Fa la nanna e la nanna faremo (go to sleep and then we can all go to sleep)

Finally! Venice.

I am indeed sleepy and tired and jet-lagged; and today was my first day on the continent; and the computer hook up at the hotel is ... awful. Still, I can manage a few plain and basic words and a few photos from the day.

And I have to say that a memorable flight brought me here because, from the time of my first boarding of a commercial plane from Warsaw to Sofia in 1959 ‘til now, I have never had a woman pilot (and the captain of the crew no less). Never. Thus today, when I heard a female voice on the loudspeaker (this is on the Paris – Venice flight), I was sure that we were hearing from a flight attendant. Of course. Shame on me. AND NO, THAT'S NOT FUNNY --SHE DID NOT MISS THE RUNWAY! Obviously she was the best of the best.

The hotel I’m in was once the residence of a biology professor at Padua University (sigh, how times have changed!). The place is in a corner of Venice where there are almost no tourists. Venice is like that: it has the grand, the spectacular, the magnificent and eye-catching sights and vistas like this: