Thank you for the responses to my Venice thread - FrugalFashionista, Polyhymnia & many others

[Ujjayi]

A big thank you to all of you who responded to my request for help in packing for Venice last week. With your help, I packed the perfect wardrobe and had an absolute ball.

The wellies proved to be invaluable since the acqua alta sirens went off 30 minutes after we arrived and we had two consecutive evenings of extremely high tide. We had beautifully warm and dry feet and none of the city was off limits to us as a result (and we didn't have to purchase those vile neon plastic over-boots that most tourists seem to favour!). DH would also like to extend his gratitude on this point :)

Glad to hear that you had a lovely trip Ujj - Venice in the winter is fantastic!

I had a visitor here in Rome over the weekend and we had some of the hardest rains I've ever experienced here. She wore my spare wellies all the time, even dining out!

Yes actually the dining out in wellies was a surprise. I asked the hotel owner if we should take a change of shoes for restaurants and he said absolutely not - it would be very unusual to do so. I did, however, change for the opera - (which incidentally I must recommend this place as a wonderful alternative to Teatro la Fenice.)

Italians can be very pragmatic. Yesterday all socialite type ladies here were sporting their designer wellies during their morning shopping - it was dry and sunny but they just wanted to show that they survived the deluge and were prepared for more The shoe changing in public places shuffle is gauche here.