Some words from Venice

Not much to say, too busy having a great time relaxing, discovering and getting lost in the amazingly lovely and enchanting streets and lanes.
On Christmas Eve the flood sirens sounded at about 10pm and when we woke on Christmas morning the Agua Alta had been but was already well on its way to receding and the rain had stopped. We attended a Book of Common Prayer service at St George's English church - the small congregation invited everyone to prosecco and panetone afterwards to celebrate Christmas. (I am not a fan of the BCP - well I am a non-conformist - but it seems to be much loved by expat Anglican communities, the thees and thous are almost unpronounceable even for mother tongue English speakers ... and as for the theology, far too much concentration on sin and not enough on grace.)
Then we set off for a day on the vaparettos enjoying sunshine and amazing views across the lagoon as the mists gave way to blue skies. We took far too many photos and found our way to a great little osteria in the early afternoon for some freshly cut parma ham with more prosecco.
Today we attended the German-speaking church, a good sermon and a rather low church Lutheran liturgy - followed by more panetone. Tomorrow a service in Italian may be tried. Quite fun to be ecclesiastical tourists in this place which seems even more international than Geneva, much to think about.
Ah yes and I've mentioned the prosecco but not the coffee, each espresso I drink is the best I've ever had. Wonderful.