Venice

I have just written my diary. Not that exciting a statement to be honest, but on reflection, without knowing it, I have used words such as 'immersed', 'plunged' and 'waves' to describe the slight aquatically themed visit that is going to Venice. So yes, we were immediately plunged into the Venice atmosphere from arrival off our ferry boat. You are immersed in the very fibre of the place, the elegant buildings, the obvious canals and bridges. And the sheer waves of bus boats that came and went throughout the Grand Canal was quite something, even in winter! 

Our day then: We drove from our Area de Sosta 15 miles to Punto Sabbioni, a spit of land that is slightly to the east of Venice. From here we took the boat across to the 'Islands' of Venice. 30 mins or so later, we arrived right by the waters edge along the Doge's Palace, Bridge of Sighs and walked through to Plaza de San Marco where we photographed the basilica. Quite a sight! Venice itself has a kind of immediate impact though due to the volume of boat traffic in all directions. A remarkable place. The small streets which lurk between the stacked up buildings seem to interweave, cross cross and become infinitely confusing. We did however find some of the special places. The first one was Punto di Rialta on the way to the Mercato del Rialto. From here the bombardment of "selfie, selfie?" happened once again, so once again we demonstrated with a long armed prowess, as 4 or 5 of the sellers watched, the ability to take a selfie without the use of an illegally sold stick!

We were next bombarded with dining options after we left the bridge. We found an appropriately priced place canal side. Sat underneath a patio heater to take the chill away, our outside dining experience was great. In fact, the third set of red awnings in the photo on the right, is where we were.

From here we watched the comings and goings from close up and were treated to a lively lunchtime. Although the water bus stops were busy, and taxis came and went from next to us, the noises were not busy. It was quite odd, everything was relatively quiet and calm. Had it been a regular street then it would've been quite an aural event too. Thank goodness the smell of the canal that we'd been warned about doesn't seem to exist (much) in winter! That would have been interesting!

From here on in, Venice seemed to be a theme of continued tall and elegant buildings, water streets and bridges. The interesting thing is that obviously different places have different types of shops. I'm not sure if we blogged this, but for example, San Marino was all about gun shops, perfume, handbags and watch shops, whereas Venice was all about Carnival mask shops, antiques, and then endless shops of stuff you can't afford. I did almost have a moment as we passed the Dolce and Gabana shop, to go in and ask for an item, but then haggle with them, reasoning that 3 people in one shop with10 items for sale is not good and that I would not pay the full price as I don't need to pay 3 people to sell me something. I then however, recalled who I was and quickly remembered that I am generally styled by Tesco.

More sights were consumed throughout the afternoon, this being the 'Snails staircase' or 'Scala contari di Bovolo.' A real hidden gem, where nobody was. I am still however, trying to work out why the snails want to go upstairs anyway?

Venice then is done for now, but worth another visit we think. We've had a real flavour, we've emptied our pockets, but we have witnessed quite a fascinating place. And before anyone asks, no, we didn't go on a gondola. Clare asked what the cost was to be told 80€. When we commented that it was too expensive, we were told by the gondolier, "Nothing is cheap in Venice". 

Napoli....Crapoli!

Quite a harsh judgement here you may think, but today was just a day for a Saturday trundle into 'town' and a look about. If anywhere was going to put you off Italy, then this was the place. Clare and I were gobsmacked. We have never seen so much litter, literally a filthy, dirty place.

This was a fortunate area, as it actually had a bin, and most of the rubbish was in the bin and not just scattered everywhere else! 

We have never seen so much dereliction in buildings, including an eye opening journey from Pompei Scavi station into Napoli Garibaldi terminal. The endless crammed concrete flats all stacked up against each other gave a real vision of what life in parts of Italy is like.

 

The feeling of deprivation and sadness was experienced even more with parents and their children playing accordions, drums and tambourines to backing tracks on the trains and begging for what little cash they could get. A very terrible experience for us all to see. I asked Jasper if he was happy with his home. He said yes. I then said, "yes, we've got a nice little cottage haven't we" to which he responded, "no, its a van and a good van too".

We have never seen so many apparent illegal dealings, street vendors, men approaching us asking for money etc. One man even asked Jasper and Maya if they wanted a lighter to play with!!! The support for any type of pedestrian activity seems next to nil with us crossing on crossings that have no legal ruling.

