Venice - March 8, 2011
Venice – March 8, 2011: Got up at 7, dressed, and downstairs for a really nice breakfast in a sunlit room. Rita joined us (she was the other one at the alternate hotel for one night). Meats, cheeses, eggs, bacon, yogurt, cereals … and the every present coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine. I had two double espressos.
We packed up, wheeled our luggage over to the hotel where all else were staying, put them in storage, and headed out with the group around 9:00. We got off the boat near St. Marks. Looked at the Bridge of Sighs again as we walked … really looks strange to me remembering how it’s supposed to look.
In St. Marks, we were all loose from one another for about a half an hour in which Jeff and I took lots of pix of costumed figures and the hordes of people taking pictures of costumed people. From here, we walked over to the Rialto Bridge, crossed the Grand Canal, and went to the open air market. While it is a bit reduced given Carnivale week, it still had wonderful stalls of veggies, fruit, and seafood. After about 45 minutes in the market, we made our way to a lunch restaurant. Stewart is good at almost finding things even when he’s been there several times before. After a few missteps down wrong alleys, we found it.
Lunch consisted of a huge buffet of salads, meats, hot and cold stuff, things with fish or chicken in them, etc. followed by pasta, dessert, and espresso. Glad we’re walking so much. Our next task was a mission of futility. We were going ot the Opera House, La Fenice, to see if we could get tickets for Boehm. Stewart had a map and asked directions several times, but we had to backtrack many times before, after around an hour of walking, we found it. No tickets for any performance except ones where you can hear the opera, but cannot see it. Really? Yep. Hey, but they only cost 10 euros. We declined.
We worked our way back to the St. Marks. The crowds were wall-to-wall thick. We had the idea of taking a boat over to another island where costumed people seem to gather late in the day. Since no one was over there, really, we stayed on the boat and went all the way around Venice, even past the cruise ship docks where I saw a ship so big (Magnifica) that is should be outlawed. The circumnavigation took about an hour. Now it was late and we were tired and cold. So back to Lido for downloading. Jeff and got into our room (208) and opened the waiting bottle of prosecco. After sticking cards into readers to download, Jeff took a nap while I wrote this.
We met downstairs at 8:00. We walked around the corner to a local pizza/pasta place. I had a farro soup which was wonderful and split a seafood pizza. Then we went next door for gelato. We had planned to go into Venice for a midnight flotilla with candles on the Grand Canal. But many of us (including us) opted out due to how cold it was. And Jeff and I worked on pictures until midnight. Then to bed.
So, crowds and crowds and costumes and food to see and food to eat and only 700 pictures today!
We packed up, wheeled our luggage over to the hotel where all else were staying, put them in storage, and headed out with the group around 9:00. We got off the boat near St. Marks. Looked at the Bridge of Sighs again as we walked … really looks strange to me remembering how it’s supposed to look.
In St. Marks, we were all loose from one another for about a half an hour in which Jeff and I took lots of pix of costumed figures and the hordes of people taking pictures of costumed people. From here, we walked over to the Rialto Bridge, crossed the Grand Canal, and went to the open air market. While it is a bit reduced given Carnivale week, it still had wonderful stalls of veggies, fruit, and seafood. After about 45 minutes in the market, we made our way to a lunch restaurant. Stewart is good at almost finding things even when he’s been there several times before. After a few missteps down wrong alleys, we found it.
Lunch consisted of a huge buffet of salads, meats, hot and cold stuff, things with fish or chicken in them, etc. followed by pasta, dessert, and espresso. Glad we’re walking so much. Our next task was a mission of futility. We were going ot the Opera House, La Fenice, to see if we could get tickets for Boehm. Stewart had a map and asked directions several times, but we had to backtrack many times before, after around an hour of walking, we found it. No tickets for any performance except ones where you can hear the opera, but cannot see it. Really? Yep. Hey, but they only cost 10 euros. We declined.
We worked our way back to the St. Marks. The crowds were wall-to-wall thick. We had the idea of taking a boat over to another island where costumed people seem to gather late in the day. Since no one was over there, really, we stayed on the boat and went all the way around Venice, even past the cruise ship docks where I saw a ship so big (Magnifica) that is should be outlawed. The circumnavigation took about an hour. Now it was late and we were tired and cold. So back to Lido for downloading. Jeff and got into our room (208) and opened the waiting bottle of prosecco. After sticking cards into readers to download, Jeff took a nap while I wrote this.
We met downstairs at 8:00. We walked around the corner to a local pizza/pasta place. I had a farro soup which was wonderful and split a seafood pizza. Then we went next door for gelato. We had planned to go into Venice for a midnight flotilla with candles on the Grand Canal. But many of us (including us) opted out due to how cold it was. And Jeff and I worked on pictures until midnight. Then to bed.
So, crowds and crowds and costumes and food to see and food to eat and only 700 pictures today!
posted by Bud Hirsch at 4:56 PM
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