Italy - Venice and Gardaland Theme Park

14-16th Dec
The Italy leg got off to an interesting start with a mysterious knocking sound coming from underneath the van as we drove down the freeway at 90 km/hr out of the Venice port. "I think we have a stowaway" announced Chris jokingly. "Don't say things that aren't true" I responded and then immediately began to worry that it was true. So we exited the freeway and pulled over. Rob and I jumped out of the van and looked underneath in time to see an Albanian stowaway unfolding himself from the tiny space above the muffler. He'd been on a 36 hour ferry ride and a hair-raising trip along the freeway - I suspect the exhaust pipe was getting hot and I'll bet the road looked like it was awfully close - hence the fairly frantic knocking! We had little choice but to let him go, partly out of concern for our own safety and partly out of pity - who knows what conditions drives people to put themselves at risk like that, and who are we to judge whether he is "bad" - he only looked about 19 years old and I would hate my children to be forced into those sorts of choices.

So that incident set the scene for one of our most interesting days. We headed back into Venice by bus from the carpark. My 4th visit to Venice and just as exciting and intriguing as my first visit 25 years ago. The kids loved the place and were thrilled when we agreed to go on the gondola ride - a must for Venice and one of those lifetime memories. St Mark's Basilica is one of the most impressive churches I have ever seen and the kids loved the pigeons out in St Mark's Square that were so tame they landed on the kids heads and shoulders. James managed to keep one on his arm for quite a long walk down the laneway using biscuit crumbs.

Stopped at a glass shop for a couple of small souvenirs, including a tiny glass Christmas tree since we can't have a real one this year. Liam got a turtle to add to his collection.

Reluctantly left Venice, but had the drawcard of a themepark that had been recommended by Carolyn, who is an expert on theme parks!!

So we camped outside the gates of Gardaland near Verona and were first into the carpark next morning. Freezing cold, but beautifully sunny, so we signed up for a winter season pass so we could go for more than a day and headed on in. Initial concerns that some of the park was closed for winter were soon allayed as the adrenaline was pumped up on the roller coaster and the space vertigo rides (Alan, I thought of you, knowing how much you loved that free-fall ride at Disneyworld!! Left our stomachs up the top and screamed all the way down - screaming was completely involuntary!)

By the end of the day still have plenty left to do the next day, so Sunday was back in the park with slightly warmer weath

er. Focused on the shows this time and saw some fabulous iceskating and Christmas shows. Even got to try out some ice-skating ourselves -kids are keen to do that again back in Australia. Fireworks and the grand finale were a great finish, with the kids keen to go back again after our Malta sojourn. Off to Milan that night to catch flights to Malta.