Arrivederci Roma!

Unfortunately for me, Alitalia had cancelled my flight from Rome to Venice due to strike action by the ground crew.  Luckily, I was able to book a train that would get me to Venice in the same amount of time I would spend getting to the airport, waiting around 90 minutes for the flight and then a bus ride from the airport into Venice from the mainland.
My AirBnB host met me at the train station with his dog, Pedro, and he said the flat was only a 5 minute walk.  Inbetween the train and the flat was a huge bridge with stairs.  I better get used to that 'cause it's Venice and every bridge has stairs.  He very nicely offered to take my suitcase and I took Pedro .
5 minutes later we were at the flat.  Unluckily for my host (who was still wrangling my 23kg suitcase) the flat was on the 3rd floor (6 flights of stairs ... no elevator.  Glad it was him carrying it and not me !
The flat was beautiful .... full living accomodation, separate kitchen, living room/dining room, bathroom and large bedroom.  The hosts had also stocked it with all the essentials; bread, milk, butter, jam, coffee, tea, juice, etc.  There was a small supermarket only a 10 minute walk away if I needed anything else.
The view from the windows was spectacular ... directly over a quiet canal but could see the Grand Canal to the left and Gondola's moored to the right.
Once settled, I made my way out to explore a little being careful and taking note of how many lefts, rights and little bridges I had crossed.  So easy to get lost.  Found a nice little Piazza (square) where the locals were taking Aperitivo (afternoon drinks around 4-5 o'clock) and the local children were playing ball.  I sat down in a small outdoor cafe and had a glass of wine.
I did some more walking and noticed it was coming up to 6:30pm, which is very early for most Italians to have dinner, but as I hadn't had lunch and was exhausted from travelling I thought I'd grab an early meal and get back to the flat for some well deserved rest.
More exploring tomorrow ... hopefully I'll find St. Mark's Square.
A few last pics of Rome then my first ones of Venice.