We managed the Alilaguna (water bus) to Certosa and were feeling like quite the competent world travelers. The meeting place for kayak trips is in the hotel bar there, and we were in time for the earlier trip. After meeting the two other couples going on the morning trip and their guide, we decided to risk the weather and wait for our guide. It wasn't booked as a private tour, but it seemed like we were the only ones they were expecting, and one of the couples (from CA, natch) seemed a little less cool than the people we like to kayak with. That gave us about an hour to wait, and Lyle looked like a zombie. This is also when we managed to determine that our little point and shoot camera isn't working. I think we're going to have to find a way to replace it, because we cannot manage the whole vacation with just the iPad camera. I wrote an entire post while we were waiting, but apparently the iPad decided that since it didn't have wifi it would eat the whole thing, including an unflattering photo of my jet-lagged husband.
At any rate, waiting for the later, longer tour was ABSOLUTELY the right decision. We had a FANTASTIC time with our guide, Giovanni. He was interesting, easy to understand, fun to hang out with, and an absolute trove of information on Venice. And, we passed the other group at one point, and they didn't seem to be having fun. I attribute that, at least in part, to their choice to use tandem kayaks. I know you're thinking that seems like a strange perspective from us, considering how much we love our tandem bike, but kayaking is a whole different thing. For one thing, tandem bikes enforce synchronicity by locking you into the pedals, there is no such mechanism for paddles and so you can easily wind up working against each other. And then there's the balance thing. Leaning the wrong way on the bike can have unpleasant ramifications, but at least you don't wind up in the water. And getting back on the bike is easy, getting back into a tandem kayak is HARD.
We had SUCH A GREAT TIME on this tour. We paddled throughout the smaller canals, saw all kinds of "inside" Venice that just can't be seen from the streets, and learned a lot more Venetian history. It was raining for much of the day, and pouring for part of it, but we had paddling jackets and spray skirts and were no more wet than we were yesterday and quite a bit warmer. We paddled across the Grand Canal and were right out there with ferries, and taxis, and cruise ships and all that. IT WAS AWESOME. Lyle says we need to start a new coloring book for our anniversary, and one of the first pages can be "Marty and Lyle didn't get run over by a water taxi, so I guess they'll stay married!"
It's really cool to see everyone still working by boat instead of just using the boats for recreation as is most typical at home. We stopped at a little restaurant for lunch with Giovanni and had another fabulous plate of pasta and more hot chocolate. We talked rugby vs. football vs. soccer and learned a lot about Venetian laws regarding maintaining ancient structures. (Essentially, it's so difficult to get permission to do maintenance that people just wait for things to fall apart because it's easier to get permission then.) After that we paddled another couple hours and wound up back, pleasantly tired but not exhausted, and caught the Alilaguna back to the hotel. For a pleasant change we did not miss the first one, but actually caught it just as we got to the pier. And I didn't get sick!
We got back to the hotel and took a shower and a nap, and then decided we weren't ambitious enough to go out to dinner so had room service sent up. More awesome pasta. We're giving everyone our wedding bottle openers and they all seem delighted and intrigued by this. Tonight the room service guy brought us a bottle of "Venetian champagne" (I didn't correct him) to celebrate our honeymoon. I love how excited the Italians are about this.
Google signed me out, and then required my 2-step verification to let me back in... so we had to text with Dad to use my backup number to get the code. I appreciate the security, but this was a PITA. Blogger won't let me add photos from other than the camera, meaning I can't share any of the awesome ones of today that Giovanni sent us, so go check Facebook for that...
Tomorrow we are touring Doge's palace and, as the weather is supposed to be a little better, maybe we'll FINALLY get some gelato.
Marty and Lyle
Husband, you said husband!!!
ReplyDeleteCan / should you post your photos to wed pics? Also, you did say husband.
ReplyDelete