19-08-2003

The heat and humidity last night was a real test. Judging by the bleary eyes this morning, no one had managed to get much sleep. Caroline had opted to use the ‘grown up’ tent, which meant the boys had their tent to themselves.

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary, so after spending the morning on the beach, the plan for the afternoon and evening was Venice; it just had to be done.

Showered down and after-sun lotion applied, we walked the 1km to Punta Sabbioni to catch the vaporetto (water taxi) into the sinking city. The sun was of course blazing and a throng of jostling tourists had already gathered at the port. The heavy metal doors of the vaporetto were slung back and the stampede to board progressed.

The ride into Venice is always one to remember as salty sea breezes catch the nostrils and the boats bobs happily in the wake of a hundred other water vessels all going about their business. The picture book Venetian silhouette comes into view and the anticipation of walking the maze of ancient streets increases.

Arriving 50 minutes later at the port to Piazza San Marco the stampede to disembark gets under way, funny really; you’d think Venice was going to disappear today? Swept along with the crowd, we headed left off the vaporetto towards Piazza San Marco, stopping briefly to photograph the Bridge of Sighs, The Bridge of Sighs received its name in the 17th century, because the prisoners who passed through it on their way to the prison cells on the other side would most likely see the beautiful sight of the lagoon and the island of S.Giorgio and freedom for the last time.

So many tourists in their desperation to reach the square easily miss this understated and tragic landmark. Passing the numerous market vendors, we strolled past the Palazzo Ducale, the residence of the Doge up to the fall of the Venetian Republic in I797. The Palazzo’s intricate and curvaceous arches providing a welcome rest bite from the heat of the day. Out from the cooling shade and with the Libreria Marciana building on our left we quickly reached the famous Piazza San Marco.

The boys went on ahead whilst Caroline, Lisa and I took a moment to take in the wonderful panorama of history and architecture. The Bell Tower to our left, the ingenious clock tower to our right and just over our shoulder the gold laden Basilica. Timeless structures all built in a city destined one day to disappear forever.

Casually walking around the Piazza, Lisa and Caroline were in their element as shops crammed full of the finest silk scarves, kid-glove shoes and other finery, vied for their attention. Caroline giving in quickly to her first purchase of the day, a beautiful pair of hand made sandals. Out from the air-conditioned shop the heat and humidity hit you like a wall.

“Who’s thirsty”? Caroline asked. We all were; so it wasn’t long before we were seated at one of the immaculately laid tables that edge the Piazza, downing as much of Italy’s finest mineral water as we could. Based on the cost though, we should have been sipping it like fine wine. Refreshed, we headed off to explore the labyrinth of alleyways and streets, which make up this beguiling city. Shops selling everything from the finest handmade luggage to burgers cram into every corner, not an inch of space is wasted. Venice is not for the claustrophobic, as Streets turn into alleyways, alleyways turn into paths and paths surprising, turn into the most magical of piazzas, which make you feel as though you are the first to discover them.

Everywhere you look is an alleyway or a waterway begging to be explored and each one suggesting it leads somewhere special. We quickly lost count of the number of picture postcard bridges we crossed as we made our way through the maze. Finally the streets widened and daylight returned as we found our selves crossing ‘The Grand Canal’, the largest of the waterways to make its way through Venice and once described as “the most beautiful thoroughfare in the world”.

Caroline had a surprise planned as she ‘snuck’ off, quickly getting the attention of one of the awaiting Gondoliers. She returned triumphant and directed us towards the waiting Gondola. “Well is it is your wedding anniversary”, Caroline remarked, off hand, with a glint in her eye the size of Africa. We didn’t ask how much?

The Gondola ride was one to remember and gave us the chance to see Venice, as it should be, from the water. Our Gondolier chatted away happily whilst Miraculously manoeuvring this ludicrously long vessel through impossibly tight turns and waterways. OK, we were a ‘tad’ impressed and YES, there was a huge temptation to start belting out, “…just one Cornetto…” I resisted this temptation, but only just.

