Venice - Oct 3-5

We made it to the city of islands and are happy to report it hasn't sunk!  Hotel is conveniently located which will be a blessing when leaving for Venezia Mestre (airport) in a couple days.  The usual three flights of stairs were not preferable but common for us so what are we to do?  Weather continues to be mid-high 20s, muggy in afternoon then pleasant in evening.  The cots in our room was a bit of a surprise but it felt like camp.

First thing we noticed, other than the crowds, were how many stores appear to now be owned by immigrants rather than Venezians.  "Made in PRC" is now just as common as "Made in Italy".

Now on to all the beautiful things Venice still is.  The canals at sunset muted by the summer haze, the crisp colour of the same in the early morning, the plethora of church bells pealing the time, all the boats, gondolas, taxis and vaperetti fights for the same space on the canals.

Our first afternoon and evening were spent just wandering close to our accommodation; or that is how it all started.  One must get lost in Venice to truly enjoy the unexpected sights.  Then when hunger finally demanded our attention we enjoyed a lovely meal on a canal - a local trattoria called Portini (?).  The waiter was an absolute hoot, and a real character.  The food was memorable even in it's simplicity - we had lasagna and a huge salad....which was good becuawe my half of the lasagna kept getting smaller as Elda was enjoying it immensely.

We have continued our now necessary gelato each afternoon and fear Oct 6th will be a hard day for both of us with no gelato to be found on our flights.

The next day was all about the islands.  The vaperetti are very busy so it takes much longer then you expect to get anywhere; however we did still manage to spend time on both Murano and Burano. The journay by sea there and back were a sightseeing trip just in themselves.  I love the early morning fog and how everything changes when it dissapates.  As always the glass art on Murano was just breathtaking.  And on Burano the colours are remarkable everywhere you look.  Even the pale houses stand out by their lack of colour.  We checked out the lace too while on Burano.  It is hard to believe the intricacy of some of it.

On our return trip we got off at the St. Marco stop to see the usual tourist stuff and on our way back we also wandered to see the Bodolo (?) staircase and the Rialto bridge before hopping on another vaperetto and going back to our neighbourhood for dinner.  This evening we actually returned to the sae place as last night as it was so good.  It was quite the dinner as we got there late, there was a family birthday happening, and the next thing we know there is dancing, singing, a whole lot of laughter and (wait for it) more lemoncello.  Elda now knows not to inhale sharply once swallowing.  Oh the fun we had - they just included us in all their festivities and it was great fun.  Elda and I were still almost crying from laughing so hard on our way back to the room.

On our final day we took off early out of the hotel to try and catch as much morning light as possible.  Took a vapertto to an area we hadn`t walked through yet and just wandered.  Next thing we knew we were in another area, then another, and finally we wormed our way over to the bus station to get our tickets to take us to our final hotel near the airport for later that afternoon.  Just in case anyone was wondering we did manage to squeeze in one more gelato. 

Then came our bus adventure - I don`t think people who hate tourists should be the drivers to the bus that goes to the airport (just saying).  And the buses are the long ones and if you are in one of the back portions you have no idea what stop you are actually at; and when your bus driver is not so helpful and leaves the stops before people can even get off it is equally unhelpful.  Let`s just say we now know what the airport is like and arrived at our intended stop on the return trip and were happy to see our hostess waiting for us at the bus stop we were supposed to be let off at.  The fact that she was there to pick us up is a story in itself.

At this point we are heading out to find our last meal in Italy before our holy-cow-in-the-morning flight home.  So for now this will be our last entry....unless the flight home is interesting as most of our transfers ave been; then perhaps there will also be a post-trip post.  Otherwise we will try and add some pictures tonight and then will see you all soon.  Looking forward to our 4 hours sleep tonight.