Okay, just a few quick updates and then I'll get onto the meaty bit of this blog, which is my trip to Venice.

My good friend Rich, who came over to Munich from New York on a year's work placement, has been called back to his US office early, which is very sad because he was waiting for some good weather to actually see the surroundings of Munich and the good weather just never came. His leaving do was huge: forty of us crammed into his spacious flat in the centre of town, eating, drinking and making merry. There was sadness in the air - we are all going to miss him - but we managed to enjoy ourselves as well.

And then, pretty much the day after Rich left, the weather FINALLY turned good! I headed down to the lake that is southwest of the city, Starnberger See, with my mate Oliver and we soaked up the rays, water lapping up against the grassy verge where we lay, dozens of yachts cutting through the glassy surface of the lake, and the snow-capped Alps looming up on the horizon. And boy did I get brown!!! Yeee ha! Just like the good ol' days in Aus.

World Cup fever has hit Munich big style: there are tourists from all over the world milling about the place, especially of an evening, and everyone is getting excited by the games - even me! Although, to be frank, I'm enjoying the beer and the atmosphere more than the sport itself. But it's all good.

Just before I move on to Venice, I have to record an amusing comment that my sister made. Near where we're from in London there's an open-air swimming lake called Ruislip Lido. Well, obviously the Lido in Venice is the inspiration for this name. So when Michaela said to me after we'd talked about what we might like to see in Venice "What, you mean like Ruislip Lido?" I had to reply in an ironic tone of voice "Er, yes". To which her riposte was "Yeah, right, I suppose Venice had the first canal!" !!!!!!!!!!

And so, Venice last weekend with Michaela & the boys for her birthday. Well, what a marvellous place. It's been written to death over the centuries, but I'll have my tuppence-worth here.

The flight was super duper quick. It was the first time I'd been in an aeroplane with my nephews, which was cool. They got almost as excited as me about the whole trip - only they were allowed to show their childish eagerness whereas I was rather more phlegmatic. On the outside... The landing scenery was not the prettiest: a big area of oil refineries and storage facilities. The boys - and Michaela - were impressed however, which made me realise that I had fallen into the trap of not seeing things as they are but for what I've deemed them to be. Then, on second thoughts, the refineries seemed to me an intricate tracery of thin and thick blacknesses, and it reminded me of the silhouette of the car works in Detroit as seen from the river cruise I did with Geert & Jen back in '04.

We caught a bus over the big long bridge from the mainland out to the islands of old Venice, which left us at Piazzale Roma at the start of the maze of crooked streets and irregular little piazzas that is Venice, the Serene City. I wasn't feeling too serene at that point, having been unable to contact our accommodation and therefore at a total loss as to where to go next. Thankfully, after much MUCH milling about trying to find the office of the accommodation agency (street numbering in Venice is as logical as the streets themselves), a very nice man helped us out a whole lot. It turns out he also does B&B and feels it's important for Venetians to show a friendly helpful face to all tourists. I applaud that view!

We were met by a young chap who didn't seem to be part of the tourist industry at all (it turns out he was just doing a mate a favour by picking us up) and then had to walk for another half an hour back across the city to our flat. What a lovely flat! A really old building, with ancient wooden beams but modern everything else. Very cosy, very quiet, very nice. And slap bang in the middle of town, just off one of the bigger squares in Santa Croce.