Venezia: Uno

Venezia. City of bridges and canals. The most unique and beautiful city in the world. For me, it has beaten out Edinburgh, Brussels, Sedona, and most recently Prague in my list of top favorite/most beautiful cities in the world. It lives up to every wonderful description. A grand, fine, slightly decaying elegant dame of a city.
We left for Venezia on Friday evening, a few short hours after Edwin tried to rip open his lower lip with a teeter totter. We were a bit concerned that the trip would have to be abandoned, but Edwin perked up and convinced us he would be able to go. We drove as far as the outskirts of Bologna – and you can’t possibly imagine how much singing was done by Brian on that name. Expedia.com is now my favorite and best website “in the world” (you have to say it like Ana Gasteyer on SNL pretending to be Celine Dion) because we got 2 AIR CONDITIONED hotel rooms in Castel Maggiore for 14 Euro per person. And that included the HUGEST breakfast we’ve had to date in hotel rooms here. Brian was quite pleased. Brian and I had Ed in our room, Julia got to be with the brothers, to which she threw a fit about. Something about stinky big brothers… But it was a great deal of a hotel room. The only (slight) downside was the apparent “red light district” we had to drive through to get to it. I saw 2 women standing on the side of the darkened road (we arrived about 10:30 pm) and turned to Brian and said, “is that what I think it is?” After driving another block or so and encountering 4 or 5 more ladies, it was indeed what we thought it was. We were joking that maybe this was the reason our hotel was listed at such a low price. Turns out, the hotel was big and lovely, in a more industrial section of the town that perhaps catered to business (not the red light kind) travelers during the week. At breakfast, we encountered a type of UN summit as there was a different language spoken at almost every table.
Packed, up and out again, we made our way the final 1 ½ hours to Venezia. We parked our car in the big parking lot by the docks for the cruise ships and made our way to the boats. We had read that taking the Vaparetto was the best way to get into town, so after trying to figure out how to buy tickets, we headed to the Vaparetto stop. I will say that I displayed extreme (for me) restraint again when I was cut in front of in line by more Italians at the ticket purchase counter. I guess it does come in very handy to know the language and be able to actually ask where you are supposed to stand in line. We ended up spending probably way too much on tickets (on the 24 hour passes for all 6 of us) for tickets that didn’t once get checked by anyone. Welcome to Venezia. Most expensive city.
The Grand Canal was indeed grand, and HOT. Firenze and Roma (and Rieti too) had all prepared us for being tourists in the heat, so in comparison to those cities, being on the water in Venezia was almost cool in comparison. (almost) But it was still very humid and very hot. We made our way to our hotel to unload our bags. I had packed backpacks and bags for us to carry so we didn’t have to deal with suitcases… however, the pillows we were carrying made it a bit difficult to blend in…
The place we stayed in Venezia was near the Accademia. It was some sort of foundation for music. Maybe a music school/institute of some sort. It was in Rick Steves’ book and was on the cheaper side for Venezia The rooms were sort of dorm style – tall ceilinged rooms with lofts in them. The quad had 2 beds up in the loft and 2 on the bottom floor. Brian and my room had one bed up and one bed down. The lofts were accessed by narrow wood staircases. Both had bathrooms (hooray!) but no AC. (boo) but they did have fans which somewhat alleviated the heat. But not much.
After situating ourselves, we headed out into the heat into the heart of the city to St. Mark’s Square. There was a large stage set up in the middle of the square and it seems that we missed Elton John’s only Italian performance by 3 days. There were rows and rows of seats out there too, making the square look more like the floor of the Staples’ Center than the huge, historic palazzo it really is. We crossed through and found a place to eat. By this point in the trip, the kids are a bit sick of sandwiches. But that is the easiest thing to pick up here, along with Pizza, so Colin is always happy at mealtimes. There was no self-service, meaning you had to sit at the table and order from the waiter, or stand at the counter to eat. Standing isn’t really an option for our brood, so we squeezed into a normal Italian-sized booth (small-American sized…) and ordered. As I am reminded every time we eat out here, patience is virtuous. Italian time is different than American time. Also, soda is as expensive as beer or wine here. The beer Brian ordered seemed to be the size of a small keg.
