Monday 20 July 2015

An evening in Venice

So our final final show was at 8pm on the friday night. It was immensly warm with all the children and parents packed into the hall of the school, with not only the 5 shows from each class but also 3 videos and 2 videos of pictures. By the end of it, the shower that I had taken after camp seemed pointless and I was reminded of why I don't wear makeup in Italy. After, we headed into the centre of Treviso, all packed into 3 cars and again, followed the Italian tradition of standing around for half an hour before heading off to a bar. It was a lovely evening in the warmth of Italy, with spritz and underaged helpers being unable to hold their drink.

I had a wonderful lay-in the following morning despite the 2 year old playing the recorder outside my window at 6am. My lay-in was so good in fact that my host grandma kept popping her head round my door to see if I was still breathing. I had my first proper lazy day in a while and then got ready to go to the Saint's festival in Venice. We headed off about 5pm, all packed in the car with the pushchair on the laps of the people in the far backseat. We took the train from Treviso and arrived in Venezia. It's such a fascinatingly beautiful place and was absolutely rammed with people. We pottered through the masses of people from the train station all the way across the island to Basilico San Marco, lifting the pram over the countless bridges that crossed the canals. It was absolutely breathtaking. Walking round the corner through the thousands of people into the most beautiful piazza, with the sound of glasses cheering, espresso cups chinking their saucers and a band playing an Italian Aria. We found a place to sit and had homemade paninis for dinner. Now, usually, if the fireworks don't start until 11.30 and you had a 2 year old, you would've thought we would have arrived a little later or brought a proper picnic and blankets to sit on but this is Italy. So we sat from 6pm round until the fireworks during which the 2 year old was madly weaving in and out of the people walking past and the 10 year old complaining that his dad kept telling him the wrong start time for the fireworks. The display itself was magnificent and went on for 40 minutes. However, the baby and grandma slept through them, the mum was antsy to go and the son was scared of them. So at 12.30 we were swept through with the crowd as everyone wandered back to the station, stepping over numerous glass bottles and ice cream cones. Upon our arrival we looked at the train times and saw that the next wasn't until 4 in the morning. My host mum hadn't looked up the times of the trains before leaving. Another 'Oh Italy' moment. Luckily I have become accustomed to sleeping in any place I can, so with an empty stomach and in the 30 degree heat, I laid on the train station floor, with the 10 year old in the pram and the 2 year old coursing round the train station, and I slept. We eventually arrived home after standing on a train full of sweaty people and all piling back into the car with the pram back on our laps. But of course when we got back we had to eat breakfast...

So every week you get off the last of 4 or 5 sweaty and uncomfortable trains that have flown you through the beautiful Italian country, picturesque villas and quaint towns until you're so sweaty and you bundle off the train and see the welcoming arms of your host family. However this journey back to my first host family had been slightly more demanding. I got off the second train, only to have found that my connecting train had been cancelled. (I have had such great luck with Italian public transport that it was bound to happen at some point). I rang my host family who said there was another train in 2 hours. I pulled up a chair and got a coffee but at this point I had only slept a few hours since my last long wait in a train station so wasn't feeling my best. My previous host mum had given me a goody bag for the journey, which was full of 4 peaches and 2 apples, which I couldn't actually fit into my luggage and all I really wanted was a bottle of water. But it's so sweet. I eventually arrived back in Cremona and felt wonderful. I was welcomed back so lovingly and fell into bed. I cannot believe that now I have a few days to recuperate before getting to see my boyfriend for a long weekend after 6 weeks away. I am absolutely buzzing.

No comments:

Post a Comment