Sunday, September, 30, 2007.
Damn, but that tiny apartment in Radda was an icebox overnight. Had to layer on clothes to keep warm. No icicles formed on my face overnight, thankfully. Nadda to Radda, I say.
That morning, we revised our original plan of driving to Venice. Having stocked up on wine and food, we thought it would be nice to just drive to Florence and relax on the train to Venice. Our revised plan, however, got nixed—because the rental office in Florence was closed. Ack. Had to drive all the way to Venice Airport…
Jen took over driving for a while. We practiced a bit of rudimentary Italian. Watched the landscape go by. I dozed in the back seat.
At one point, a bit of mis-communication meant we missed our exit and ended up driving to Modena instead. Wasn’t a complete loss, since we got to stretch our legs, see a bit of Modena on Sunday (there’s not much to see on Sunday in the smaller towns in Italy, since everything is closed, and Modena is no exception), and we got to check out some lovely aged balsamic vinegar. Alas, the balsamic vinegar festival (yes, there’s a festival, and yes, it lasts for over a week!) wasn’t until the beginning of October…
Oh yeah, and Adam bought a chocolate Lindt ball the size of his head. Ah, Modena, the land of balsamic vinegar and skull-sized balls of chocolate.
Finally got to Venice airport, dropped off the car, and took the bus to the edge of Venice (no vehicular traffic of any kind is allowed on the Venetian islands), and disembarked at the Piazzale Roma.
We were to meet our contact for the apartment rental around 5pm at the vaporetto station #82. Since it was only just after 2pm, we decided to have a nice break at a canal-side café and relax. Jen and I each had a glass of prosecco, Adam had a beer, and the children sat around looking disgruntled (Adam christened my backpack “Samson,” after the Samsonite luggage tag I had secured to the front of it. Good enough, I say. Better than “beast” or “thing”).
After our nice little break, we wandered back to the vaporetto station and waited for the woman to arrive.
And waited.
And waited some more.
And waited even longer. Hmm. 5:45pm and my feet are killing me.
Then spotted what I thought was the right woman, wandering through the crowd of tourists. She held a folder of papers in one arm, and seemed to be approaching every single male standing around nearby… except Adam. I pointed her out to Adam and Jen, and we finally tracked her down.
After introductions, we walked the short distance to our apartment, which would be home for the next few days and nights. Turns out that this spot was ideal—central, easy to navigate to and from, and right on the waterfront, kinda. The short street our apartment was on ended by one of the canals (Rio Malconton). More on the canal story later…
After cleaning up and settling in, we decided to step out for a walk to get oriented, and grab some dinner at one of the places the apartment rep recommended. A bit of circling around, and we finally ended up in the Campo Santa Margherita, a square where a lot of students would hang out during the day, and tourists would feed at night. Settled on a restaurant with outdoor seating under some pretty white awnings, and tables decorated with kitschy table lamps. Our waiter, an elderly gentleman with vim and vigor, insisted that we order by menu number (rather than put up with our lousy Italian, I guess). He merrily p
unched numbers into his PDA and trotted away.
To start, each of us had a bellini (Jen and Adam informed me that Venice was the place where the bellini was invented! Jason Dubya, wish you coulda been here, man… wanted to order a fishbowl for you…). Also had a bottle of valpolicella. Oh yeah, and I guess we had some food, too. Heh.
After dinner, we wandered back to the apartment and settled in, each to do a bit of writing and reflection before bed.
More on Venice later. Much more...
Damn, but that tiny apartment in Radda was an icebox overnight. Had to layer on clothes to keep warm. No icicles formed on my face overnight, thankfully. Nadda to Radda, I say.
That morning, we revised our original plan of driving to Venice. Having stocked up on wine and food, we thought it would be nice to just drive to Florence and relax on the train to Venice. Our revised plan, however, got nixed—because the rental office in Florence was closed. Ack. Had to drive all the way to Venice Airport…
Jen took over driving for a while. We practiced a bit of rudimentary Italian. Watched the landscape go by. I dozed in the back seat.
At one point, a bit of mis-communication meant we missed our exit and ended up driving to Modena instead. Wasn’t a complete loss, since we got to stretch our legs, see a bit of Modena on Sunday (there’s not much to see on Sunday in the smaller towns in Italy, since everything is closed, and Modena is no exception), and we got to check out some lovely aged balsamic vinegar. Alas, the balsamic vinegar festival (yes, there’s a festival, and yes, it lasts for over a week!) wasn’t until the beginning of October…
Oh yeah, and Adam bought a chocolate Lindt ball the size of his head. Ah, Modena, the land of balsamic vinegar and skull-sized balls of chocolate.
Finally got to Venice airport, dropped off the car, and took the bus to the edge of Venice (no vehicular traffic of any kind is allowed on the Venetian islands), and disembarked at the Piazzale Roma.
We were to meet our contact for the apartment rental around 5pm at the vaporetto station #82. Since it was only just after 2pm, we decided to have a nice break at a canal-side café and relax. Jen and I each had a glass of prosecco, Adam had a beer, and the children sat around looking disgruntled (Adam christened my backpack “Samson,” after the Samsonite luggage tag I had secured to the front of it. Good enough, I say. Better than “beast” or “thing”).
After our nice little break, we wandered back to the vaporetto station and waited for the woman to arrive.
And waited.
And waited some more.
And waited even longer. Hmm. 5:45pm and my feet are killing me.
Then spotted what I thought was the right woman, wandering through the crowd of tourists. She held a folder of papers in one arm, and seemed to be approaching every single male standing around nearby… except Adam. I pointed her out to Adam and Jen, and we finally tracked her down.
After introductions, we walked the short distance to our apartment, which would be home for the next few days and nights. Turns out that this spot was ideal—central, easy to navigate to and from, and right on the waterfront, kinda. The short street our apartment was on ended by one of the canals (Rio Malconton). More on the canal story later…
After cleaning up and settling in, we decided to step out for a walk to get oriented, and grab some dinner at one of the places the apartment rep recommended. A bit of circling around, and we finally ended up in the Campo Santa Margherita, a square where a lot of students would hang out during the day, and tourists would feed at night. Settled on a restaurant with outdoor seating under some pretty white awnings, and tables decorated with kitschy table lamps. Our waiter, an elderly gentleman with vim and vigor, insisted that we order by menu number (rather than put up with our lousy Italian, I guess). He merrily p
unched numbers into his PDA and trotted away.To start, each of us had a bellini (Jen and Adam informed me that Venice was the place where the bellini was invented! Jason Dubya, wish you coulda been here, man… wanted to order a fishbowl for you…). Also had a bottle of valpolicella. Oh yeah, and I guess we had some food, too. Heh.
After dinner, we wandered back to the apartment and settled in, each to do a bit of writing and reflection before bed.
More on Venice later. Much more...
2 comments:
I think Jason W needs to make a pilgrimage!
Hi Lisa, we found your blog, and it's awesome! We are sooo jealous (me & Frances)!
It is so cool that we can keep up with your adventures this way! Isn't technology amazing?!
I found your blog name on Adam and Jen's blog, although they entered your blog email address and not the blog link (probably by mistake), but I still figured it out!
I am sure you are having a great time! The photos are great, and video was cool with the thunder an all, but a little commentary would have made it more personal... next time?
Looking forward to your next blog entries!
-Tyler & Frances.
ps. I am sure Jdubya will be impressed that his fondness for belini's has made him almost famous (or is that infamous?)
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