2008 ITALIAN ODYSSEY - Venice

Monday September 22, 2008 – Piombino Dese/Venice

We decided to catch the train into Venice today and were soon on our way after breakfast Although Antonio had predicted showers and suggested that we took umbrellas, the day dawned brightly and got better.

The countryside is very flat around here and distinctly rural. Patch after patch of maize flashed by interspersed with vegetable patches and small vineyards. As we neared Venice we got  a clear view of the mountain peaks to the North many still capped with snow. On arriving at the station in Venice we bought a ticket for the vaporetta to St Marks Square. We took the ‘all stops’ option #1 so that we could see all the sights and I thought a 12 hour multiple journey ticket. We were lucky enough to get a window seat so we had a good view of the passing show.

Some of the buildings needed a coat of paint

So many buildings must have looked magnificent in their heyday but were now badly neglected and, as Boet said, sadly in need of painting. Rab also couldn’t get over how badly the people in the buildings treated their window hangings – the blinds certainly were hanging higgledy piggledy in so many of the windows. I just took in the views (and dozens of photographs). It was fascinating to see delivery boats loaded with small containers, taxi boats and even an ambulance boat going by.

But some were in good condition

We finally got to St Marks and were truly astounded by the  enormous number of tourists. The place was packed with groups clustered around their flag waving guides each making their presentation in one of a hundred languages. The queues to get into the buildings were even longer than those at Pisa. At one stage as I was trying to take in this scene of antlike activity I was almost swept away by  a rush of tourists who streamed towards me looking a good deal like a flock of sheep spooked into a stampede. Rab and I stepped out of their way and made our way around the colonnaded shops with no intention of buying anything apart from another delicious gelato

We started strolling back in the direction of the railway station and I must say it was fascinating to wander along all the crooked streets, admiring the sudden view gained down a side alley or from a bridge over a narrow canal. Rab was in her element as there were dozens of leather and/or handbag shops. I spotted a camera shop while I was idling in an alley and Rab was trying on a leather coat she was never going to buy. I have always had a bit of concern about the camera SD card failing, so I got  Marius, the proprietor, to copy my card onto a CD so that all my wedding pictures and videos would be safe.

Marius had a good selection of cameras in the shop including the latest Pentax digital ‘point and shoot’ – version 10 compared with my then current camera, a version 4. it was slim and sleek and I fell for it. Rab and I went to a tavern recommended by Marius to have lunch while he completed the transfer of the files. He had also recommended the asparagus risotto, a dish that neither of us would have put at the top of our favourites. But we changed our minds after eating this delightful meal.

Rab and I talked over the pros and cons of getting the camera while we ate. There was no really good reason for buying it, although it took bigger and better shots than my existing camera, had a better screen , few more functions and was beautiful and not chunky. In the end we decided it could be regarded as an early anniversary present for me, so we bought it for Є200 – and what a terrific item it is. (It is still my favourite camera, although it has developed a speck on the zoom which cannot be fixed. I have tried to buy a second hand one only to find that it was a limited edition produced only in Italy for the European market.)

We strolled on towards the Rialto Bridge which was covered in tourists and merchants. While I snapped away with my new toy, Rab found not only yet another very nice leather handbag, but also a silk scarf. Good shopping indeed. On we went admiring the scene of bustling people, inviting bars and taverns, fruit and vegetable sellers displaying their goods in such attractive ways – I really liked the ‘flowers’ made of garlic and chillies. But by now my feet were really giving trouble and it was getting very painful to walk. (I had been diagnosed with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy – nerve damage of unknown cause – which gave me gyp from time to time if I had been on my feet for a long time.)

It was not easy to find our way around the city even with the map we had and the prospect of losing our way and spending a couple of hours trying to find our way to the station was not an attractive one. So we called it a day and made our way to the nearest vaporetta stop. That is when I discovered that our tickets were no longer valid! With no ticket office or machine on the site – and no  ticket inspector on the boat, we hopped aboard. What a relief it was to sit down! And while our breaking the law in Pisa was inadvertent, this was criminality with purpose.

We got to the station without further ado – we only had to wait ten minutes for the train – and couldn’t help feeling that we were glad that we had not been tempted to stay in a hotel in the city. As we got off the vaporetta we watched a couple about our age struggling down the steps from the station. There are about twenty in all –and no ramp. They then had to drag their cases along the quay to the ticket office and join a queue there before paying for themselves and their luggage; then on to another queue for a vaporetta, followed by a trek from the landing stage to their hotel. Not for us! Function over quaintness for us.

The trip home took a little longer than we had thought it would because there was work on the line so we stopped on our way thorough the village for an excellent coffee and tasty cake at the shop we had tried yesterday.

A rest back at our room and then we were off to find an evening meal. Rab said she had seen a promising looking place in Loreggia, so we headed over there, as we were a little early for a meal I decided to fill the car ahead of our planned journey tomorrow. In the process I narrowly avoided an awful accident (all my fault) at a crossing that the locals had warned us about where the traffic came from an angle that was completely unexpected for someone used to driving on the right-hand side of the road. Fortunately both Rab and I saw the oncoming car at the last minute and managed to avoid it. But it taught me a valuable lesson not to be too casual about the issues associated with driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.

We could not find a filling station in Loreggia and the restaurant Rab had spotted turned out to be a pizzeria – and we had had enough pizza for the moment – so we went on to Resana where we found not only a filling station, but a very friendly pump jockey who directed us to a nearby hotel. We had one of the best dinners we have eaten since we got here. Rab chose Penne Arrabiata and I had the Fuseli Carbonara. Simple meals but wonderfully prepared. A very good evening indeed.