Venice

We arrived into Venice around 7:30 pm or so. By that point in the trip we had figured out that staying in hotels close to the local train station prevented us from having to carry all of our stuff (and the gifts that Danielle had accumulated) around town as we searched for our hotel. Somewhere around this point is when I began to feel ill - mainly abdominal pains that left me in a cold sweat and other intermittent GI issues. Nothing too serious (I was worried about pancreatic cancer), but enough to make me want to minimize the walking with baggage.

Our hotel was close to the train, had a window overlooking a nearby Piazza, and provided easy access to nearby public transportation. The evening we arrived, we walked around our hotel's neighborhood, ate snacks, and because I was not feeling great, went to bed early . The next morning we awoke and walked to the nearby vaporetto stop. A vaporetto is Venice's version of a bus. There are a dozen plus routes of these long, thin ferries shuttling people around the islands in Venice. We bought a 24 hour ticket allowing us to hop on hop off any of the routs for 24 hours.

We hopped on the #1 vaporetto which meandered through the Grand Canal stopping between alternating banks of the canal as it made its way toward Piazza San Marco. The palaces lining the canal (many of which are empty and abandoned) pay tribute to the wealth of the city in the past. After about 40 min or so we arrived at San Marco and promptly got grossed out by the pigeons. When I was in Venice as a 4th year medical student (~8 years ago) for a grand total of 6 hours the only thing that really stuck in my mind was the image of thousands of pigeons swarming tourists silly enough to purchase "pigeon food" from the vendors in the square. Basically, nothing has changed (maybe more pigeons). When you cross the square, thousands of particles of pigeon shit, fuzz, feathers are swirling around you getting in your hair, your mouth. At least, luck for us, we escaped without a spot of crap on us.

We were trying to decide where to eat and busted out the map to plan our route. All of our guidebooks (Lonely Planet, Rick Steves, Rough guide, and Lets Go) unanimously stated that a good Venice map was worth its weight in gold. They even said that the 5 euro maps were often crappy and that one should opt for the 9+ euro maps. Of course we stupidly bought the 9 euro map. I think this picture was one of the two times that we opened it and both times found it unhelpful. It was more fun to just get lost and follow the signs. Otherwise sticking to the main canal was easiest.

Danielle managed to sniff out the Venice branch of the same 16th century pharmacy we stopped by in Florence. I had to look at the map again to find it. Take notice of the stylish European way that I'm wearing my sweater. This brings up one of the sore points between Danielle and I during the trip. Danielle was annoyed (jealous) that multiple times during the trip Italians were coming up to me and speaking Italian perhaps because they though I was. I attributed it to my Roman nose and my stylish fashion sense. Danielle thought everyone was going to think she was Italian! It was weird!

We eventually were able to make our way to Ca' Rezzonico, one of the old palaces in Venice. It is the oly old mansion that was re-deorated as it was and now is a museum. Inside was Danielle's dream chandelier - the oldest largest preserved Venetian lamp made in the 1700s (pictured right). Though pictures were forbidden we managed to snap a couple as best we could. Danielle wanted them for reference during the Christmas season when thinking of presents to buy her.

After thee museum, we decided to get lost again. In the process we stumbled across a pleasant neighborhood square where Venetians were relaxing, children playing soccer, and mothers and fathers pushing strollers. We managed to randomly stumble across the small shop that was featured in Summertime, a movie starring Katherine Hepburn in 1955. In the movie, which now plays in the store on a laptop sitting near the door, Hepburn enters the shop, looks around, and eventually, after leaving the store, jumps into the nearby canal and swims. It seems to be the store's claim to fame as they sell postcards, posters, and all sorts of other memorabilia from the film. Danielle said the move had always been her image of what Italy was like so she was really excited to just turn the corner and find it in the exact spot the movie was filmed. It really did look exactly the same.

One of the cool things, that I had not really appreciated the last time I was in Venice is the way that all aspects of life in Venice adapts to the canals. Buses, cabs, delivery trucks, mailman, police, every public and private service uses boats to get around. This picture shows one of the private package delivery services in Venice. We also saw yellow DHL boats and, although we did not see them, there are also brown UPS boats cruising around. Even the dudes that deliver oxygen tanks need to come by boat.

The next day we hopped a vaporetto to the island of Murano. This island is known for its glass. In the 13th century all of the glass makers from Venice were forced to move to Murano because of risk of fires. Now it seems to be a tourist trap (it is hard to be too disparaging about tourists in Venice for two reasons. First, Danielle and I were tourists while there and second, tourists outnumber Venetians 2 to 1 in the city) for people interested in watching glass blowing and purchasing literally anything made out of glass. There were guys at the bus stop directing everyone in a particular direction which basically was a dead end into his glass blowing shop. We turned around and hit the main canal of the island try to find a store that sold something we could actually afford. On the way back to Venice we passed by the current cemetery for Venice which basically is its own island between Murano and the heart of the city (built off the mainland for sanitary reasons).