The Venice Marathon

Rob finished the Venice Marathon!! A huge achievement given the horrible weather which turned out to be as bad as predicted - Il Meteo got it right again,unfortunately.

The amazing thing is that Rob ran it faster than last year (4hrs 30 corrected time) and said that he would have done it faster but for  around 60kmh winds on the Mestre Venice bridge. 
Sarah and Paul cheered Rob on at Zattere, it was a nice surprise for him, and Jules and I were at the end with warm clothes etc.

At our apartment at 5.30am -we had to catch the train to Mestre so that Rob could catch the bus to Stra

The bus was packed, standing room only

The woman on the right must be from Alaska -it was really cold and windy

I think that every bin in Venice was full of umbrellas -we saw so many like this

This runner was doing everything he could to keep the rain off and stay warm -including running with a plastic bag on his head :)

It was exciting to see Rob coming over the last bridge at the end of the race.

Rob ran over to us and high fived Jules. We were all really happy

Nearly there

I don't know how he does it but Rob still has heaps of energy after a race. We walked back to our apartment in San Barnaba,

I was trying to smile but was just frozen :)

After this photo Rob put on a few dry things and then back to San Barnaba for a much needed hot shower

Venezia, Venezia

We arrived in Venezia yesterday and all of us are happy to be here.  Our apartment is great, very comfortable and immaculate -a huge improvement on the apartment in Piazza Tuscolo in Rome which was grimy and needed a good clean.

Rob's cousins Rosaria and Livio met us at the station.  They are really lovely people and it was great to see them again and for Sarah & Paul to meet them.