Finished Venice with a fun night time Gondola ride (glad Jordyn made us do that !) and a visit to the surrounding islands of Murano and Burano. Will cath up on that later - but here's some quickly chosen pics..
ok, here we are, sitting on the train (a nice one), on our way to cinque terre. we left venice and on the way back to Florence to catch the “regional train (not as nice) to the coastal area. since I last talked with you, we have moved on from the Tuscany area, the place that was liberated and seems to be still occupied by americans and on to venice, also full of americans, but of the teenage variety. and that's another thing on my mind. since we have been here (starting in rome) there have been bus loads and bus loads (in venice, vaporettos) full of American teens! i guess this is where teens go when the parents need their “time out”. why wasn’t i aware of this? here i am trying to enjoy a lovely Italian trip and my teenager across the way is giving me a “grunt” when i ask how he is doing! i bet the parents of all these teens i see here are enjoying an awesome vacation of their own (probably right here in Italy). they were probably sitting at the next table at the restaurant we were at the other night, toasting their well laid plan of sending their teen off to Italy, watching me as i sighed in disbelief when my son commented: “so when did you start caring about how much a steak costs here?” when he wanted to order a steak. after a deep calming breathe, I explained that i was concerned b/c sometimes the steak is for 2 or more and that the cost lets you know this (i know this thanks to rick steve’s Italian guide book). this seemed to satisfy his need to irritate his mother. but, as much as i do envy those parents over at the table, enjoying their wine w/o so much as a ‘grunt’, i did see the movie, Taken, so there you go.
some words about venice: magical, stunning, mysterious, crazy (my words). moist and full of l’arte gato (jim’s words); haunting and mystical (josh’s words), romantic and breathtaking (Cyndi's words); floral and lively (jordyn’s words). she also said it was stinky of urine depending on which narrow passage we found ourselves walking through.
So our first morning in venice, jim and I have ordered at our local café, la palanca, when we had a drive by, by doris, the ex bone marrow nurse turned biomed consultant from san jose, California. recognizing our American accents as we ordered our “do-a cap-a-cheeno’s”, doris informed us that she was here visiting her friend (a nurse she worked with 20 yrs ago) who moved here a year ago and now has to return to the states in September b/c of the visa stuff. we say that's too bad. she then continues to tell us that it is more complicated b/c she has fallen in love with a “native”. we say “she should just marry him so she can stay”. doris then says, “it’s complicated (dramatic pause), he’s married. at this point we felt we knew too much for just having known doris for just 30 seconds. but wait, it gets weirder! so with a few uncomfortable “ok, well, goodbye, have a good rest of your trip”, jim and I retreat outside to enjoy our caps overlooking the canal and venice. a few sips in and BOOM, doris has joined us at our table and this time with a map! so she gives us some more history about her and her friend, Janine, who she points out, just so happens to be sitting at the next table with the Italian married guy (Gianni, pronounced johnny) and. . .wait for it. . . his wife!! yes, that’s right, all three of them (actually 4, counting doris) were sitting together enjoying their cup of café. so doris then informs us that in Italy it is very difficult to get a divorce (3 yrs living separate and then a judge decides who gets what when the 3 yrs are up and it is very expensive), so they just add one more to the pot. and according to doris, everybody is honky dory with this (esp. mr. johnny, who by the way, is ex special police for the Italian king or something like that, anyway he looked the part). now for the map! doris tells us that johnny (with a ‘g’) has a small boat and has taken her/them to all the small islands around venice and that he could do that for us if we would like. we say that sounds good but we would be 5 in all. so doris goes back to the table with Janine, mr. Gianni, and his wife, talks w/them and returns with Janine. she says all the places he could take us to and that she would go to interpret b/c mr. Gianni doesn’t speak English. we tell her there would be 5 of us. she says his boat could squeeze in all 7 (us 5, plus her and mr. Gianni) but that is all. so poor doris is left out and needs to find something to do tomorrow (sunday) b/c Janine, the friend that doris flew thousands of miles to see and spend time with (doris leaves Wednesday) will be busy boating around with her Italian married lover and 5 American strangers! and here’s the bargain: we would only have to pay for the gas and (wait for it) any extra euro we would like to tip. at this point, Janine leans in close and informs us that this is all “kind of on the quiet” since he doesn’t have a license to be doing this. she then beckons mr. Gianni and wife to come over to meet us, which they do. Janine gives us her phone number. we say goodbye and the next day visited the small islands around venice. . . via the official vaporetto. True story!
