Venice was abuzz with activity when we arrived – unfortunately, much of it was from the massive number of mosquitoes inhabiting our otherwise 5-star accommodations in the Dorsoduro area! Our dear friend, Alison “Ali” Thompson, met up with us in Venice as the school where she teaches has a two-week fall break. Ali, in addition to being a smart, genuine, quality human being, is also fun and funny and we were all happy to have new company.
The first night, after killing what we thought were all the mosquitoes in the room, we closed the door and used the Deep Woods OFF! wipes (25% DEET) that I’d packed with Africa, not Europe, in mind, we drifted off into peaceful sleep. Until about 1:00 a.m. that is, when that most irritating of all sounds – mosquito buzzing – woke us up. I flicked on the light, stood on a chair, and went around angrily thwapping the walls with a hand towel for what seemed like hours. Ali and Mick were roomies and while I don’t think they had more mosquitoes in their room than Jeff and I did, they sure ended up with the bulk of the bites.
