My Italian Journey: 19 May: Day eight: Venice

Soon after 7am I walk to the Fundamente Nuove while Chicken sleeps more, recovering from her exertions over her show and her travel. When I spent my two months in Venice, I walked to the Fundamente Nuove every morning—to look over the lagoon and possibly see the distant mountains. I loved as well to see people travelling to work, just as I do in London and all cities. Plus I love the business of the many boats sailing by or bringing in the travellers. In contrast to car and lorry traffic on roads, which I find ugly, I enjoy the boats. The morning is warm and sunny, but I can’t see the mountains. From the Fundamente Nuove I retreat a hundred yards to a café where I buy tea and take it into the garden of a Jesuit Church. The garden is ringed on three side by what I imagine was once a seminary but is now rooms for tourists. I read for more than an hour. I’m not reading Italian or Venetian books as I should be but a novel about a plague village in the Peak District and a book on “romantic…