Today was a transit day from Florence to Venice. Interestingly, there was NO Nutella on the breakfast buffet. Our crew liberated some green pistachio spread called Pistachiella instead. It was a bit of a tricky morning with too much time to sit about but not enough time to do anything good. We took a short excursion to try and find the Florence McDonalds, but the weather app indicated that there was a storm coming so we pulled the pin on that and walked back to the hotel.
The very fast train was delayed and not so fast, so by the time we arrived in Venice it was 1.30. We boarded a little boat at the train station to take us to lunch in Venice prior to travelling via boat across to the hotel. Our hotel is on a private island, and “resort style”. It’s a JW Marriott and very nice, but somewhat of a disappointment after the charm of the previous accommodations. That being said, we had a lovely time in the pool and I believe a number of our crew took advance of the guest bicycles for some 10pm exploring in search of the badminton court. I suspect there were some shenanigans that I didn’t hear full details about but it sounds like they had a hilarious time and I’m trusting that there was nothing too nefarious. I was reflecting during the train ride what a wonderful group we are travelling with. I’ve been so many places with the boys and know they are great travellers, but the addition of Eve, Bene, my mother and Amanda & Richard has been wonderful. Everyone has enjoyed interacting with everyone else and it’s been a very special family time after a tough few years.
Our dinner was a slightly lame but well executed pirate cruise. Team Starrett entered into the spirit of the thing and the food was surprisingly decent. We had a great view of the different islands around the lagoon. Our hotel is on the site of an old sanatorium for people with lung diseases. The next one over was a women’s mental hospital. We also saw the big outdoor sculpture for the Venice Biennale and the soccer field for the Venetian team.
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