Preganziol

Hello all,

I arrived near Venice on the train on Saturday morning & met Kay at the station, in the McDonalds since it was airconditioned! It's a bit of pot luck whether the train you get is air conditioned or not when you ride the local ones. Some are new, two storey & very cool, & some are older with only windows & you need to fan yourself when it stops at stations! From Ravenna it was about 3 hours with only one change in Ferrara. There was a bit of a wait so the trip itself wasn't that long.

Kay & Daniel live in a lovely house in a quiet street, & only a few hundred metres from the local train station. It's 3 storeys with 4 bedrooms. I am downstairs in the basement, next to what I call the Banquet Hall. It's a huge room with a bar, fireplace & table etc! I quite like being downstairs as it's a few degrees cooler than upstairs & the heat has been quite oppressive in the last few days.

Kay has planted a vegetable garden & lots of flowers around the place, which are all in bloom at the moment. They also have 3 cats who roam around! I thought I'd lost one the other day, but apparently she goes visiting and returns when she likes.

Saturday afternoon we had lunch out, came back & put my luggage in & then went to Treviso. It's an old walled city with a system of canals underneath. I think it is known as Little Venice, but there are some roads/cars as well. There are (of course) lots of narrow streets, but this town had 5 or 6 waterwheels which was new!

Sunday they took me for a drive to Aloso & Bessamo del Grappa (I think!). Aloso is a town on a hilltop & there's the walls of a castle on the summit - that we climbed to see in ridiculous heat! Worth it though for the fabulous 360 degree view of mountains, green valleys with vineyards etc.

You cross a bridge to get into Bessamo & we had a wander & a fabulous gelato! I have eaten many in the last few days. These two towns are the first that I had seen the effects of war. In Treviso there's a building that was bombed & while it has been rebuilt, they have left the jagged darker line to indicate the level it was at after the war. Bessamo had several walls where there are bullet holes in the external plaster. Weird to see.

On Monday, as I said in the last blog, I had a slow morning & ended up going back to Treviso to have a better look around. had a map & a walking path from the tourist Office & it was great to just see it on foot. Came home after 4 or 5 hours, ratted through their fridge & cupboards, & cooked dinner for Kay & I (Daniel jetted off to work in Brussels for a few days that morning) which she was quite thrilled about when she got home at 8.30!

Yesterday I spent the day in Venice. Actually, the day & the evening! Was out for 15 hours & am really quite exhausted even this morning! Had a wonderful day with Sylvie & some of her friends. We visited the Glass Factory which was interesting. They store the glass in what is called the Library, & strangely it looks just like that! They make the glass in rectangles that are broken into 2 squares, which they then "file" on shelves all around the walls! They make about 3000 colours. Fortunately I did not feel the need to purchase & send any home, as a) I don't think I can buy before I know what I want to make & b) they have a distributor in Melbourne!

After this we had lunch & went to a bagshop of an apparently famous italian designer who Sylvie knew of. This was an experience in itself! They offer you water or coffee & were very nice, but the bags were a tad out of my price range! I'm talking 500 - 1200 euros or roughly $700 - 2000. For a handbag!!! Beautiful as they were, I was quite happy to simply look at them.

I left the others for a few hours to go shopping (some of you will be very happy with my purchases!) & then I was lucky enough to be able to go to their apartment & take a quick shower before dinner. They ended up with a late booking so I said goodbye & ate on my own, caught a vaporetto (water equivalent of a bus) back to the station & then a train here. Got in at 10.45pm after it had taken me nearly two hours just to get from the restaurant home! Anyway, it was great.

I might get my act together & go to Verona this afternoon. Tomorrow I am going to Bolzano to see Otzi the Iceman & then Friday I will head to Geneva.

That's about all! Kay has taken a few photos that we will try to put on here, however she is heading off for 5 days holiday tomorrow morning so we may not have time. I guess you'll find out!

Luv,

Belle xxx