Venice, Day 1

Wow, we are exhausted.

We arrived in Venice about 8am this morning after a thankfully uneventful flight.  I won`t say I was asleep before the wheels were off the ground, but I was asleep before the landing gear was secured.  I had expected our plane to have wifi, which it did not, so I was stuck picking a movie.  Lyle and I both watched the new Mad Max thing, but neither of us saw all of it.  Maybe on the way home.

We breezed right through customs and found our way to the public transportation ticket counter.  We had our first awkward we-don`t-speak-Italian conversation to determine how to get to the hotel.  We began a trend that we hope isn`t going to be persistent by getting to the bus stop in time to show our tickets, but not in time for them to let us on.  We waited for the next bus, road that to the train station, and then wandered around like the clueless tourists we are until we finally figured our where the vaporettos (water buses) board.  That took us to our hotel, where our room wasn`t ready, but they took our bags and gave us access to the executive lounge for coffee and wifi.  The Hilton here has its own water shuttle that goes back and forth, so we jumped on that and went over to St. Mark`s.  I think I am not cut out to be a Venetian, because I was ready to throw up before we made it there.  It was a near thing.

We spent more than an hour wandering around St. Mark`s square looking for our guide`s office before finally calling them and stopping in another agency for directions before finding them just steps from where we got off te vaporetto.  Our first guide, Ornella, took us on a walk around the square, giving us a little orientation to Venetian history and winding up by showing us St. Mark`s basilica, which was stunning.  It`s raining here today and with the tide in, the square was under about a foot of water.  They call it "acqua alta" or high water, and they handle it by putting platforms up for people to walk on and selling knee high shoe covers.  We were both wet and cold, and we stopped for a very welcome cup of cappachino and hot chocolate before our second tour.  Italian hot chocolate is very different from the American equivalent, and I am a big fan.

Our second tour, with Giovanna, was of a gondola squero (workshop) and it was super cool.  Their workshop looked and smelled much like the farm, and we learned a whole lot about the history and culture of gondolas and gondolieri.  Each part of the metal front is symbolic of something: the curve is the grand canal, the six teeth of the comb represent the six sestieri of Venice, the half circle is the Rialto bridge, the curve on the top is the doge's hat shape, the three curved pieces represent the outer islands, and the one on the back is for Giudecca - the island where our hotel is.  Functionally though, that iron is there to offset the weight of the gondolieri standing on the back.

After our tour we got dropped back at our shuttle stop just in time to miss another boat, and then got more hot chocolate and some tiramisu while we stayed out of the rain waiting for the next one.  Our room was ready, our bags were in it, and the shower was hot.  

We were worn out enough we didn't want to venture out of the hotel for dinner, but we had amazing pasta with local wine here.  I was nodding off while we waited for the bill, and we're going kayaking in the morning, so that's all for now.  

Marty and Lyle