Last day and return to Norway

As both we and Mother were leaving from Venice we drove down early in the morning. It was still dark when we left, and pouring rain. We had decided to drive north and through the mountains before getting on the major highway for the rest of the way. Unfortunatly the rain obscured much of what I believe to be fantastic scenery. We saw enough to decide to drive through there in good weather some day.

In Venice we turned in the car and luckily there was a baggage deposit right around the corner. We proceeded to spent the day wandering around, always avvoiding the massive stream of tourists. Tor Idar could hardly walk. His thighs have seized up since that run up and down Mount Baldo (he had forgotten to stretch afterward). We peaked into a few churches, looked in vain for public gardens (all the pretty gardens seem to be private and locked up behind walls and gates). We had lunch on the Campo Santa Margherita, where I tried a venetian specialty: octopus in ink sause. It was this black mass with little oktopus' in it and very salty. Not bad though. We continued an through Dosuduro to Chiesa Santa Maria di Salute and sat on the step watching the traffic on the canal before taking the water bus back to the Piazzale Roma. There we got on our respective busses: Mother to Marco Polo airport to continue her journey to visit friends in Germany, and we to Mestre where we had a hotel for the night.

Mestre seems to be where all Venice's immigrant workers live, and is a very unremarkable town. The hotel however was very nice, in a quiet street near the train station. The receptionist was extremely helpfull when we said we had to leave on an early bus, and arranged for us to have breakfast at 6 am and also gave us a room right on the ground floor. 

Sunflowers, Nasturtiums and Dahlias

Irene met us at the station in Stange when we got home and made dinner for us: tagliatelle with a sour cream/grated zucchini/curry sauce. During our absence the sunflowers have started blooming and a hedgehog has moved into the garden. Topsy tries to herd it, Lucy tries to chase it, but it just curls up and sticks out its quills at them. 

Hedgehog in garden