Cars, buses, maps

A productive day consisting of research into parking areas before picking up our little Fiat Panda. There is street parking in front of our building (but best of luck finding it) and one spot in a private parking area about 500 metres from us that we finally located and secured. Then, it was off on bus #11 to pick up the car. Only one minor mistake and that was getting off the bus too early, this because the transition from sunglasses to reading glasses proved too speedy for the map reader. Still, no problem, we walked the remaining bit and soon found Europcar rental and not long after that, were behind the wheel. Well, Dave was. My job was to try and Google map us back to parking and that would have been an easier job if there had been any volume on the phone. Instead, trying to wait for the signal to catch us in time to cue a quick turn proved somewhat exasperating. Google kept suggesting all sorts of creative twists and turns and it wasn't until we got home and were cursing that we realized it was still set on walk instead of drive. Oh. That would be why the suggestion to take a canal road turned out to be only for pedestrians. A stop for a panini and a beer and the experience of my first ever stand-up toilet, which I viewed with somewhat disbelief and horror but, in for a penny, desperation won over trepidation. Another first. Here is the view from our sweet balcony, very close to a fast flowing canal of blue-grey water. A quiet afternoon.