October 10-15: Venice, Italy by Cathy

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.

Lack of sleep and bug bites were not enough to keep us down though, especially in such a magical place as Venice. And it is. Magical. Having had our share of crowds in Florence, we mainly spent our time wandering around and exploring not-so-crowded areas with no set agenda, finding interesting things – including the Jan Fabre glass &  bone exhibit at the Abbazia di San Gregorio. 

We did walk through St. Mark’s Square and over to the Rialto Bridge, but moved along after a few mandatory pictures.

One picture, of the Clock Tower, has a story I am compelled (by Jeff and Mick) to tell. Looking up and admiring the beautiful blue tile (or stone?) numbers above the round astrological clock, Ali and I noticed that they showed IV 50. Then we looked at our watch and OMG, it was 4:50 – what’re the odds? When we pointed out the coincidence to Jeff and Mick, they said it was obviously a digital clock, that it couldn’t be coincidental. Well, Ali and I found this ludicrous, certain about our theory, pointing out the old age of the building and the technology available at the time. We agreed to disagree and walked on. But then, Mick decides he has to run back and check the clock and sure enough, IV 55!! Ali and I were forced to endure Mick and Jeff gloating about this for the rest of the trip (“Oh no, there’s no way it could be a clock! It’s made out of stone! It must be a coincidence.”) I’d say we ate crow, but in St. Mark’s Square, it’s more like pigeon (and we learned that Ali does not like pigeons!). 

On Friday the 13^th, after a morning of relaxing, wiping bloody mosquito remains off the walls and applying Benadryl to our bites, we enjoyed another great walk – this time past the crowds of St. Mark’s, past (rather than in since Jeff’s attire didn’t cut muster) Harry’s Bar, and all the way down to the end of the island to the Giardini della Biannale.

On our walk back, we happened upon another interesting (and thankfully less disturbing) art exhibit in the park. There was a group of large, brightly painted turtles (reminiscent of the the hearts of San Francisco) that Mick really liked. Here’s why: our first night in Venice, out on the Zattere, a man from Senegal, Mustafa, “gave” Mick a mahagony-colored carved stone turtle. After talking with us a while and filling us in on his life story, he (predictably) asked for a donation. Ali, Jeff and I politely refused, but Mick, unjaded and enraptured with his turtle, dug into his wallet and gave the man a euro. “Tortuga” became his lucky charm (we even had to seek out Krazy Glue when Tortuga fell and broke his neck), so Mick took Tortuga’s picture with the colorful turtles in the park.

Back in our neighborhood, we were just in time to watch the sunset from the Zattere – feet hanging over the stone wall, cocktails in hand – celebrating Jeff’s 63^rd birthday!

Our last day in Venice, we bought vaporetto tickets to check out some of Venice’s other islands. There was a lot of fog when we took off, but it wasn’t terribly cold and it was great to see Venice from the water. When we stepped off the boat in Lido, something was strange. Took us a minute to figure out what it was –  cars!  Despite that, the town and its lovely long beach, weren’t crowded at all.

The fog started to lift and we began shedding layers. We walked along the beach, picked up  a slice of pizza Margherita that Mick inhaled and then found a lovely courtyard with stone benches circling a small, bee-filled flower garden where Ali, Jeff and I could enjoy a cappuccino. One bee was so large, none of us could keep our eyes off him (or her). Turns out, while indeed big for a bee, he was extremely small for what he actually was – a hummingbird!! So cool! We all tried to digitally capture him and I think Ali and I would still be there trying to find him if Jeff hadn’t rallied us for our next island hop.

NOTE: I researched the bee/hummingbird and found that what we saw was an Italian hawk-moth and that our experience is a common one. According to this article, there are no hummingbirds in Europe at all! Who knew!

Murano, our next stop, turned out to be everyone’s favorite of the trip. When we stepped off the boat, the temperature was about 75 degrees with a slight wind – couldn’t be nicer. I’d been to Murano before, but didn’t remember much about it other than it was famous for the glass blowing. To me, it seems like a place where Venetians actually live – and not just an island full of tourists. Yes, there are lots of glass stores and restaurants, but also lots of empty, residential side streets with laundry hanging high above. We all wished we had slightly more time to wander.

We did not take a gondola ride, but Mick (unintentionally) decided to wear a shirt he hadn’t yet worn on the trip – a  blue-and-white striped “Venice” shirt that my cousin Seldy brought back from a recent trip she’d taken – so we had a sort of a land-based gondolier, minus the singing.

We ate at home a couple of nights and on those nights we watched “educational” TV. The first night we watched a documentary that I thought was about the history of Venice, but was more about the “agua alta” – the regular flooding that occurs in Venice and the possible solutions (all extremely expensive). We learned that the salt water is eroding the brick of the buildings, explaining the hazy white area at the bottom of many buildings. It also explained the stacks of ramps we saw all over, which we thought were for stages or performances, but are really for walking on when the island is flooded. Finally, we learned that most of Venice still pumps its sewage into its canals. Eww, really?! That is not OK. The second night we watched Gladiator because I thought it would be cool for Mick to see a simulated Colosseum before seeing what remains in Rome. While only I remained awake for the documentary, everyone was riveted to Gladiator. If gladiators all looked like Russell Crowe, it’s no wonder 60,000 people went to the games.