The 'Broken Britain' headlines seem a long way away when you see the poverty and complete failings of the Italian infrastructure that we have witnessed today. If all of this wasn't bad enough, there is also an abundance of what can only be described as "shanty towns" as well along side the railway tracks. Literally sheds made of cardboard boxes and old pieces of boards, corrugated sheets, whatever was handy we guess. We've seen these on several occasions and at first glance assumed it was an illegal tip. Not a nice thought that some people have to live there. 

So whatever happens on our trip, we remind ourselves that we are fortunate and lucky to live where we do (well, when we get back to lovely Somerset!) and Napoli will also serve to remind us, that even in times of 'van' hardship, we are all ok.

On the up side, we did find a restaurant that did some lovely Napoli pizzas and they are supposed to be THE pizzas to eat in Italy!

They were really good! We also met a lovely couple from Doncaster in one of the many wild and vivid markets, which actually were quite a sight that we won't forget (the markets that is, not the couple from Doncaster.) In fact the markets were a good place to be in order to see a "normal" Saturday in Napoli.

We saw loads of live shell fish just wallowing about in pans of water and escaping over the edges of these dishes. We even saw one octopus making a 'run' for it down the pavement. He had got out of his dish and was off back to the sea! He only got 30cm though before he was picked up and placed back in the bowl.

So all in all, quite an experience for us today! We really do have some tales to tell! And we are truly grateful for small mercies.

Ed and Clare

'The great San Remo shoe swap'

Ed...Welcome to Italy!

And what better way to start this part of the trip than with some absolutely mega storms. You can forget the Lisbon storms we suffered, last night was something else. Not much sleeping, huge lightening flashes, cacophonous thunder etc. for about 2 hours. Once we were all properly awake, the devastation on the site was quite something. Huge branches were down, debris was everywhere, leaves and bark had been ripped off trees, and then a realisation that 14 of our shoes were missing!!! The every day shoe that sits under the van. The shoes that lack style. The shoes that fashion forgot. All of our CROCS had gone! 

To be honest, Clare and the children disappeared before I'd woken properly and had come back with one of my trainers, which had been banished outside due to the terrible post sporting odour. This one was the easy one to find. It had barely travelled 1.5 metres. Then the fun began.

Clare ... As I looked out of the window to see what the morning weather was like, I saw people walking around looking under hedges and bushes. I thought they had lost their cat, which we seem to have adopted a bit. Actually a lot! Jasper has actually named it Jack. It's a lovely cat! I then saw one of Ed's trainers and one of Maya's pink CROCS on the nearby sink, so wondering what they were doing there, I went out to get them. Then I realised that my CROCS were missing. And Jasper's, and Ed's. In fact, as I looked again, one of Jasper's flip flops was nestled in a hedge. I realised that the site must have flooded a fair bit in the downpours and our footwear had floated away!!!

Half an hour passed as we joined other campers in looking for our shoes and other things that usually stay outside of the van, such as door mats, buckets, spades and Jasper's stick collection.

There was much confusion going on! We found the other of Jasper's flip flops in a hedge several metres away from our van (actually about 25m), and one of Maya's flip flops too. Then I saw my blue CROCS in someone else's box under their van. Not knowing how to say, "excuse me, I think you have have got my shoes", in Italian was starting to worry me, but then the lady opened the door and came out. She saw me with a small pair of blue CROCS, and then looked at the ones she had. Quite quickly she realised the mistake, and there was a Cinderella moment as we each put on our own shoe to prove that we had it sorted!!!

After showers we set about searching again, for a green CROC, one of Jasper's and the other of Maya's flip flops. In fact, for about an hour Jasper literally had two left feet, so had to hop about with the aid of his most useful stick!!!

Ed...

The rather amusing confused state continued on site. Oh for Esperanto! Sorts of half discussions were happening with German, Italian, Swiss campers and us, in a sort of general hotch potch of French, German, Italian and English, a language I'd like to call Freuitalischish. A veritable melting pot of Euro-footwear-language. The illusive green croc was found some 2 and a half hours after waking up. A kind German lady had found it some distance from where we were. In a sort of shoe exchange, Jasper had been enthusiastically searching amongst the hedges and cacti and had found a flip flop, returned to a very happy Italian, and a pair of Blue crocs, returned to a happy Swiss guy.

