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VENICE Part Two |
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Composed
Sat, May 10, 12:11am while waiting for the last bus at Ponte Alle
Grazie, Florence
It turned out that Uli was talking out of his ass -- he didn't have a chance. But Elisa was fun to talk to. She kept getting mad at herself for not being able to remember English words, a quality I've found in many Italian people on this trip. This makes no sense to me as I'm the one with knowledge of only one language. But not so anymore! Using my limited knowledge of Spanish and the Italian
language tapes I listened to on my bike rides to work, I've been getting
by very well. The people are incredibly nice and helpful. I hear this
might be less so down south. We'll see.
So we eventually stood around talking after the tables and chairs were stacked and removed practically out from under us, and then made our way through the warren of alleyways, bridges and courtyards. As Elisa said, "Nighttime in Venice is magic time -- no people! Wonderful." It turned out that their apartment was 30 seconds from our hotel. Uli got the living room couch, I slept in my own room. The bus comes....
One minute later, 12:47am to be exact, on the bus Since we'd paid 35 euros each for
a hotel room we didn't use, we were keen to take advantage of the free
breakfast. So we woke at 7:45am, early enough to experience the amazing
early morning light, then had breakfast, showered, packed, moved our
things to our friends' apartment and set out for the Rialto Bridge to
look for an oyster bar and post office.
Elisa told us of an oyster bar, or at least a bar that made a drink called a "Bomba" which included a random assortment of booze. But we could find not an oyster bar nor a Bomba bar. We found plenty of fresh fish for sale, but without something to open the shells we didn't buy any 'ostrechi'.
Composed Sat May 10,
5:42pm, On the B bus, Florence Still describing Tuesday May 6th, Venice After the post office, we rushed to find some lunch prior to siesta. We found a cool little cold cuts shop, and thus began our near-daily sampling of truly excellent salamis. We also got cheese and mixed antipasti (marinated olives, mushrooms, zucchini, sundried tomatoes), and some prosecco, which was white, unfortunately, so it was like cheap champagne. Still, it was better than cheap American champagne. We sat along the grand canal, and I noticed how everything slowed down
for siesta. There were hardly any boats!
Composed Fri May 9, Florence After lunch sitting by the canal, we tried to find me a cell phone. Part of the deal with me going to Italy without Megan was that she wanted me to have a cell so she could call me whenever. In fact that was the only part of the deal. Since Europe runs on a different band than the U.S. cell phone network, I either had to pay a lot for a special tri-band phone back home or find one in Italy. It took a lot of tried but I finally got directed to a WIND dealer along a tiny stretch near... oh, I can't remember. They're all tiny stretches! I just remember the phrase ai treri, which was supposed to mean big stores or brand names or something. The WIND store was not a big store -- it was the size of a closet. There were two men inside, and the one who knew English let me struggle with the non-English speaking salesman for some time before helping me. I'd left Uli behind in a delightful square where children play [pictured at top]. At that point we split up for an hour while I went to the San Marco campinile and Uli bought red wine for our hosts. Uli had been napping a shirt while when I returned from the incredible views of the campinile. My having to ring the bell at the apartment got Dora the dog barking which in turn woke Uli. Davide showed us where everything was to make pasta, but instead Simone cooked, which was probably a good thing. Leave the Italian food to the Italians when in Italy, I say. While waiting, we watched some of the video of Tomasso and his Brazilian
girlfriend performing with marionettes, and then we got a treat -- live
marionette performance! I hoped he'd put on some non-traditional music
for accompaniment like The Clash, but nothing doing. Tuesday night at our friends' apartment I was going to take a nap until I learned that the room I had been was actually someone else's -- they weren't home the night before. So I slept out in the living room with Uli. We were going to hang out with David but his phone was off when we called so we turned in early. The next day I woke at 6am with the birds chirping like mad. I wanted to go walking in the gardens but it took me 2 1/2 hours to pack, shower and write our hosts a thank you note. I went to the Palazzo Ducale, hoping to leave my big ol' bag there since I was meeting Uli at 12, but no dice. I then had my only day of vaporetto troubles. It took 15 minutes for the next water bus to arrive at the S. Marco station, and when it did it was too full. Finally I got across the canal and went to the Guggenheim, which was filled to the brim with annoying school kids. It's a perfect bite-sized collection of modern art and I'm really glad I went. Uli and I were going to try for the secret Doge tour at 12, but it turned out to be at 11:35am. So instead I got an audio guide, which was a bit of a waste since there were many more signs in English than I expected.
As usual, the best part of the tour was the architecture. And the whole fascination with the Bridge of Sighs is dumb.
After the Doge's palace we went around the back end of the lagoon via vaporetto where all of a sudden there's modern industry. Then we got on the train to Verona.
email:
ryan[at]monkeyduck[dot]com
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It is absolutely essential that you sit on the window on the right side of the plane. In other words, when you get on the plane and you're walking towards your seat the correct windows are on your left. This allows you an amazing view of the backside of Venice from the air. Hisae told me
about this and, though I had a window seat, it was an A seat and I wasn't
able to change my seat assignments. But it all turned out okay since
Lufthansa's seat numbering system is the opposite of U.S. carriers,
with the A side being on the left as you're facing the back of the plane.
Transport: The best way to get to San Marco from Marco Polo Airport is by water taxi. Alilaguna seemed to be the cheapest at 10 euros. But keep in mind that it's a long walk to the landing from the ticket counter. When the lady who sold me my ticket told me the next one was leaving in 10 minutes, I thought II had plenty of time. But first I went the wrong way (be sure to make a LEFT when exiting the terminal). And even though I ran to make it, the boat was leaving when I got there. I was annoyed at myself for not asking her to call ahead, but it's occurred to me that the boat never would have waited. If you can manage to arrive at sunset you're in for a real treat. The boat passes by the Lido and Murano before arriving at San Marco. It takes an hour and a half in all.
Transport: Buy yourself a 24
hour card at any Tabacchi shop (look for the blue T signs) for the vaporetto
or water taxi. The vaporettos are brilliant. The only time I had a problem
getting one was, of course, outside of San Marco. There's two stops
on either side, and the vaporettos tend to fill up there. So depending
on the direction you're going, you'll want to go to the stop that's
before San Marco, rather than on the other side. Otherwise you might
be standing around in a line that doesn't move.
Accommodations: Uli found our hotel pretty randomly as
we were a month from arriving and had no reservations yet. It was a
good choice -- clean and in the Via Giardini, a nice, quiet area (i.e.
far from San Marco and not touristy) that's full of nothing but locals
with a public market every morning. I guess the morals of the story are: 1)
Don't be afraid to stay in a place far from San Marco. If you're near
the Grand Canal or anywhere that the vaporetto lines run, you're golden.
2) Do your best to avoid
Eating Out: The waiters
in Venice have a reputation for being rude and willing to take advantage
of dumb tourists. My one experience in an actual sit-down restaurant
there confirmed two things: 1) I got taken advantage of by a waiter,
and 2) I was a dumb tourist.
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