There wasn’t much to do in Venice when I visited last year… It all started well on the day of arrival, although I only had one hour before the sun went down to get a glimpse of the city’s famous beauty.

Alas, the weather changed the following morning. First it was just grey, the same as what I know from London. But then it became congested with fog and drizzle, which did not clear away for days.

I looked at the photographs in my guidebook, the postcards at the tourist shops and into my own fantasy of Venice, but it did not match what we saw at all. Besides, it was quite cold. I was in fact glad to leave, after 2 days of hiding in restaurants.

At the airport disaster struck. The fog was thick enough to cover the runway into invisibility. Most flights on the board appeared to be cancelled. Despite all this the London flight, scheduled for 22.25 was checked in as normal.

By 23.30 a stewardess told some angry Italians that the plane is on the way. It’s just been delayed by the weather. By midnight the passengers were sitting alone in the waiting room, even the passport police had gone home. With nobody to talk to, but forbidden to leave the area, commotion was on the way.

Two people turned up; one must have been a security guard, the other one was luckily able to speak English. She announced that our plane had to land somewhere else and she would not know what to do with us. By 1 o’clock we were allowed to re-enter the airport hall. Surprise! everything was closed, but at least we had access to water and toilets.

We got our luggage back, but it became obvious that we had nowhere to go. The airport building was new, modern and relatively clean. We cleaned or teeth and prepared for the rest of the night – and for the uncertainties of the following day.

After all -what felt like a big drama at the time became an out of the ordinary experience. Treviso’s airport outlived my memory of Venice by far; after my return it was my story for days, which - by the way - was 24 hours later, through Brussels with the service of the Eurostar.

© Astrid Schulz