Back in the maze and with a little more retail therapy complete it was time to head back to Punta Sabbioni and the Lido in order to start cooking dinner. Caroline had another surprise planned. We were eating out and we were eating in Venice! Lisa and I were still in shock whilst Caroline selected one of the most lavish and respected restaurants to be found. Feeling a little under dressed we were quickly seated with more, “Sirs and Madams” than should strictly be allowed. It was great!

The food and wine didn’t disappoint as we savoured every mouthful. Miles and Max (10 & 13 respectively) happily tucked into the finest steak on offer; whist Caroline, Lisa and I enjoyed blissfully prepared and cooked seafood. The day couldn’t have been more perfect. Caroline, after all this time, your generosity is still wonderfully surprising and very, very much appreciated…thank you!!!

20-08-2003

After another very hot and humid night. After a quick chat with what to do with the day, the consensus was…beach. Rubber dingy and snorkelling kit purchased, we headed for the sand. Jacq Custoe, eat your heart out.

21-08-2003

Having missed the Basilica two days ago we headed back into Venice. Boarding the Vaporetto and purchasing our tickets like regulars we soon arrived back at Piazza San Marco.

The queue to get in was already long and the idea of standing in line roasting wasn’t a pleasant one. Over hearing our conversation, we were asked by an Oriental man if we were English, “yes” we replied. “You don’t have to wait here to go in”, he continued. “Take your bags to the room around the corner and they will give you a pass for free to enter the Basilica and you can then use the side door entrance and miss the line”. We thought this sounded a little too good to be true, but to our surprise it was exactly as he’d described.

Bags stored for free and passes acquired we went in, no queuing. How smug did we feel?

The Basilica is beautiful, intricate mosaics line every wall and ceiling and the age and splendor leave you a little overwhelmed.

OK, a little history.

The Basilica of St.Mark the Evangelist is the cathedral church of the city and seat of the Patriarch of Venice since 1807, when it took the place of the former cathedral of San Pietro di Castello The present Basilica is the third church to be built on the site, following the one commissioned by doge Giustiniano Partecipazio to celebrate the arrival of the body of St.Mark in Venice in 828, and the 10th Century rebuilding ordered by doge Pietro Orseolo I after a fire in 976.

In the second half of the 11th Century doge Domenico Contarini had the church entirely rebuilt on a much larger scale, though using much of the ancient foundations and masonry. The re-use of much of the original masonry is what gives the Basilica its eclectic appeal. I knew we’d kept those little historical flyers for something

Beauty and history aside, Max wasn’t thrilled with the idea of spending more time wondering around ‘a big dumb old church’.

A trip to the glass blowing display was also on the cards and to our surprise Miles was really keen. After getting ourselves to the other side of Venice though we were met with disappointment as a large sign read…’closed today, we are on holiday’.

We jostled through the mass of tourists and finally arrived back at the Vaporetto and shortly after arrived back at our campsite. The evening was drawing in all of us were a little tired. 8:30pm rolled by and our evening meal plan was hatched. Takeaway pizza’s from the Restaurant Al Bacaro a couple of cans of Coke and a bottle of wine all eaten on the beach. What a great evening, after eating we buried both the boys in sand and then decided to sculpt (from the sand) new bodies for them both. At midnight a swim was definitely in order.

22-08-2003

Our last day on the beach. With snorkelling kit and dinghy packed we all headed down to the sand to take up our regular positions. I had a few calls to make to try and sort out the dodgy bearings on Lisa’s F650GS, which we’d discovered in Moscow.

Shouldn’t be a problem I thought, BMW have loads of dealers in and around Venice. How wrong could I have been.

Dealers were either on holiday or for some reason had a real problem coming to terms with the fact that we knew exactly the parts (and part numbers) which needed to be replaced, and that all we needed was for them to order them and fit them ASAP.

After speaking to five dealers I was starting to get really pissed off, especially as my mobile phone bill was going through the roof. Finally I found a garage that could get the parts in but he wouldn’t order the parts until he’d inspected the bike for himself, this would of course take time and so made nonsense of me calling ahead in the first place.

