Well this is coming to you from a new Aunty on the Schuurman side. And yes, I am just slightly excited at this!! I have seen photo's of my gorgeous wee niece...and she is just the most adorable wee thing!! I think she is a good mix of Dam and Lanz...being that depending on the photo, depends on who she looks like...and I do have to agree with my wee bro, she most definitely has Lanz wee button nose!! Too too cute! Unfortunately, my little niece has done nothing to dispel my desire for kids...rather the complete opposite...if I was clucky and wanting kids before...it is only worse now!! I am truly in love with the wee munchy...I could eat her she is so yummy!
For those of you who may have seen on facebook, the reference to myself as Aunty Lubie...I am now going to clear the matter of your curiosity up. If this name continues within the family...as I unfortunately am most sure that it will...the poor child needs to know that her Aunty Joe, (as I will always refer to myself), is not some dodge, (the nickname could have a somewhat unseemly meaning when the poor child reaches her teens), but rather, had a horrid nickname thrust upon her as she innocently put lipgloss on her lips, one lovely afternoon at a family lunch. This would normally be an unimportant event, but unfortunately for myself, I have the raucous, joking-around, hassling type brothers, who decided from that moment on I would be known as lip-lube to the family. This name was a keeper, (Yay!). And hence the name was shortened to a more effortless calling-length of Lubie. And the joy of facebook is that this name is not limited to my immediate family, and those unfortunate friends who happen to be present during family gatherings, but only the whole world in which I associate myself! So now that the matter has been cleared, and you are all most definitely in my camp, sympathising in the awful things that brothers thrust upon us, I will move on to more travel blogging. :-)
Leaving Rome, we booked ourselves tickets on the overnight train to Venice. Unfortunately our budget did not stretch far enough to allow us into one of the cabins with beds, and we were therefore we found ourselves in a tiny cabin filled with four others. Despite having presumed otherwise, we were not sitting next to each other, but opposite. The reason for this we quickly discovered. To get ourselves comfortable, we had to pull the bottom of our seats out making it possible to lie slightly horizontal. The only problem with this was that your seat, touched the seat of the person in front of you...explaining why you sat opposite your partner. This was relatively, (and I do mean ONLY relatively), comfy for me...being that I was shorter, I spread my legs out on top of Ben and got some semblance of sleep. Ben however, being that much taller, could not stretch out, and when he did have his feet my way, I had to half lie on them, (as they were too heavy to rest on top of me), and this did not last long before I had cramp and we both had to move. So the poor guy ended up sleeping most of the night with me sprawled out like a child half over him. Despite the wriggling round and broken sleep, the time passed quickly, and before we knew it, it was 5am and we were in Venice. A couple of coffees later and we were ready to attempt the day!
Venice...one of my top three places in the world to visit! Now I had heard from many a mouth, that Venice was a let-down, smelly, boring, expensive and generally disappointing. I, however, totally disagree! This has been my favourite place in the world so far. I had always imagined what a city that has canals instead of streets might look like...and it has lived up to every expectation, and every beautiful photograph I had. It is just gorgeous! We spent most of yesterday wandering around and taking a million photos, (not unusual for us). Ben, who I think has a map for every city in the world implanted in his head, actually got lost! That is truly a first! Me, who since leaving the grid of Christchurch, has no sense of direction what-so-ever, followed him round, innocently believing him when he told me he knew where he was. One would think, that my trust in his incredibly accurate sense of direction, would have been questioned, when he led us to a dead end, (the ocean, at the end of the island), but alas no, I followed him still. Dead end number two had him lead me down a narrow street, which ended in a doorway to another canal. This was the point where I told him, that Venice had beaten him and his perfect sense of direction and that I was going to ask someone the way to the bus station...but being a male, Ben did not approve of this idea, and assured me he would get us there. Which he did, I have to admit, after over an hour of seemingly aimless wandering. Whether he actually knew the general direction, or he was just determined to overcome the challenge, I will never know, but I do pride myself of playing the part of the good wife, and leaving him in control!
So, checked into a camping ground with a gym and pool, (both of which we have made the most of already, despite being eaten alive by mossies in the gym), and in an upgraded room with an en-suite, thanks to Ben working his magic with the receptionist, we are ready for day two in Venice, where I will attempt to work my magic on a gondola punter!
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