SEurope – Days 44-47 – Venice, Italy

Day 44 – to Venice

July 10 (Thur) – new city day

• During our hotel breakfast, we could hear the same ka-thunk noise! No way the staff doesn’t know what this is. They played dumb.
• At our checkout, two rude women tried to interrupt our Front Desk Attendant for something. She told them they’d have to wait their turn.
• At the platform, we saw the common sighting of dumb tourists at platform gates. You’ve seen them, too. They walk through a turnstile or a door and then stop to look around instead of stepping to the side and out of the way of the mass of people behind them.
• And then we encountered another super common creature of the travel wilde, a rude mommie. She and her boys were in our seats on the train. She even tried to say we’d rather have her one seat instead of being “crammed in” to our window seats by her kids. Um, no. We paid to sit together. Besides, we still need two seats. And he loves the window seat, so NOx3. She was holding up the whole line of people boarding while she moved all their books and snacks and screens and other junk. (Credit to her though for making sure they were entertained). The woman behind me even said, “oh come ON, Lady”. I might have snorted at that one. Then she said, “oh not you”. “Oh. I know.” and we LOLd. But then that lady pushed past me to get to her seat. To the mommie’s credit, she did a decent job of keeping her kids in line. Once it was time to go (so like 2 minutes later), a big announcement came on: no speakers allowed; headphones only!!! I did a little seat dance. But we later ended up with one speaker and a crazy dice roller who didn’t even pause to score the dice. It’s a jungle out there for travellers. At least this time we had working WiFi.
• Our ride was much like the others in this country: pretty views of lots of vineyards, olive orchards, and farms, with lots of tunnels in between.
• Once we deboarded, we saw a whole family with matching camel and cream luggage….like 10-14 pieces. It was like the people with matching tshirts so they can find the wild child who is prone to wandering away from the herd, but with luggage. I’m guessing the mom is another “member of Iota Gamma” and posts a lot of pictures on her IG feed. I also wonder what those cream colored cases are going to look like after one trip through an airport.
• Once we got to Venice, we encountered more of the bad bathrooms where you need some kind of access to get in; the crowd was just as confused as I was a few train stations ago.
• When you can almost see the canals, expensive porters try to talk you into 80€ water taxis (who then charge baggage fees and want tips, too). We were quite happy with our 20€ (for two) water bus and schlepping our own bags, thank you very much.
• Our hotel was easy to find because they gave us directions. Check in took a bit longer than usual because there is a bit more to it, like our breakfast orders. We were met at our room with a tray of iced down Prosecco, glasses, and a bowl of peanuts. Our room had several pieces of fruit for us. And here is the weird part: our room has two front doors built like the bread of a sandwich. We had to open one, step forward about 8 inches and open another door. It was by the elevator, so maybe it’s to dampen the noise?
• Once inside the strange (but pretty) room, I was jonesing for a shower, despite the cooler day. So I also did some laundry. (Sidenote: I love doing laundry a little bit every day or two. I love that it’s in our control. I love that we don’t have to hunt for a laundromat and then babysit our clothes for a couple of hours. I love that we don’t need certain coins or whatever.)
• We were hungry so we went to the patio cafe in the same plaza/area. It was expensive–like 6,50€ for a Coke expensive. But we found meals that weren’t insane. I’m glad we didn’t want dessert, though. Some rude MFer lit up a cigar that was vile. He was easily seven tables away from us and my eyes were watering, even though we were outside. We paid quickly and got the hell out of there.
• We took a small walk in a loop, found a teeny tiny convenience store closet for Cokes (that were only 2,50€ each), saw a few gondolas in a traffic jam (and the gondoliers joking around with each other), saw some workers using boats to do things like move furniture, saw another gondola with a vocalist and accordion player. It’s like being inside a movie, but without James Bond or Dr Indy Jones. We also found some fancy liquor stores, and found a sexy bar that wasn’t yet open.
• And then we needed a small siesta. Our hotel room AirCon (and all power) is tied to a card in a slot by the door. Many of the ones we have stayed at have this. They have all also gotten smarter and only give you one key card. And no, another card won’t work; it has to be your room key. It’s pretty annoying to have to stay in your room just to get it to cool down. It’s fine when we need a break anyway, but I’ll bet that some days, we’ll come back to a very hot room.
• We walked through plaza San Marco. It’s very pretty and they were getting ready for a massive concert with both an orchestra and a choir. (We couldn’t find it on any schedule, so maybe it’s for a Papal visit or something.
• For dinner at Al Chianti, I had huge shrimp that were split in half longwise and scampi’d; they were good, but too messy to be worth it. He had a steak and roasted potatoes. True to form, a family with young kids sat right behind me. (Why do hosts do this when there are plenty of open tables? Just leave a gap. And honestly, families with kids should have to sit waaaaay over there, like smokers did back in the day. The tables had glass tops and the kid was banging away with his utensils. He also had a very bad cough. ParUNts, please keep your sick kids at home (and at this time of night, in bed!) 
• We did a bit more walking around while window “shopping” at all the pretty things. We found the bougie area, again: Chanel, Louis Vouitton, Gucci, Sant Laurent, and so many more I could never wear. I don’t know how we keep ending up in those areas; we never seek them out.
• For a night cap, we went to the sexy-orgies-but-also-haunted-by-murders bar. A couple there were both reading their books. Later, a group of guys came in, and one of them was carrying a cello. Maybe he is from the orchestra.