In desperation I called ‘Mondial Assistance’ (a service offered by BMW to help riders abroad). I explained the situation to Mondial and again they seemed to have a real problem with what I actually wanted to accomplish. A long conversation with Maurico, an Italian-speaking operator finally gave me hope, as he understood what we needed. He has promised to call around dealers, get me a provisional delivery date and a time to take the F650 to the dealer.

Great! It had only taken most of the morning. I spent a lot of the afternoon trying to shake of my frustration. Cold beer and sun are a wonderful therapy.

23-08-2003

After a little more time on the beach it was time for Caroline and the boys to get packed up and ready to leave. The time has flown; it only seems like yesterday they arrived.

Caroline had worked out with incredible accuracy the best way to get to the airport using the water taxis. Things didn’t quite go to plan!

We boarded our usual Vaproretto to Piazza San Marco and disembarked at the first stop where we planned to wait with Caroline until she picked up her next connection.

Goodbye kisses exchanged and having checked the boat at the dock was the right one, Caroline and the boys’ boarded and quickly got themselves seated. I waited while Lisa waived her final farewells to her big sister, but was becoming rather disturbed to notice that everyone else with a suitcase and bags was still on dock.

My guess was these lot are also heading to the airport…oh shit! “Lisa they’re on the wrong boat” I shouted as loud as I could. The heavy steel doors of the boat were already being closed. Lisa urgently conveyed a message to Caroline, who in turn quickly had the worst confirmed. At this point the boat hadn’t left the dockside even though the waist high doors were closed. Caroline quickly explained she needed to disembark or miss her flight.

The boys and belongings were gathered but the doorman seemed completely immune to Caroline’s pleading for them to open the doors. Instead they simply shrugged they’re shoulders and told her it was too late. The mooring ropes were now being untied. It’s important to add, the guys who Caroline was pleading with were untying them. It would have taken nothing for them to simply pull back one door and let Caroline and the boys off.

Caroline wasn’t standing for this shit. “C’mon boys we’re getting off” she shouted. The boat was by now pulling away from dock! Faster than… a very, very fast thing. Caroline by now had thrown her rucksack off the boat to the dockside and in spite of the best efforts of the ‘door guys’ she’d followed suit, practically hurdling the boat doors in one go. Max rather unimpressed with the whole thing, very coolly hurled his bag over and jumped.

Whilst all of this was going on, Lisa had gone on board to help with bag finding but was now stuck as the boat pulled away. Miles was getting upset as he’d yet to disembark and mum and big brother were off.

With one rope still attached the boat was going nowhere as Caroline had bravely attached herself to it. The doors guys were still intending to sail away. Between the shouting and yelling of the boat crew came the stern voice of Caroline in full flow…”Give me my child! You aren’t going anywhere until I have my son”. She wasn’t bluffing. My now I’d joined the dockside and was trying to calm down a tense but stupid situation. Finally the boat pulled back up Miles and Lisa got off and the ‘dumb ass’ door guys shouted they’re very best insults. Well, never a dull moment.

This situation wasn’t because of a language problem but simply sheer disinterest to help by the door guys. Ignorant assholes’…that’s why they’re door guys I guess. A short while later and with Caroline and the boys on the right boat, we said goodbye again. This time without a hiccup.

24-08-2003

Our turn had come to leave Venice. We’d had a wonderful week with Caroline and M & M.

After a couple of strong coffees to kick start our day, we packed and hit the road without fuss. The GPS guided us easily through the mainland city and we were soon on the main A4 heading towards Padova. We’ve decided to head towards Milan, as this seems a good central base from which to get to any BMW dealer Maurico can find for us, with the parts for Lisa’s bike.

The day seemed to drag a little, as with like most motorways the A4 isn’t the most interesting of routes, however, our goal was to simply get across country as quickly as possible in case we get the call from Mondial Assistance.

We’d passed Verona by lunchtime (without spotting Juliet) and stayed on the A4 until we reached Bergamo when at last we could again have a little fun on the smaller roads. After a couple of brief stops to map check we had decided to aim for the town of Lecco just east of Lake Como. The SS639 provided us a welcome change of bends and twisty curves. After the monotony of the A4 it was heaven and by 7:30pm we had reached the outskirts of Lecco.

