The maze they call Venice

The next day in Venice was a different story.  After a visit to a Murano glass factory in the morning, we made our way to St. Marks Square to discover that thousands of people had descended on Venice that morning.  The crowds were unbelievable.  We could not even get in to see St. Mark’s Cathedral, which was a disappointment (one of the few on the tour).  Instead, we teamed up with a couple from Ottawa, Michel and Louise (“Lou”), who agreed to explore the city with us, even though we were American!

If you are going to get hopelessly lost in a foreign city, I highly recommend doing it with Canadians.  Eric and were impressed with how well we were able to navigate Rome using the little map the hotel gave us.   Even with the four of us and the map that Lou had intelligently taken with her, we still felt like we were constantly lost, and must have passed the same square five or six times, which kind of took the romance out of the experience for me. 

Still, the day gave us the opportunity to get to know Michel and Lou, which was one of the highlights of our trip.  (This has been a great by-product of being on a tour.)   Throughout our trip, we have been picking up some great one-liners that have encapsulated our stay.  In Germany, Eric learned an important German phrase to use at Sam and Katrin’s party:  “Ich spreche kein Deutsch, Ich shaue nur gut aus!”  (“I don’t speak German, I just look good!” – yes, I taught him that one.)  Michel actually provided us with two great lines.  The first, after I apologized to him for leading us down yet another blind alley, was “That’s ok.  I don’t pet the sweaty stuff.” (Like “I don’t sweat the small stuff.”  Had to be there in the moment!)  And the second, courtesy of his sister, was “I’m not the smartest tool in the shed.”  Classic!

Michel and Louise also indulged me in trying to find (and eventually succeeding in finding!) the Fenice, Venice’s opera house.  Before coming on this trip, I had read a few books, one of which was by John Barendt, the author of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”.  He wrote a second book called “City of Fallen Angels” about the destruction of the Fenice by fire in 1996 during a restoration project.  The ensuing political corruption and cultural tensions, especially between Venetians and wealthy foreigners sponsoring the restoration of artworks, was really interesting.  We didn’t tour the inside of the Theatre, but it was nice to see it in person.  When I saw how far away it was from the water, I could see how easily it would have burned, and indeed how fragile the city really is.

Rather than take an expensive gondola ride, we opted instead  to take a Vaparetto around the city before heading back to the hotel on the mainland.  (The Vaparetto is like the Venetian city bus.)  The weather was glorious and it was great to see the outside of Venice after being lost in the inside of Venice all day.  We have been very lucky.  With the exception of our first day in Rome, every day has been sunny and glorious.