In 1768 Captain James Cook was sent to the South Pacific to observe the transit of Venus across the sun. Then he went on to discover other things - like the east coast of Australia.



In 1998 I went on a voyage of discovery that took me to Rome, Venice, Istanbul, Milan, Avignon, Florence and other places. But was it Venice I discovered or Venus?



As I observed at the time after a night in Turkey:-



It was in the city of Constantine

That I first thought that she was mine

But I awoke next morning in Istanbul.