Day 31,

we are off on another adventure, 

 this time to Italy,

 to Venice in fact,

 so water taxi it is then,

 taking us to our hotel,

 the Hotel Saturnia & International,

 and very nice it was too,

 although it was late,

 we just had to have a walk around,

 looking at the shops,

 and of course the canals and gondolas,

 there were not many people about,

 but there were a few,

 in costume, why?

it is a carnival, the Venice Carnival of 2018 "Creatum: Civitas Ludens" and this year will be held from January 27 to February 13, it is the biggest carnival of the year,

 and we are here for the weekend of the grand final, when judging takes place,

costumes are in the splendor of days long gone,

the amount of effort that is put into them has to be seen to be believed,

I was lucky,

the light from the shop window for me was just right,

this the main square,

where the judging will take place in a few days, 

in St, Marks square,

tomorrow the whole area will be packed,

the theme for this years festival will take on the guise of a great circus, one of the most ancient forms of spectacle and show filled with amazement, technique and magic, where crafts and roles, abilities and fantasy, games and school mix, 

inspired by this tradition the set designer of the La Fenice Theater, Massimo Checchetto, he decided to celebrate this year's theme by choosing some elements from the Italian circus Togni, also used in the film "La Strada" by the Federico Fellini,

also here will be "La Bottega di Piazza San Marco" in which different traditional crafts and masters of these will alternate; glassmakers, mask makers, tailors, perfume makers and craftsmen will open their shops at the St. Mark's Square like it was in the Venice of the 8th century, to show an ancient work, 

we decided to make a move back to our hotel, bumping into this costumed couple on our way,

we took the long route, going through deserted streets

we then passed the Grand Canal,

and stopped to look at some of the shops you can hire costumes from,

what a great idea,

before calling it a night,

we stopped here for a bite to eat,

a pizza for Diana, baked salmon for myself,

back we went,

past the canals,

and shops,

did I mention there are shops here? well there is, lots of them, and with that thought we were off to bed.