Venice

Venice. And wind down the hill/mountaIn we did and up and down numerous others till we finally came to the entrance of the motorway via a petrol station so, as we were there, Gary decided to top up the tank with diesel. We are keeping a log of where and when we fill up - how much, cost etc. So whilst Gary fills up I normally furiously do my duty - speedo, litres, euros, date, place etc. This time though the specs were wiped off the bowser before I had time to complete my data entry???? but not before I had written down the Euro amount. Gary climbs back in - "wow" he says, "87 euro for that top up, pretty expensive diesel". "No" I say, "I wrote down 71 euro in the book because that was what the finished amount was".To be honest we were both shell shocked because not half an hour earlier the sweet little old lady who ran the campsite we stayed at in Tuscany had tried to overcharge us a night's stay but we had put it down to a genuine mistake. Now we were being overcharged again. So we park up and walk into the station expecting a fight to get our money back and well, it was totally the opposite! We showed him what I had written in the log, he opened his wallet and gave us the 16 euro difference straight away in cash wIthout any argument. Mind you there were 2 policemen sitting in their car on his site so whether that made a difference? Trouble was, twice in 1 hour with the second one being such an obvious scam, my rose coloured glasses were shattered! So on the motorway and Molly once again performs really well - we love Molly - and we arrive in Venice, unfortunately still in the pouring rain, to a mass of roadworks. LIterally 2 hours later we are stIll tryIng to access the campsIte set In the GPS and Kate (the GPS) Is throwIng a hIssy fIt. We have done U turn after U turn, done our shopping at Lidls during one of the circular events, and have not been able to penetrate the roadblocks to get to the side of the river that the campsite is on and, believe me, we have tried everything. It is now getting gloomier and gloomier and night time is fast approaching. Abandoning our aIm to get to that campsite we head for Fusina where there is another site, a little more expensive according to our book, and where I stayed 2 years ago wIth Foo and NeIl. We arrive there within 15mins with much relief. This site however is now 34 Euro a night and it is winter here, low season!!!! The supermarket has closed up, as has the restaurant, the pizzeria, the bar, in fact all the facilities except the sanitary block - what a rip off. We do manage to get the price reduced to 30 euro a night but it is still double what we have been paying of late. Hey- that's Venice for you! We choose a site right by the water and watch the big trading ships toddle past Molly's window, sIlhouetted by the light of the moon. Tomorrow we hope for better weather so we can spend Gary's birthday in Venice The rain got increasingly heavier throughout the night but the next morning we woke up to fog and the rain had stopped and.........could that be a little flicker of sunshine on Gary's birthday? Feeling happier we caught the Fusina ferry to Venice and by the time we arrived, quite early to try to beat the crowds for a while, the sun was shining. First stop St. Peters square. Traipsing along we started to see a few people wearing knee hIgh, bright orange disposable boots over their shoes and noticed raIsed board walks springing up........yep, believe it or not, Venice, of all places, was flooded! There were places we could not get to but all in all we spent most of the day walking, seeIng a lot of VenIce, getting lost, finding little maIzes of back streets away from the tourist areas, had a great lunch, hooked into free wifI and caught up with things, bought Gary's birthday present, sat and ate cream croissants and drank limoncello in the sun while we waited for our return boat and had an amazing day. It was warm and bright and just....Venice! We scuttled back to Molly as the sun set and it grew cold and cooked Gary's birthday dinner request - sausages, wedges, tomato/garlic salad and fresh vegetable stir fry.....yum. Oh forgot....with lashing of red wine. Tomorrow we head for the Istrian peninsula - down the East coast to OpatIja and then on to Pula looking for warmer climes again.