Our last day in Venice as we fly to London for the last week of our holiday.

Early morning start - Jeannie had set her alarm to "Drunk Smurf" and we were awakened by some pretty evil-sounding insane chuckling and laughter. Our porter MacBull (actually a wiry Indian dude as strong as an ox) turns up in the cobbled courtyard to take on our combined 150kg of luggage on his multi-wheeled trolley.

MacBull's trolley has two small wheels at the front to get the trolley up on to the next step as he hauls the load (eyes bulging, sweat popping from every pore) over all the stepped bridges on the way to Piazza Romale where the wheeled traffic meets Venice and it's canals. This early in the morning there are commuters flooding in from outside Venice, and predominantly Asian early bird tourists taking happy snaps. MacBull really earned his 50 cents per bag - kidding - he was well paid.

Yesterday was fantastic- using our 24 hour public transport ticket to get out to Murano (glass-blowing) and Burano (lace etc) on the vaporettoes. Burano was especially good - all of the houses painted in unique bright hues facing the canals. Very picturesque place and friendly locals. And of course the ubiquitous cafés and gelaterias. Got to try the local (and cheaper) practice of standing at the counter for both coffee and the local beer.

Our apartment was great, in a local Venetian quarter straight off the Grand Canal. Last night the local restaurants were crowded with locals wearing their yarmulkes (skull caps) while eating. Afterwards the kids played soccer in the courtyard under the lamplight. With the apartment windows open you hear both locals and tourists passing by at all hours, conversing in many languages , predominantly Italian.

Had my turn following Dick, Andre and Yvonne (Yvonne still can't trust a fart days after) with a bout of illness but I soldiered on like a true trooper unlike my bedridden softcock comrades, although my trademark cheekiness was deflated (giving everyone a break).

Andre and Patricia were turned over at the airport for carrying an entire pharmacy (Patricia's medication) and a lethal weapon (andre's leatherman). The officials ignored my suggestion that Andre needed a cavity search (I had the camera ready) but the leatherman was confiscated.