We had snaggled some bread sticks with us leftover from our lunch and walked over to St. Mark’s Square so Aidan (and Brian) could feed the pigeons. Hundreds of pigeons awaited the many willing and eager tourists to feed them. Another Kodak picture moment. While this was happening, there was some sort of dance company performing on the stage in the middle of the square. Some ballet and contemporary dance pieces were being rehearsed for something, but we didn’t stick around for it all. The music of the performance overshadowed the musicians at the café’s playing Italian classics. For a mere $20 for a cup of coffee you can sit outside in the square and enjoy the view and the music. Or, like us, you can walk by, listen, and be waltzed by your husband as cross the square.
We wandered around after lunch, making our way to another Vaparetto (water bus) stop and tried to figure out how to get to Murano – the island that specialized in glass blowing. We made it over, after a really long ride in which Ed conked out on my lap. Once there, it was time for Gelatto and window shopping for glass trinkets. We discovered that the factory was closed on Saturday, and by the time we finally got through the glass shops (NOT EASY with Edwin) the museum was closing too. The kids picked out some glass animals and I found a few things. It was mostly a slow stroll down the canal way as it was still really hot.
We made our way back to the main part of Venezia via another vaparetto, passing the Cemetary island on the way. Our long bus boat rides let us see a few things we wouldn’t have seen had we stuck to the tourist highlights. On the “backside of Venezia” we saw people coming home from shopping, kids playing on a playground, a man with CP in a wheelchair (it’s mystery to me how he can navigate through the streets and stairs), older Italian women sparkily dressed for a Saturday evening out, an ambulance boat, police boats, and people leaning out their windows to talk to their neighbors. And getting off the bus-boat, we meandered back toward the square getting “lost” through the alley ways and bridges. Here we saw more people coming home from their Saturday outings: mothers pushing strollers – with industrial strength wheels; little girls with paper crowns obviously returning from a party of some sorts; people walking their (little) dogs; and lots of laundry hung between narrow slits between buildings.
On our way to a side canal Brian bargained for a ½ hour gondola ride. Next to visiting the Alps, this was his wish for our trip. I mention that Brian bargained for it, because he is so much better than I am at this. I can’t do it at all, I am such a sucker for the listed price. It was a family gondola ride, not the romantic moon-light one for two, but great fun just the same. The gondolier hummed nice Italian tunes for us and pointed out a few key sights/buildings. We were on side canals, so it was extremely peaceful as the gondola cut through the water. We came upon a few private motor boats which stopped for us: gondolas are harder to control, so they have the right of way on many canals. When Casanova’s house was pointed out to us, the kids asked who Casanova was. We smiled and tried to find the right word to describe him and finally settled on “ladies man.” Aidan asked, with a sly smile, if he was a polygamist. I answered that he wasn’t married to any of the women. Then Edwin piped up, fat lip and all, “so he wasn’t married, so he had LOTS of girlfriends.” We saw Marco Polo’s house which led to a little round of the game by the kids. Julia got the courage to ask the gondolier how many bridges were in Venezia and he told her there were more than 300! The coolest bridges we went under were the really low ones that he had to duck for. It was sort of like being on Pirates of the Carribean without the dips Colin thought. The ride was over almost too quickly, as we all enjoyed it so much. It was definitely the highlight of our weekend and will probably remain a highlight in our lives.
Off to dinner, more pasta and pizza, then splitting up for the end of the night. Brian and Edwin back to the rooms, the other kids and me off to ride more Vaparettos up and down the Grand Canal. Venezia by night is gorgeous. In the dark it’s harder to see the crumbling walls and foundations, so lit up, the city returns to its historical splendor. Most of the cruise ship tourist visitors are gone too, thinning out the crowds. The city sounds divine too: the strains of accordion music and aria singing from the gondolas and in the squares; Vivaldi concerts in non-air-conditioned halls thus leaving the doors ajar for non-ticket holders to “eavesdrop” on the steps; and of course people speaking Italiano and laughing. Julia tuckered out and dozed off on one of the rides, so we got off, crossed the Rialto bridge on foot (still alive with people and activity at 10:30 pm) and waited for the Vaparetto to take us back home. This is where we saw the rat scamper across the dock into the water. We were all pretty grossed out. Back at the rooms, we all climbed into our beds in our VERY warm rooms and tried to rest up for the next day.
To be continued…