…and you can actually buy Pinocchio puppets there too! Of course it was breathtaking! I went there a number of years ago with my dad in the spring and was extremely excited to make a return visit – a little bit because last time, in the last half hour of our trip, I managed to drop my photo filled camera into the water when traveling away on a boat…..so many tears and years later I returned with my camera strapped firmly wrapped around my wrist!

There are dozens of campsites to chose from most of which are set on the lagoon of the mainland surrounded by beaches. We decided to opt away from these as our trip wasn’t about beaches and so went for Camping Fusina which was 100 metres from a boat straight to Venice. We somehow found ourselves with a pitch right on the water’s edge looking over Venice in the afternoon sun. It was beautiful. We relaxed on the waters edge for the evening enjoying the peace and quiet…..until we went to the campsite bar where around 100 18 year old Aussies, Brits and Americans on a ‘Contiki’ holiday were dressed up in Venician masks and tanked up on shots and beers. We endeavoured to watch the Olypmic closing ceremony – which made me emotional and proud. It was wonderful to watch but by the time we got to George Micheal’s returning moment he was completely drowned out by the nightclub sound of a 2000 decibels and fornicating youths (yes we felt old).

We woke on Monday morning to sunshine and and a gentle breeze coming off the water. We headed to the boat and 26EUR later (we braced our wallets for the day) we were on the water making the 20 minute trip to the city. Amazingly we pulled up at the stop and where 20yards from the hotel me and Dad stayed out so I had my bearings. Dave had been with his family before but very kindly as he knows my love of wondering and staring at everything old and pretty he let me be the tour guide for the day. We literally spent the next 6 hours or more walking, watching, photographing, hiding from busy streets, taking in the views, holding hands (something in the air I think!) and just relaxing and not feeling the pressure to do anything too touristy. Dave’s brother, Joe, recently got engaged to his girlfriend Danni in Venice so it was nice to think about their time here as well.

My dad and I had discovered these places called cicchetteria which serve a speciality kind of tapas and chilled prosecco by the glass. The locals pop in, have a nibble and a small glass and perfectly chilled and unique prosecco. They stay for 10 minutes, chat, and then move on. I was desperate to show one of these to Dave but sadly, it being a Monday most were closed. But we found one and had a sort of experience. Oh well, will have to come back again soon.

I won’t describe or bore you with the details or my wittering about just how much I love Venice. I cant remember if it was my mum or dad who commented that i seem to say that each place we go is my favourite so far…i admit i have gushed a lot recently…but Venice really is a special and timeless place and if you have the chance to go then don’t shy away.

We got back to the campsite in the evening via the same boat. We were interested on the way back to see a sort of enormous industrial estate right next to our campsite and two huge towers with flames erupting endlessly out of the top apparently as it was Sunday when we arrived we didn’t notice. As we got to our camper and looked left we discovered Monday had brought life into the area around 500metres to our left. It was suddenly a little like we were camped next to the set of Mad Max, The Towering Inferno or perhaps Armageddon. It was a little strange from then onward as the flames continued all night and so when we went to sleep there was a flickering orange glow outside the window, albeit a deep and peaceful sleep.

We also met a lovely French family with a 1979 green camper who were lovely in sharing their trip as well as, after hearing were going to be in France, gave us a French camper magazine with a repair company they hoped we wouldn’t need!

So we awoke Tuesday to another lovely morning (the flames where still going – persistent buggers) and we made our farewells to the coast and Venice and headed for Verona….We were stopped at a service station by the local police….but it’s ok as he all he said was – ‘you are number 1….so cool’ and promptly patted us on the back, gave us his car club Facebook details and went on his way…excellent!