Jigsaws...and Venice !!

Hi Readers,

As some might know, my wife and I are in a type of isolation for a little while, and not because of Covid.

In order to keep as far away from Covid as possible we need to keep to ourselves where we are, and being someone who can't sit still to save myself, I need to continually find ways to keep occupied.

The first two weeks weren't that hard as I was on my own, so I just took off every day for hours riding, running and walking around Melbourne. Now it is different as I can no longer do that and need to occupy myself in the place we are staying at.

One thing I have found that keeps me interested and kills time are jigsaws. I was always of the view that they weren't for me, but boy have I been proven wrong.

I recently went shopping for some, but I wanted ones that held special significance.

As we are both avid travellers and have been so fortunate to have travelled extensively, I found a jigsaw of a place that is definitely in our Top 10 of places we have visited.

Venice!!

We have been here twice, so it has special significance and memories for us.

I was immediately struck by the waterways and the usual images that we always see of Venice, but after spending even more time there I grew to love the myriad of narrow alleys and obscure shops and cafes that just appear from nowhere.

Yes, it is crowded, but one does not always need to be where all the tourists are ( and I'm one of them too!!)

The Gand Canal jigsaw brought back so many memories, and I was only going to post photos of what I had done so far ( Wow, that's exciting I hear you thinking...NOT !), but after scrolling through some of my photos of our trips there I just kept finding photos I wanted to share.

Trust me, it was hard to limit myself to just these!!

This is what it will eventually look like, unless I lose a piece ( read previous post about this!!)

Step 1- Empty the pieces.

 

Step 2 - Do the edges. Always looking for the easy option. I also put all the water pieces in a pile.  There are too many!!

Step 3 - Start somewhere !!! 

I keep going over if there are ads on tv or just for a quick fix every so often.

Stay tuned to see how it goes.

So Readers, this was meant to be all that my post was to be about, but as I said earlier, I got carried away and had to share just some of my favourite pics and moments from our trips to Venice.

Feel free to read on or check out, or even live crazily, and leave a message or memory of places you have been to!! I'd love to read them!!

Another corner on the Grand Canal.

One of my favourite photos, sunset in Venice.

Another sunset in Venice.

Our son Sam flew down from London to introduce us to his new partner, Phoebe. They are now parents of our first beautiful Grandchild, Henry, who we absolutely adore.

It's amazing how the buildings and the water are just so close.

The foreshore at Venice, market stalls everywhere.

It's not just the grand streets and plazas that are attractive. It's just seeing how people live their day to day lives here that is great to see.

A worker has just delivered a load to a shop early in the morning.

When lost, consult the phone and then see who is "the most right"!!

It may not be the Grand Canal, or showing off lots of flashy houses, but this is what it looks like in the majority of canals. Some are as wide as this, others incredibly narrow.

It's not always travel by Gondola here. We made use of the water taxis a lot to travel to the other islands nearby, and to the airport.

On our first trip, we didn't stay in a hotel, but in a school !! Yep, I hear you saying 'That's weird" , but we wanted to do something different. By taking tourists in (only a few each night) it gives the school extra money and supports them. Being teachers, it had extra significance for us. We were able to have a look around once the kids were not there, and great care is taken to ensure that tourists and kids do not cross paths.

However, we did get a few frights at night when we were wandering around and a nun would suddenly appear out of nowhere in the dark.

All in all, a great experience.

And what does one do after such an amazing trip through Europe for a few weeks?

Create a book of course !!

This is a keepsake that we will always treasure, remembering how fortunate we have been to have had this experience.

Well Readers,

A post that was a lot longer than planned, and believe me when I say that I could easily bang on more about Venice, and any other place we have been to !!

Until my next post...

Cheers !!😁