With the campsite easily found and our tent pitched next to the water we were wondering about food. Whilst we busied ourselves with ‘grub’ a small gathering had built around the bikes. Well, if nothing else the bikes are great icebreakers and conversation was soon centering around the machines and are travels. Two of the most interested were Alexander and Alexia (boyfriend and girlfriend).

We chatted with our new friends for about an hour until hunger and thirst finally got the better of us and we said our goodbyes. Within ten minutes Alexia had returned with her mother and several cans of beer. We thanked them profusely. Five minutes later Alexia’s mum was back again but this time with half a bottle of fabulous wine, brought, simply because the beer she’d brought earlier wasn’t cold.

OK right, well that’s the drink sorted but we were still a little short on grub. After a brief scout round on the bike while Lisa sorted the tent I’d found the local Pizzeria, unfortunately the kitchen was shut. Purely by chance the owner (and chef) was a BMW fan with his new and very shiny R1150RT parked outside, with the right compliments paid, he kindly agreed to open up the kitchen and knock us up some spaghetti cabonera. This was then balanced on the back of the 1100GS as I very carefully road back to the campsite. Tired and very relaxed we ate and talked into the night as we watched storm clouds roll down from the mountain. We’re in for a big storm.

25-08-2003

To our surprise we awoke to sunshine. The storm had not delivered the cooler weather we’d predicted.

The area is spectacular with mountains on three sides and the Lake of Lecco directly ahead of us. We finally received the call from Maurico around 1pm and it was good news, he’d found a dealer (who wasn’t on holiday) who could get the parts in and fit them straight away. Even better it had been agreed that the work would be done under warranty. Note: BMW supply all new UK bikes with a two-year warranty, this warranty isn’t recognized by most European dealers who still sell new machines with only 1-year cover.

26-08-2003

The alarm went early and by 7:30am we were up and sorting things out ready to ride into Milan. With the Milan map loaded onto the GPS we’d planned to be at the dealer by 9am. You’ll notice the use of the word ‘planned’

By 9pm we were in the area were the GPS told us we’d find the dealer, we’d already been here 40 minutes and were getting dizzy from circling round and around trying to find them.

Following a call to Mondial we were told we’d been given the wrong address and the right address was in fact the centre of Milan and not in the Eastern suburbs, we’d gotten to know so well.

We were off again. By 11:00 we’d found ‘Carzeta’ the BMW dealer in Milan we’d been searching for, thank god! The Milan traffic had been bloody awful and you need a PHD to understand the road system. Helmets and gloves off we headed for the main office where a smart and very well dressed Milanese gentleman informed us that “no, no!!! you’re bikes do not come ‘ere…beccauuuuusssse we ‘ave no moto workers for La moto, e so you ‘ave to go tooooo de ‘odder Carzete and ‘ere You’a will’a’ find the garage”

In the immortal words of Vinny Jones, “you’re ‘avin a bleedin’ laugh”. The idea of climbing back on the bikes and trying to now get to the other side of Milan was not a good one. Lisa was not a happy bunny.

With our concerns explained it was decided that we’d follow one of their staff on his scooter to the other Carzeta site. We set off following the scooter at a reasonable distance, that didn’t last long as this guy was quick. He was like Speedy Gonzalez but actually on speed. We somehow survived and reach Carzeta II 20 minutes later. 45 minutes after that and we were still having problems as no one knew anything about Lisa’s bike or the parts which had been ordered.

It transpired that Maurico had been talking to a manager at the first Carzeta and unfortunately he was on holiday today and had not informed anyone else about the conversation and subsequent arrangements. Just for good measure no one could get hold of Maurico as he was having a day off. Aaaahhhhhhhh!!!! It felt like a bloody conspiracy.

All was not lost , Carzeta turned out to be stars. With our difficulties explained and understood by their after sales manager it decided that, although no work could be carried out today, as they were fully booked, they would look at Lisa’s bike after closing, order the parts tomorrow and fit them the following day. The relief we felt was tangible. With a clear plan agreed, we said our thank yous and made our way out of Milan.