Saturday: time to pack and return home. However, there is one last palazzo to visit before then. The Palazzo Albrizzi, built in the 15thC and heavily decorated in the 17th, is still privately owned. We were, of course, shown round and given coffee by the owner, Lorenzo Rubin de Cervin. I believe he is also a Count. I feel that I should only consort with people with titles after this, the rest of you are not worthy of my attention. (That was a joke – you have to be so careful these days, people are so easily upset!). Unfortunately we could not take photos so I cannot show you the frankly stupendous stucco work. This gives you a brief idea. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2019/sylvain-levy-alban-pf1921/lot.25.html

This is a photo of the front, taken from the bridge over the nearby canal. This area used to be the red light district and this is the Bridge of Tits. Apparently. on the other side of the building there is a shell fragment that got lodged there during the anti Austrian revolution of 1848.

From the sitting room, you can go across a bridge and down some precipitous steps into the private garden. Gardens are rare in Venice and this one was planted when the theatre next door burned down in the 19C and the family bought the land

After that, off to the Rialto fish market. This has been on this site, next to the Rialto Bridge, since 1097.

There are also other stalls selling fruit and veg, tourist tat etc as well as a range of food shops. I restrained myself from packing my backpack with cheese (never a good idea) but did buy some dried tomatoes.

Having arranged to meet the rest of the group near the fish market so that we could go for lunch, I wandered about, avoiding both the locals and the tourists who seemed to have multiplied as the sun had come out. Returning, I hung about for 20 minutes or so but didn’t see anyone else. Had I missed a change of rendezvous? Had they all fallen in the canal? What would they have done if I had fallen in the canal? I continued wandering, gazing in shop windows and drinking Aperol spritz and eventually managed to get hold of Alberto, the tour leader. Apparently they had all rendezvoused at the same place, realised I wasn’t there, looked about for me but not seen me. It’s a complete mystery. I managed to get some very nice spaghetti with clams and some Prosecco before we had to go back to the hotel to get the motoscafo to the airport.

And then we went home….

The flight took an hour and three quarters. The luggage took two hours to appear. Then I had to drive home, collect the dog………