Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The wake-up call for today came at 0700. This was a bit of a surprise, since the last agreed-upon time that I heard was 0730; but I’m nothing if not flexible. The earlier start did give everyone a chance for a nice breakfast and then the onerous task of reversing the move-in process – filling the elevator with load after load of luggage, sending it down to the main floor, and then returning the elevator up to the lobby for a refill. After we got everyone to the bottom, we had to walk about 200m over to the waiting bus. Once the bus was loaded with luggage and passengers, we were off to the final stop on our trip – Venice!

All of the places we have been visiting to this point have been on the west side of the Italian peninsula. Since Venice is at the head end of the Adriatic Sea, we had to cross over the Apennine mountains. We took the A1 and then joined the A13 in Bologna then on up to join the A4 near Padova. At the height of the pass on the A1, we managed to see a bit of snow – about the amount of snow you would see in the mountains of BC in June or even early July. Along the A13 between Bologna and Padova, there are broad plains that stretch flat as far as the eye can see. We’ve never had the same bus more than once, and inside today’s bus there was a display that alternated between the time and the outside temperature; it was sunny and a bit hazy and I briefly saw the temperature at 18C. But, that didn’t last long since we were continuing north-northeast. As for the “time” aspect of the display … well, let’s just say that some people need to work on their 24 hour clock skills.

The traffic to Venice is tightly regulated, and the bus had to stop for about 15 minutes at a “checkpoint” to get the proper permits that would allow the driver to continue closer to Venice itself. The paperwork was taking a while and Mrs. Williams started to get a bit impatient, so she took matters into her own hands.

"Hang on kids - I'm driving the bus"

Once we got as close as we could, we walked the 300m to the hotel – only having to cross three bridges to get to the hotel. Even though the distance was not great, the up and down over the bridges started to take its toll. Some of the travelers are now regretting their choice to take part in yesterday’s “handbag feeding frenzy”; the extra weight not being very welcomed.

Walking to the hotel in Venice

The hotel reminds me of a rabbit warren. The room numbering system must only make sense to the owners. Nonetheless, as I write this, everyone is safely into their rooms and we are about to meet down at the front desk to begin a walking tour of Venice.

Venice

We weren’t scheduled for anything else, and our guide for Venice was only booked for tomorrow. So, we walked to the Piazza San Marco to get the “lay of the land” (so to speak). Down narrow streets and alleys, over bridges we eventually got to the heart of Venice.

Piazza San Marco

Napoleon referred to the Piazza San Marco as the “biggest drawing room in Europe”. Perhaps it’s because you emerge into the piazza from the narrow, closed in walkways to the large open space; a space that – in comparison to the rest of the city – is enormous.

Window shopping in the Piazza San Marco

We stayed in and around the piazza for a while and then took the vaporetto (water bus; no longer steam powered) back to a stop near the hotel. Along the way, we passed by the Venice shipyards and saw ferries from Greece and Croatia there.

Supper was at a small restaurant in the Jewish “ghetto” of Venice. After supper, we wandered back to the hotel. We had planned to do a bit of a walking tour of Venice, but I think that everyone is starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by their experiences. The end of the trip is fast approaching.