Venice September 8

Saturday, September 8          (4.6 miles total on the pedometer)

Donato had told us that there are some churches and cathedrals, including St. Mark’s, which have dress codes (i.e., no bare shoulders, and no shorts above the knee). Greg had invested in a pair of convertible pants, where the lower part of the legs can be unzipped and removed. You can “instantly” change from pants to shorts and back again. All you need is your wife sitting on the pavement outside the church hastily trying to line up the zippers while everyone waits and watches. We couldn’t wait. I packed a day bag for Greg with his removable legs inside and in my haste; we both forgot our hats and the sunscreen. I had a small breakfast after the oily meal the day before. The olive oil was starting to catch up with me. 

At 8:30 we met our Venetian guide, Elizabetta. She was a native Italian, pretty, with long curly hair and a great sense of style. She has known Donato since he was called “Don” and enjoyed teasing him. She gave us an interesting history lesson, while Donato assisted her by holding the map. He then decided we should all get to know each other by playing the “Name Game,” in which everyone stands in a circle and one person begins by saying his or her name and then the next person repeats that name and then adds his or her own. It was easy at first but I was fourth from the end and had to repeat 21 names. It was HARD.

Elizabetta then handed out the radio receivers and earpieces that we would wear so she wouldn’t have to yell. We walked to the Rialto Bridge and then to St. Mark’s Square while she pointed out different styles of architecture. 

 

 It was then time to enter St. Mark’s Basilica. Just as we started to pull out Greg’s pant legs, Donato told us that Greg’s shorts were long enough. Oh happy day. The interior was overwhelming. It was crowded, dim and hard to see. We didn’t stay long.

We were left on our own for lunch, and then we were to meet at the nearby flagpole for our island tour. Following Donato’s suggestion, we found a pub off the square that sold a special inexpensive Italian sandwich called a Tramezzini. They were basically made with white “Wonder” bread with the crusts removed, spread with any type of filling and sliced into triangles. I guess Italians must really be American pre-school children at heart. 




I was ready for some comfort food and enjoyed a sandwich grilled with ham, tomato, basil, and Brie. They also served “Coke Light” in cans with GLASSES OF ICE. I had three of them. We felt really frugal, eating a light lunch, until the bill came. Yes, the sandwiches were cheap but my sodas were 5 Euro each! I guess I really did pay for that ice. 

Our group boarded a private boat, which took us directly to Torcello, the oldest island within Venice, for a brief visit, and then on to the Island of Burano. Torcello once had a larger population than Venice, and was an important trading center. In the 12^th century, the lagoon became a marsh, and over time, the area was plagued by malaria. The population dwindled, and currently about 20 people live on the island. Donato explained that the island gives you an idea of what all of Venice once looked like with lots of green space for farming. 

 

There was not much to see, but my favorite part was watching a wedding party taking photos outside the old cathedral, which dates to 639 AD. 

 It was very hot, and I was pleased to find a vending machine that sold really cold water. Greg bought a baseball cap at the lone souvenir cart. 

 While waiting for the boat, we also learned about the water spigots that were all over Venice, that dispense clean drinking water for you to refill your water bottle.

 

While it might seem redundant that we were going to visit Burano for a second time, it was all part of my plan. On the Rick Steves website, I had read comments by people who had taken our tour who mentioned that the scheduled visit to Burano was too short. Since we had already had a leisurely visit earlier, I could enjoy this visit without feeling rushed. While others were taking photos and going to lace museums, I shopped. I was still looking for a glass piece and caught the eye of a woman who owned a store with a nice selection of small pieces. It turned out that her husband, whom I later met, made the pieces himself. That seemed pretty “authentic” to me, plus they were stamped and stickered, so I settled on a lovely small heart-shaped piece for 90 Euro, which fit in my pocket. It does sort of look like an alien, but I like it. No shipping involved. Once that was accomplished, we all headed back to the pastry shop. Yum.

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Greg and I enjoyed a nice nap in the boat on the way back to St. Mark’s Square. 

 We were now on our own again and headed off to tour the Doge’s Palace. The position of the Doge was the supreme authority of Venice, and the Doge’s palace is now a museum. I really enjoyed my visit. Since this was the first palace filled with painted ceilings, old furnishings, walls of paintings, and interesting architecture that we had visited, my brain could still take everything in.

 Later in the trip, I would reach a level of overload. Besides, it had a prison attached. Prisoners would be tried in the courtroom in the palace, and the condemned would be led directly across the covered Bridge of Sighs to the prison. The bridge got its name from the idea that the prisoners would sigh as they saw their final view of Venice and freedom through the bridge’s small windows. 

Technically, no photos were allowed in the museum, but it seemed fine as long as the flash was turned off. I got a fun photo sitting in a prison cell. As we exited the museum, we stopped to listen to a high school choir from Prague giving an impromptu concert in the square.

 By now the four of us seemed pretty exhausted and hungry. And my feet hurt. My mood was quickly dissolving into CRABBY. We walked away from St. Mark’s Square and the tourist trap restaurants and tried to find a place we could all agree on for dinner. We walked. We looked at menus. We walked some more. One place looked good to some, another place looked good to others. Finally, we settled on an outdoor table at a nice looking place. Little did we know that this would be our second best meal of the trip! It was definitely the most expensive. Lou and I didn’t realize this until the bill came because we had been handed the “ladies menu” which did not have prices listed. Before we ordered, our waiter set before us an “amuse-bouche,” a single bite-sized hors d’oeuvre. I watch “Top Chef;” I know about this stuff. It was heaven. I started to cheer up.

I was unsure what to get until the waiter told us about the special of the evening, half a lobster in the shell with spaghetti in a red sauce…that was it. Stop right there. That would be all that I needed. Lou indulged and got the special also. It was amazing.

Even though my life was now complete, it wouldn’t hurt to look at the dessert menu. They had chocolate spaghetti with chocolate mint ice cream on top.  I had to see what that was like. In my mind the noodles would be soft and floating in chocolate sauce; instead the noodles, actually made of chocolate, were stiff and formed into a bird’s nest, with the ice cream on top.

It wasn’t really working for me, but the Fruit Salad Delight that Greg ordered sure looked good. Greg was happy to switch with me. What a great husband. As if that wasn’t enough, the waiter surprised us with complimentary (I hope?) shots of Limoncello. I passed.

 


Revitalized, we strolled over to the Rialto Bridge and then successfully found our way back to the hotel, (thanks to the “Book Shitter”), where we sat outside on the patio and played scrabble on Lou’s iPad as we chatted with other members of our tour. Then it was off to bed.