Venice, Italy

May 15th
Upon arriving in Venice, we discovered that the transportation strike we experienced in Bologna would affect us there too. The vaporetto boats (a.k.a. water buses) that usually transport folks from the train and bus stations to the middle of the island weren't running. And, it was raining. And, Venice is known for having the poorest street marking in the world. And, the directions to our hotel were literally this: take the vaporetto boat #1 or #2, get off at San Toma, when you'll get off walk first street left, then first street right and first street right again. Ummmm...

Rob totally kicks ass when it comes to directions. Seriously. The man can sort out just about anything. Tricky malls (like Valley Fair!)? Child's play. Vegas casinos? No sweat. He used the map we bought to maneuver the streets of Venice like a pro. It was cold, gloomy and slippery thanks to the rain, and I wasn't a happy camper. We got a smidge lost just once, at which point I decided to stop being pissed about the situation and that we needed to get some gelato. Really. How can anything go wrong when gelato is involved? After snagging our cones, we took two right turns, and I spotted our place. True story. Moral: gelato makes everything better.

After checking into the smallest room of all time, we ventured out to make the most of the little time we had in Venezia. Since we'd missed out on lots of luxurious gelato in Naples and Rome, we made a deal to stop at every single gelateria we passed on our journey. Rules: 1 - the place had to be a legit gelateria - not just a restaurant or mini-mart that happened to sell the stuff, 2 - we would only patronize establishments that were free of an obnoxious 'coaxer' employee hollering at customers to lure them in, and 3 - the price had to meet a precedent of one scoop for a Euro. That was it. We hit four places in an hour.
(My flavors: panacotta, caramello, pistachio, tiramisu...Rob's flavors: chocolate-vanilla swirl, peach, Nutella, marshmallow and chocolate cake)


We wandered to the famed Accademia Bridge, savoring our gelato all the way. The weather had cheered up a bit, so we continued on foot until we stumbled upon a traghetto. I knew how expensive rides in/on the gondolas are, and Rick Steves told me about a cheap and quick way to get a taste of the gondola without the pain in my pocket. The traghetto, rather than taking us down the Grand Canal, took us across it. Its a one minute trip...which was plennnnnnty of time for me. (sidenote: why do people not know how to board/sit on a boat? balance the weight, people!)



Next up, we hit Saint Marco Square, which houses an amazing (from the outside) basilica and a grand plaza. Where there is a square, there are gobs of people, and where there are hoards of people, there are pigeons. People, being the strange creatures that we are, feed pigeons. With their hands. Ick. Pigeons perched on people, everywhere. Rob decided to test the smarts of the pigeons to see if they'd approach him if he acted like he had food. Here are the results:

Rob LOVED this little hobo-ey kid, complete with a bird atop his pageboy cap
his big sister/aunt/mom had the same look going for her, accented with a spiderweb crack across one eye of her glasses. it was like a movie, I swear

and because Rob is a pusher, here's my lovely memory of the event
((yes, I am aware that I've made quite possibly the ugliest face a human can make. I was horrified then, and I am to this very moment. I can still feel the claws on my arm. sick.))

After dinner, we wandered to the Rialto bridge with more gelato in hand.


May 16th
Barcelona was on tap for Saturday, so another travel day was upon us...

Overall opinion: Venice is one of those places that's a pain in the ass to get to, but has a fantastic feel. The pace there felt slower to me, like things weren't such a big deal. For a place thats sinking, that's a foreign idea to me. Since its a tourism-based city, things are naturally more expensive there, but I feel like we got our money's worth. Do I need to summer there? Nah. Would I like to see it again someday? Sure.