Day 45 – Murano, Venezia, Italia

July 11 (Fri) – new island day

• After being spoiled by another in-room breakfast, we took a small siesta of the am: editing, planning, etc. Part of what we planned was our Water Bus for the rest of our stay. We would buy tickets, but not activate them until 2pm so that we could also use them to leave on our last day. Luckily, the closest “convenience closet” sold them.
• We used them to ride over to the island of Murano (glass island). While on the Water bus, we met a nice woman from Atlanta. She and her husband were trying to figure out which stop was best for the glass stuff we were all going over there to see.
• Once there, we found an Italian lunch of chicken pasta for him and a fried chicken cutlet for me.
• We saw a guy playing water glasses. Some kids requested Harry Potter and he de.liv.er.ed. wow!
• The Glass Cathedral is very cool. It’s in an old church–Church Santa Chiara Murano–but is now a studio, store, small museum of sorts, and event space.
• Getting back to our neighborhood was quite the ordeal. No one was managing the dock, so people were getting in through the exit. (And again, no one in Italy understands lines or queues.) It was also like those Japanese train videos where people were forcing themselves in and being rude as fuck. Additionally, the couple in front of me were making out. Not just a sweet peck of a kiss, no. They were slurping each others faces. I’m not going to lie, it made me hate Italians for a minute. They weren’t doing anything different than what they always do, but this was not the time or place for their physically pushy behavior. We ended up taking our boat all the way around Venice just to be able to get off at any dock that was reasonable. And in doing that, we met another Crazy Mommie, but this one was Crazy Water Bus Lady, who spent a lot of her ride yelling at the staff. Everyone around us just said a version of “yeah, she’s Italian” as if that’s a reason to be a bitch to the people doing the work. After all of that, I needed another siesta to decompress, cool off, and drink some damn wine.
• Once calmer, we found dinner at Ristorante Pizzeria Pesciolino Dozo where I had a creamy mushroom pasta (surprise) and he had “my lunch” of a fried chicken cutlet with fries. 
• We stumbled upon an orchestra practicing for upcoming show (maybe a tech rehearsal? Sound and light guys were there.) in San Marco square. He got a nice little clip of the strings. But when we were walking around, we heard them go through the flute and piccolo parts, so that was nice for me. 
• After a short break at our hotel, he found (and failed) with Bar Longhi. It’s very nice and right against the water. It’s also the kind of place that brings you a small stool to put your purse on. But the cheap wines were 34€ a glass and one was 143€. Cocktails were 28€ – 32€ each.) We said “no gràzie” and handed the menus back to the server. 
• So, we went back to “Sexy Orgy Bar” for good music, fun bartenders, and a nice small crowd.

