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Published: August 5th 2006
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Vrooming through Venice Leaving Seedorf, Switzerland, and sadly the Swiss Alps (before Bryan could formulate a new plan for another mountain summit) we rode the train to Venice, Italy.
Walking out from the train station in Venice, we were hit with one of those round-a-bout realizations... no noise, no fumes, and then the "aha" moment...
no cars in all of the city. Across from the train station was the Grand Canal that served as the main winding street with rows of yellow boats serving as busses and taxis and thus marked.
It was about 8:30 PM when we arrived, and knowing that the hotels just outside the station would probably be expensive and full, we started wondering the "streets". Normally, I have a very good sense of direction, but with Venice it is beyond easy to get lost and I looked for major buildings to try and help me find my bearings, as we turned and twisted along the different canal ways. Up narrow side streets and down tucked away canals, we wondered, looking for an inexpensive hotel that would call our name. Trusting to our travelers luck, as the sun had set, we found a little hotel
in the middle of town with a vacancy open. The women at the front desk taught me my first Italian words (buona sera and grazie = good evening and thank you) as she handed us the keys to a small, second floor room with wooden shutters that opened up to the alley below. It was very hot outside and we threw open the shutters as wide as they would go but found there was no breeze between the buildings.
Being very hungry from our days journey, we hunted down a restaurant not far away (although we still managed to get lost on the way back) and treated ourselves to a late night dinner of pizza and wine. The sense of personal space is different in Europe and tables are placed close to one another so that we were made privy to an awkward "first date" going on next to us. Although it was about 10:30 at this time, the outdoor restaurant was full of patrons taking their time over dinner as the rose peddler doled out nasty looks or comments to those that didn't buy his buds.
Bryan had heard of the famous Italian gelato and ordered one
of these tall ice creams from a street side shop as we walked back to the hotel. It seemed that down every turn were little bridges and lapping water on moss covered walls, with twinkling lights reflected in the surface of the canals; Venice oozed romance out of every pore. But romance would have to wait as we were irritatingly hot and fell asleep to the buzzing of mosquitos knowing we'd awake to several itching bites.
We spent some of the next day window shopping with Carnival masks and Murano glass a common site in the small shops. We noticed most of the shops were very shallow, a depth of 10 to 15 feet not uncommon, and much of this space taken up by the front display window. When we entered the large square of Piazza San Marco the crowds and lines were daunting and we easily decided that a walk along the pier was time more enjoyably spent.
As we meandered our way back toward the center of the city we watched the gondola men at work steering their boats under bridges and around the narrow canals with ease and Bryan decided we couldn't leave Venice without
In rapid english...
our gondola guide told us this is Venices' oldest building, seen with the three arch-ways. having this classic experience. But what is a gondola ride without wine? Buying the wine was easy and the store owner opened it for us, but we had no cups and I wasn't going to be seen swigging wine out of the bottle. Although we looked, finding a store with some simple plastic cups proved impossible, so we bought a pair of scissors and cut our water bottles in half. Presto, wine cups with character.
We hired a gondola and spent the next 40 minutes listening to him give us a tour in English far to fast to follow, but we nodded and gathered what information we could.
That night we discussed staying longer, knowing there was much we hadn't seen, but the crowds in this city of limited space were tiresome and the heat was getting to us, so we decided to head out the next morning for the islands of Croatia and hopefully a quiet beach to take a holiday from our holiday.
Buona sera and grazie for reading our blog!
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Sandi Sherman
non-member comment
Thanks
Dear Sara, Your pictures are great. You two are seeing all the wonderful sites that we have read about or have seen in movies. How lucky you are to have this experience. We will think of you as we get back to work next week :~)