about until we felt the need to go home and rest.\u00a0 Just after leaving the pharmacy Mark and Fiona phoned us from Sydney and that really lifted our moods, though I found it rather hard talking with such a horrible cough.\u00a0 Thank you guys, it was really kind of you to call and it did pick us up, or was that the medicine\u2026\u2026?!!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A
A canal somewhere in Venice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

So we strolled around in zig-zags with the only other need at that point being to find a WC.\u00a0 The constant presence of water and the occasional fountain always makes the need more urgent, and buying a drink in a caf\u00e9 so that you can use their loo, doesn\u2019t really solve the problem, it only creates another, later need.\u00a0 Report on today\u2019s cappuccino: \u201cit was okay\u201d.\u00a0 My hot chocolate was really, really good again; I wonder if I can buy the stuff in a supermarket.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Love
Love the leaning tower of…..?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We meandered through the Doroduro district and found ourselves on the waterfront on the south side.\u00a0 There was a light breeze blowing which felt really nice, so we stuck to the water\u2019s edge and wandered right along to point where the Basilica di Sante Maria della Salute stands.\u00a0 We stood a while and looked across the Grand Canal to St Mark\u2019s Square and breathed it all in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
A postcard view of Venice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rodney was starting to get hungry, so we wandered through the streets of the Accademia district to find the Ristorante Gianni which we had passed earlier, right on the waterfront, facing the Isola della Giudecca.\u00a0 Rodney enjoyed a pile of creamy tagliatelle and I had a kebab stick loaded with five large tiger prawns and a salad.\u00a0 Both were delicious and just what we fancied.\u00a0 Sitting there taking in the views and watching the passing people and boats, Rodney announced that he was \u201cnow getting in to Italy\u201d; it took a while, but we have spent a lot of time in France.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Isola
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore and the Venice Biennale’s statue by Tracy Emin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Every corner that you turn as you stroll around every district of Venice, could be another photograph, it\u2019s hard not to take too many.\u00a0 We ambled through narrow laneways, quiet streets, busy streets, silent piazzas and ones full of crowds.\u00a0 We walked alongside, crossed over, and came up against dead ends, of endless canals and still we kept walking.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know if we got lost, because you can\u2019t really get lost if you\u2019re not aiming to be anywhere in particular.\u00a0 We had the obligatory gelato on the waterfront of the Castello district and we sucked on cough sweets all day until around 7pm when we found ourselves back at the Piazzale Roma and caught a bus back to the campsite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A
A shaft of light on the canal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Wednesday morning I woke up feeling even worse and running a temperature, but the hot shower, a bit of breakfast and a morning nap had me feeling a lot better by lunch time.\u00a0 At least I don\u2019t look as awful as Piglet is looking now; he\u2019s been travelling with me for 28 years and I have a feeling this may be \u2018Death In Venice\u2019 for him.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he has cholera, but his face has just about fallen off and one arm is definitely broken.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure he should travel with us any more\u2026..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Piglet
Piglet in Venetian mask<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Yep,
Yep, he needs that mask….<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It may have been silly to spend all day hanging around at home while the sun was shining, but I for one definitely needed the rest.\u00a0 However, as we got off the bus around 5:30pm the clouds came over.\u00a0 We wanted to spend an evening in Venice and fully intended to have at least one more, full day there, so this was our evening of roaming the romantic city\u2026..\u00a0 Just as we reached the Piazza San Marco the showers started.\u00a0 Thankfully they were only light and we needed dinner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rain
Rain clouds over Venice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We passed on the \u20ac8.50 cup of espresso in the St Mark’s Square; Rodney tried to sneak a photo of the menu as proof, but they were too old and faded; they obviously don\u2019t spend their profits on printing new ones.\u00a0 The showers didn\u2019t create the best ambience in the square, though it was rather nice without the crowds, so we headed away, down some more\u00a0 narrow streets.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Just
Just waiting for my friends to join me in Piazza San Marco<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I love the way, when you\u2019re wandering this city, you can find yourself in a street, or a piazza and realise that you\u2019ve been this way before.\u00a0 And then it\u2019s also quite amazing that even after days of wandering, there are still more streets and canals that you haven’t already discovered.\u00a0 One thing we didn\u2019t expect to discover was a Hard Rock Caf\u00e9, but being in the need of something completely different to wake up our germy taste buds, we took a table and both tucked in to a plate of ribs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Piazza
Piazza San Marco<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

With full bellies we took a few more turns around this rabbit warren city and then stood on the Rialto Bridge after the sun had set, watching the gondolas passing below.\u00a0 By 9 oclock, feeling tired and sniffy, we followed the painted signs to the Piazzale Roma.\u00a0 The signs would occasionally disappear and reappear a few streets later, but they finally did lead us there; though we don\u2019t believe it was ever the shortest route\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Canal
Canal Grande at sunset from the Ponte di Rialto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The start of Rodney\u2019s birthday on Tuesday was not quite as we had hoped.\u00a0 We both woke up feeling rather ill and only a hot shower and some breakfast outside in the sunshine made us both feel slightly more human.\u00a0 We wandered over to the bus stop later in the morning and the no. 19 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-piglets-pages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8396,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977\/revisions\/8396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}