If the absence of footwear under the vehicle doesn't sway you to believe the severity of the weather that we have just had (and are still suffering from), then the playground which Jasper and Maya had earlier yesterday now looks like this. I don't think Jasper or Maya did it!

Ed.... Lessons learnt, I sit here writing this short shoe episode, with all footwear 'in' the van, regardless of its odour! 

Clare...I'm frantically looking for 'Odour Eater Spray' which I know I packed somewhere!!!

Enjoy your weather, wherever you are!!!

100 up!

Day 100

The kids are running amok, Clare and Ed have taken to drink, everything is going wrong, arguments are rife, fuel is low, food is terrible, the van keeps breaking down and all in all it's just a terrible time. Don't ever live the dream, it's a nightmare!

That's how day 100 could've read. When we set off on this adventure, we had no idea a) how long we would last, b) if we could live in such a small space, c) whether we would like the reality, d) who would kill who first and e) if it was all just pie in the sky thinking?

As far as it goes though, only one of the above listings is true....Clare and Ed have taken to drink, but anyone who knows me (Ed) well knows that I have such a low alcohol threshold that this is not a major problem! 

We could've listed 100 things done, or listed 100 amazing things. We've done 100 things, seen 100 amazing things, been to 100 amazing places, had 100 amazing experiences as a family. Let it be said though, 100 days out of a life is not long, but a valuable experience has been had in this time so far. Some good, some bad, some amazing, some dull, some expensive, some free, but a rich experience nonetheless.

Many thanks to all who have looked and commented on the blog so far. We have approximately one month now until we reach our destination in Italy for a 'different' Christmas. A piu tardi! 

Ed and Clare 

La Vuelta is a belter (no funciona el frigorifico)

A real day of contrasts. Ups and downs, highs a slows, peaks and troughs, goods and bads, blacks and whites. 

Sad face:(

We woke to find that what we thought we had solved with the fridge problems, ie it not working at all, had indeed failed. The lack of success meant that all our supposedly chilled food had to go. So out with limp lettuce, warm milk, pungent chicken and tepid yoghurts. At least the cat was happy!!!

Happy face:)

Went to find a local camper van shop which I'd seen the day before to help me with said fridge issue. Clare had scripted in Spanish and English what I had to say. So I said it. The guys on the shop floor had a good chuckle, but they did help me out and gave me the directions and the number of some local guys that could help with the fridge issue.

Sad face:(

Nothing for lunch, other than emergency jars of jam and marmite, and so we decided upon turning the van round to face the other way (and levelling it) in the vain hope it might help! Fingers were crossed. And toes!

Happy face:)

We cycled to Pamplona for the second time in two days. So that's 24 miles in total for us all. What a treat. La Vuelta had arrived in all it's pomp and ceremony. Children got T- shirts, hats, wristbands,  magnets etc. which were absolutely brilliant. We mooched around the paddock (sorry for the Motorsport analogy, not sure what the cycling terminology is). We sat down, and made our limited picnic in the shade of the main square. So emergency lunch it was: either jam or marmite spooned onto a baguette. I plumped for a bit of both. It's not a combination I'd repeat!

Sad face:(

The crowds for the start were quite busy and quite ill mannered in parts. Our spot soon disappeared with elbows pushing and shoving. What it's like for the bull run I can only guess! We did however stick it out and ...

Happy face:)

Watched the start of the Pamplona stage; what a great sight to see! Chris Froome cycled right past in front of us. Jasper and Maya whacked their free Skoda boom whackers with gusto! We cheered! 

Nervous face:(

Would the fridge be working?????

Happy face:)

Cycling back from Pamplona. Jasper and Maya once again did some superb riding without any moaning or whinging. In fact, cycling alongside Maya is quite interesting. The topics of conversation can range from, "why do we have to pedal on our bikes?" to "how old do you need to be before you can have a phone?" to discussing what a tenth of a mile is, to "do women run away from the bulls? (Pamplona reference) etc. 

Happy face:)

Realising the fridge has worked after our last chance saloon of turning the van around in order to level it further. Not that it wasn't level, but it just wasn't level enough apparently. Therefore we have gone from 'no funciona el frigorifico' to 'funciona el frigorifico' which has been a real sad face into a happy face.

Happy face:)

Happy cycling children with all their La Vuelta gear only for €10 each. They completed their very hot (32degrees) 12 miles today in 1:35mins. Well done kids! Proud Daddy!

Ed and Clare