There is so much to see and do in Venice, and this becomes a little bit tricky when you are there anywhere near a full moon in October it seems!
Yes, we were there for some interesting water levels. No where near as high as it can go, not even Aqua Alta (high water), but still enough that we had to look for a couple of alternate routes!
But it was also a thrilling adventure to watch how the Gondolas dealt with both the high water, and all the traffic (police and ambulances) on the Grand Canal, so we spent one day having a leisurely lunch and watching the tide come up to our toes!
Didn’t bother the seagull.
Of course under the advice of some friends we were determined to not be daunted by the proliferation of masks that were available, and we did in fact put one day aside purely to search out the most perfect masks for us. These ones were just stunning!
This was tiring work, (though not as tiring as hearing that Carnevale used to go on for six months), and I was also determined to go back to Café Florian one last time before we left Venice, as I needed another gelato experience with personal jazz band.
Wouldn’t you?
For our last day we decided to do something entirely different and headed out to Lido Beach. So we jumped on the vaporetto (ferry) and took it all the way out to the end of the line … past the Rialto Bridge …
Lido reminded me really strongly of Manly actually. You take the ferry to the “sheltered” harbour and walk the length of the Corso to the “seaside” harbour and beach, which had a Pavilion that reminded me of Bondi! It was even full of English tourists!
I know I’m spoilt rotten, but the sand wasn’t nearly the quality you find on the east coast of Australia! 😛
We walked, we relaxed, we ruminated on how glad we were that it wasn’t high season so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Then we headed back as the sun was setting in order to pack our bags, for tomorrow was travel day!
We were up early to have breakfast and check out. There was just enough time to wander out and find one last Venetian espresso at a coffee shop bar like the locals do.
Hot tip, if you have it standing at the bar you don’t get gouged with the tourist prices that you get when you sit at an out door table with a “view” and table service. We’re talking €1 instead of €2.50 and up.
After picking up our bags and dragging them what felt like the length of Venice, but was in actual fact just to the train station, we jumped on a train, and an hour and a half later we were in …
Florence!
Can you believe it?!? I adore how close everything is in Europe! The adventure continues! So stick with me!
ghoti industries 
So many adventures! I think sitting and watching the world go by and the water levels rise and fall sounds like an excellent way to pass the time. Had never been to the Lido, but if we make it there during the off-season, we’ll definitely have to give it a try. The shot of the city silhouetted against the sky is beautiful, by the way.
End of season/beginning of the off season was wonderful! The pavilion was still open and still serving drinks (Aperol Spritz anybody?), but you could get a table and it was actually relaxing to sit for a while 🙂
Thank you! *grins* I’m quite happy with that shot.