Venice!
Blaming it on stress and lack of sleep, I broke a couple of my "usually" routines. Usually, as a stand-by passenger, I wait until most of the paying customers are on the airplane before I board... today? different story. Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I allowed ONE couple to get in front of me in line. I was desperate to be buckled in my seat and put an official end to the shenanigans! The second "usually" is that I don't sleep a wink. I usually eat, watch movies and enjoy all the perks of international flying. On this day, I was asleep, snuggled with my pillow and blanket almost immediately after completing my meal!
Before I go on, more than a few airline employees asked why on earth we would have checked baggage in the first place. It’s kind of an unwritten rule to NEVER check a bag, a stand-by no-no!. For the record, we packed 14 bottles of Napa/Sonoma wines to share with our favorite Croatian so it was necessary! The suitcase in question safely holds 12 bottles (this is one side of it) and we had two magnums in our carry-on. Prepared like a Girl Scout (or in Barry's case, a Boy Scout)!
Back to the “fun”... our flight was scheduled to land at 11:30, we actually landed just after 11:00. Customs was surprisingly painless, our bags were some of the first delivered… we purchased our tickets for the water taxi and got in the long line. By 12:30, we were cruising down the Grand Canal. Dropped off at Sant Angelo stop with our luggage shortly thereafter. Navigating through the alleyways, over canals to our flat was fairly easy considering I had stayed in the same place with Corey a couple years ago.
Check-in time was between 2:30 and 7:30… period. There was only a part-time desk attendant so there’s no getting around that! This meant we had a “free” hour and a half… good time to walk right around the corner, into the plaza and coffee up! In a little sidewalk cafe, we ordered two cappuccinos and a bit of food. Within minutes, we were ordering the next two cappuccino… the waiter looked at us like we’d committed a criminal offense… the cups were small, what can I say? Next, back to Ca Mariele!
All checked in, luggage in our room… now the big debate… nap or explore? In an attempt to make an easier transition to the time zone, we opted for a quick spin around the area, a very early dinner and an early bedtime. You know what they say about the “best laid plans”… our walk started innocently enough. After crossing the plaza, venturing down an alley, we reached the proverbial fork in the road. Most people seemed to be going to the left through a wooden construction zone… so we followed. The walls of plywood blocked the view so we had no idea where we were going. Charming alleyways, bridges over canals, passing cafes and shops, talking… laughing… enjoying ourselves. We noticed several wine bars and even gluten-free pizzeria! Then, feeling a bit tired, we decided to head back and grab a quick dinner near our flat. Easier said than done!
Usually I bring my phone so I can look at google maps and figure out where I need to walk… at least in a general sense. My foggy brain figured that wasn’t necessary and off we went without it. This is my interpretation of our trip back to the flat. We walked the direction we thought we were supposed to go. We wandered around like rats in a maze looking for a way out. Occasionally we would see the Grand Canal and mistakenly think we could figure our way… nope. Literally… and like the luggage debacle, I am not exaggerating… we walked for over three hours looking for a way out.
Skies darkening and thunder roaring in the distance, we knew we had to find our way!!! We figured if we could get on the water taxi and take it to Sant Angelo stop, getting to our flat would be easy! Each of the FIVE people we asked gave an additional clue to locating the water taxi on the Grand Canal. The directions go something like this… “right, right, straight” “Bridge, bridge, right”
Eventually we found our way…. Turns out, this entire time we were on the other side of the Grand Canal! The dot in the photo shows the location of our flat (Ca Mariele) and the squiggly lines show an approximation of our route in the rat maze!
We worked up quite an appetite looking for our “home” Thinking it would be a good idea to fill our bellies before retiring, we went into a restaurant right around the corner. Too tired to really research where to eat, we walked into a place that was pretty full thinking it must be popular. Well… consistent with our string of unfortunate events, this blurry photo shows the front of what turned out to be less than we had hoped.
Now, I realize that countries are different and the Italians like to leisurely dine with several courses but we just didn’t have it in us. Added to the exhaustion is the fact that I am forced to be on a strict diet which excludes me from gluten and tomatoes among other things… no gluten or tomatoes in Italy??? Nothing short of challenging. So, I ordered a meat platter and muscles. That was safe… but the waiter really didn’t like what I chose and showed me his disdain. I had to ask repeatedly… pointing to what I wanted while he pointed at other items. Rubbing my stomach and making a sick face, I THINK he got the idea… Prior to ordering our food items, we had selected a glass of red wine for me and a beer for Barry. I got my wine but Barry’s beer? We had to ask for it four times… took 25 minutes!!!
Barry finished his pasta and I finished the muscles… we sat for another half hour and decided they must have forgotten, or didn’t want to bring me my meat platter. We asked for our check thinking our meal was over… guests were leaving, the place was emptying out. When we asked, they looked offended and said we still have the meat. Well, I wasn’t going to eat alone, Barry was long finished, my wine was gone… we asked for it to go. That wasn’t a popular request either. At this point, who cares? Time for bed!
