Day and Night in Venice

Venice was another up and down day. Stepping out of the train station, we were presented with the Grand Canal. By this point, we've run out of different ways to describe how beautiful Italy is, so we've got to just stop trying. The Grand Canal was beautiful. We got on a crowded vaporetto and cruised down the Canal, under the Rialto Bridge, to our stop at the Accademia gallery. We had to guess which way our hotel was, but luck led us right to it. We rung the bell at the gate, and above us a small voice called out "Buon Giorno!" and we saw a little lady peeking out of a second story window. She buzzed the gate open, and met us down at the front door. As she led us inside and up the staircase, she was twittering like a bird, on and on in unintelligible Italian. Her name was Marta and she knew just enough English and I knew just enough Italian that we were able to get checked in and settled. She informed us that her credit card machine was not functioning, so we'd have to pay cash. Also, she told us to say hi to our sister Emily, who had just checked out of our room a few hours ago. Our room was elegant and old. It felt as though noblemen once lived here. For the first and only time on our vacation, the bathroom was not in our room, but instead across the front room. It was cozy and clean and not at all a problem for us.

Emily put on a beautiful dress and we headed out onto the city. The vaporetto brought us to Piazza San Marco and Emily chased pidgeons across the cobblestone. It was late enough that we were able to walk right in to St. Mark's Basilica and view the interesting, Turkish-looking church all decorated in brown and gold mosaics. We decided to take a stroll around the glass shops, but unfortunately, every ATM we tried wouldn't give us any money. We didn't even have enough cash on us to cover our hotel room, much less a gondola ride, glass souvenirs, or even dinner. We were getting hungry and it was getting dark. Panic began to set in. Back at our room, we talked with my mom about getting us some money, and she lovingly put all her effort into helping her poor children overseas. She told us about the terrible earthquake, and we wondered if that was to blame for the credit card and communication troubles (we had a hard time getting a hold of my mom or Emily & Mike). Before that, the only time we'd heard of it was when a lady at the train station in Orvieto asked us casually if we felt it last night.

Eventually the money kinks worked out, and we had just enough cash for the room and a Gondola, and a tiny bit for dinner. We hurriedly purchased some Murano glass souvenirs before the last of the little shops closed (using our card to pay), and sought out a restaurant. The first one we sat down in seemed ok, but soon those warning signs began popping up: Interesting decor, near a tourist site, room full of Americans. The server brought us menus and we knew it was no good. All English, all combo meals, and worse yet: it had pictures. We couldn't believe our eyes, but the last picture was of lasanga in a microwaveable tray! Thinking quickly, we faked a cell phone call with poor reception, and ran out the door and down the avenue, our server watching us in wonderment.

Eventually we found a sit down place that would accept our card. The food was ok and the price was low, and we got in and out quick enough to catch one of the last Gondoliers before he retired for the night. Venice was a ghost town by this hour. The shops were closed, the avenues were empy, and the once bustling Grand Canal was now still and dark. We glided over the black water, peacful and romantic. Our Gondolier gave us the tour in a hushed voice, pointing out the buildings and their glowing reflections in the water. The moon came out overhead as we slipped down a small side canal. Under bridges and past vacant palaces, we swooned over Venice. Our ride came to an end back at the Accademia bridge, and soon we were asleep in our beautiful room.

Early the next morning we had a wonderful breakfast of croissants and bread with nutella, then we took our last vaporetto ride back to the train station and said Ciao to Venice.