Venice cont ...

Now into St Marks. While loading new film - disaster - 'Jesus' re-echoed through those hallowed halls when I dropped and broke my camera. Temporarily lost interest in the whole business. We had an ice cream to calm nerves, then wandered for a while and came across a poster of Ho Chi Minh who had died just four days earlier. We bought some grapes with our remaining 100 lire and sat by the canal side to eat, while watching a gondolier and a small Italian haggle over a gondola ride. Fascinating, finally the family went for a ride. Notice how a gondola is curved to compensate for gondolier paddling on one side. (See photos on the previous page.)

From outside the Doge's Palace, next to St Marks Basilica, you can clearly see across the lagoon to the Chiesa di San Giorgio on the Isola di San Giorgio.

We set off to the railway station and changed 10 Swiss francs. We buy some (very expensive) cheese, a mistake, and sit down in café for another ice cream which was also very expensive. We watch people arriving at the railway station with their luggage by gondola. Finally we return to the car, quit Venice and head for Trieste. We pull off road and out of traffic to cook evening meal and be eaten by mosquitoes. We drive on through Trieste and pull off again near Yugoslav border about 11pm to sleep in the car till morning. The car is much more comfortable for sleeping now it's repacked.