I’ve just spent a few days in Venice, rekindling my love affair with the city. From the number of passers-by either speaking French or wearing Quechua-brand sports equipment (a pretty reliable gauge of French nationality), I’d say I wasn’t the only one putting my school holidays to good use…

My rain jacket holds me in good stead in Paris (I’ve even devoted a previous post to it), but it was incongruously out of place in Venice – even during the downpour of the first evening! The Italian fashion seems to favour a waist-length puffy number, more often than not fur-trimmed, in black, cream or brown. Ai-ai-ai, life is tough for fashion victims!

Venice provides the opportunity for some great photos though. The Byzantine influence on the architecture provides some great instances of Oriental aesthetics, and there are a lot of picturesque clotheslines – just like down the Adriatic Coast in Croatia! One woman decided to wash her sheets… “Good idea!” a chorus of tourists chimed, “especially when hung against cream and terracotta-coloured walls!” I counted eight cameras simultaneously whipped out on completion of the hanging. Nine, including mine, except being alone I didn’t have the option of posing in front of them like many others did!

One of the numerous breaks in my rigorous wandering routine happened to be in Piazza San Marco, where I decided to chance the “no picnicking, no sitting” rules. I was captivated by some idiot woman trying to attract some of the masses of pigeons to her empty outstretched hands. I couldn’t believe it, these are the most overfed pigeons in the world – why would they be inclined to be curious? Spend a euro and get some birdseed if you want that photo! Luckily a German couple noticed her plight and shared their seed. Thank goodness, we’d all be there for a while otherwise…