Day 46 – Venezia – DaVinci museum

July 12 (Sat) – davinci and stuff

• Our in-room breakfast reminded us a little bit of our last cruise. We had that option and used it some. 
• Before heading out for the day, we did some planning and bought tickets for the Bernina Express. It’s the highest train ride in the Swiss Alps. 
• We took a water bus to some museums. One was a tiny bit like Versailles with painted ceilings. There was an upcoming show and we got to see the dance troup rehearsing. The other was a DaVinci interactive space. Both were very cool. 
• We found pizza for lunch and then took the water bus back to our hotel for our afternoon siesta of more planning–getting us to Switzerland–napping, and editing.
• Before dinner, we reloaded our room with wine and Cokes.
• We went to Da Cherubino for dinner. I had a crab pasta and he had bolognese. On the way out, we saw tons of people in Black Tie (one guy was in tails!) coming out of a museum. We assumed some benefit, but it was ending at like 1900.
• We then found a cute hotel bar for drinks, Caraveloino. 
• For our night cap, he found gelato while I ordered a wine and waited for him at the sexy orgy bar. And then I realized: all my wine pours were like 1.5-2 glasses. I must be pretty or something.

Day 47 – Giudecca, Venezia, Italia

July 13 (Sun) – new island day

• In-room breakfast. So spoiled! (It’s really just because the hotel dining room is so tiny…and not because they are so extra bougie. But it does come on silver trays and feels quite bougie.) And then we had a morning siesta where he napped while I worked.
• For our adventure of the day, we took the water bus to a new part of the city. After we debarked, we walked past an architectural exhibit museum that was free! He called it our “side quest.” It was very cool and had stuff from all over the world. Much of it was about trying to save our planet through the design of our buildings. But there was a lot more than just “passive” heating and cooling. Some of the designs were like Earth Ships but modern. Others were far more advanced. Some parts were also just about the art or religion the building was for.  
• For a little break, we thought we wanted drinks, but when we smelled the food, we decided to have lunch. I had duck truffle ravioli, and he had lasagna.
• Finally back on track for our actual adventure, we walked down to the the jewelry (and other shopping) bridge of Venice. It was a mix of really nice jewelry and tourist shopping. And since it was a Sunday, it was also a big mix of stores that were open versus closed.
• And then, the mugginess set in, so we decided to siesta. On the way to the hotel for siesta #2, we saw a storm rolling in. Back at our room, we heard big thunder. It was perfect timing.
• For dinner, we wanted to venture out some more, so we went to Giudecca Island. This was a little complicated because the water buses go there, but the map is very confusing. For dinner at Ristorante I Figli delle Stelle, I had sea bass and he had a steak with potatoes.
• We met a couple from (Waco) Texass who are both Aggies. Through them, we met another couple from San Diego. He’s originally from Sydney and they had a terrific Meet Cute story that reminded me of the interviews part of When Harry Met Sally. The six of us were chatting and having a great time when a guy from two tables in another direction walked over to the Waco couple shushed us all for being too loud. He was alone, so I think he was jealous. We weren’t screaming; we were just talking. It kinda killed the fun vibe we were having, so we grabbed our boat back to our island.
• Siesta #3 was for cooling off and editing. There were just soooo many images of Venice. Most that we post are barely edited (cropping, minor other stuff), but at this volume, it just took longer.
• When I got us a little caught up, we went back to our “sexy orgy” bar for a nightcap and watched some of the Chelsea (3) and Paris Saint Germain (0) match.

All in all, Venice was a lovely city to visit. We feel like we barely scratched the surface. We really might have to come back to this one.