Blackberry Juice: Canal hopping in Venezia

Venice is slowly sinking, and during the highest tides good portions of the city are submerged. After seeing the hordes of turistos swarming over every bridge and gelateria stand, it's not hard to see why. Even your adventurers couldn't really claim the moral high ground having pigged out on the train on an assortment of ham, eggplant and feta sandwiches.

Nonetheless, walk a few blocks away from the main canals into the maze of backstreets, crisscrossed with quiet canals and the occasional goldola drifting silently by, and the magic of Venice is slowly revealed. Little touches - like the boxes of red and white flowers that adorn every window sill, and the faint strains of a Vivaldi violin concerto drifting around the corner from the buskers in the next piazza - linger long after the hawkers on the hyper-commercialised Rialto bridge have shut shop. And as the sun sinks over the Canal Grande and the lights of the waterfront ristorantes begin to reflect off the water, it's easy to imagine a time before Piazza della Burger Kingo. It's also time to eat!

As a finale to five days of Italiano cusine it was time to splurge. A basket of crusty bread loaves kicked things off, followed by a steaming seafood risotto lavished with fresh cream and garnished with succullent zuchini and scampi. Then came the somethingano, a baked ham, cheese and noodle creation which Rock was way too busy devouring to note such trivialities as the name. To polish things off - thinly sliced beef grilled with rosemary and thyme and baked baby potatoes in olive oil.

Which brings five days of sightseeing to close on a high note. Next up Torino and the 2006 World Championships.

Ciao.