Venice Holocaust Memorial

We had our final hearty breakfast at the hotel with the idea being that we’d not need to eat again until we got our inclusive sandwiches on the flight to Amsterdam. That kind of didn’t work out.

After checking out, we decided to wheel the suitcase around with us rather than leave it at the hotel. There’s a shuttle bus to the airport from Piazzale Roma, so there seemed little point in coming all the way back to Mestre just to grab a bag and walk to the railway station.

We picked up our shuttle ticket from the machine as soon as we reached the Piazzale Roma to save time later. A good job as the machine is very picky about how you insert notes! I think it only likes them fed in one way of the possible four you can insert them.

As usual with no plans we just ambled. Heading for the Jewish area, we found a little art shop where Gill bought a couple of paintings (I swear the new bathroom will be the best-decorated in all of Scotland) and I snapped some photos of the Holocaust memorial. Like so many others I’ve seen, it’s engraved with the names of all the locals who died after being taken away by the Nazis during WWII.

Detail of the memorial

Time flew over the day. We were due at our bus around 14:45 and spent the intervening time locating little stops we’d not found before, and shopping. Well – Gill shopped, I stood outside guarding the suitcase and reading The Invisible Man on my phone.

Eventually, laden down with souvenirs, we capitulated and stopped for a quick snack. Of ice cream, tea, and strawberry/chocolate crepes. It wasn’t cheap, but it was nice and we left in good time to hop onto our bus for the airport.

The flights back were comfortable (though there was a one-hour delay between Schipol and Glasgow) and we were home a little after 22:00. Full marks to KLM for comfort, in-flight snacks and excellent cabin staff. Marks off for the rubbish “self-check-in” at Marco Polo airport, that confused the hell out of anyone over 40 and caused horrendous queues. It also placed Gill behind me on our final flight instead of next to me – something that likely wouldn’t have happened if a human being had checked us in.

As always, good to be home. Our next trip will likely be Egypt in the summer. I can’t see us being able to fork out for anything else before that!