Venice and the road home

Friday morning was an exciting day: It was the last time we got in to the car. We were dropping the car off at the Venice airport! We woke up on the early side to make sure we got the car dropped off by our deadline (we learned our lesson). The rental drop off went off without a hitch and we found our way to the dock so that we could take the waterbus in to Venice. The ticket seller tried to talk us in to taking a normal bus instead, saying that it would be cheaper and faster, but her arguments fell on deaf ears, because we were trying to find a way to waste time until our hotel check-in and we didn't want to cart our backpacks (and our babies, the box of wine) around Venice. Sitting on a waterbus slowly approaching Venice and arriving just in time to check in to our hotel was about as good as it gets. Once we got to Venice, I discovered just how bad Google Maps is at the tiny streets of Venice. The fact is that the streets and blocks are just too narrow for the GPS margin of error, so your position on the map is only vaguely useful, unless you manage to find a street sign near by and match it up to one on the map. Neither physical street signs nor matching streets on the map abound. It took me a little while to get used to this haphazard manner of navigation, but I did, and we managed to make it to the reception desk (though, not without first pulling up the email I'd been sent and rereading her instructions, since the pin on my map wasn't enough). We got our keys, she directed us down the street and around a corner, and we found our way to our room, which is in a building which was once part of an old convent. It was a tiny room, but sufficiently comfortable, and for Venice, about as cheap as it gets.

Jay put in a few more hours of work before starting his weekend and then we wandered over to St. Mark's.  I've already explained the issues with navigation and GPS, so lets just assume from this point that any time Jay and I were a walking around in Venice it involved a fair amount of wandering and getting lost.

It's okay. Canals are absurdly photogenic.

While Jay was working I'd discovered that for just 2 euro each, we could book a time for admittance into St. Mark's and skip the line. I'd also learned that either very early or very late were the best times to try and get in, so we already had a spot reserved. We got to St. Mark's just in time and spent the next 15 minutes or so admiring the beautiful mosaics (no pictures allowed inside).

One picture I took of St. Mark's when we got up early on Saturday

We didn't really feel like paying for some of the extras. We were pretty content with our mosaics, so we headed around the corner to the Doge's Palace. The Doge's Palace was very cool, there were lots of opportunities for me to play with my camera, and we probably spent an hour and half wandering through the hallways and the prison. After the Doge's Palace we headed to dinner at an AIC Middle Eastern restaurant called Frary's. It was everything we could have hoped for: absolutely delicous. We finished the evening with a bit more gelato (not Grom this time).

In the courtyard at the Doge's Palace. The sky was being very cooperative

A large display of the original columns in the Palace that were removed during a massive restoration. 

A view from the Bridge of Sighs

I sat on the floor for about 10 minutes while I waited for a chance to get this shot without anyone in the way. After I left I looked back and saw people mimicking my position to try and figure out what I was trying to get a shot of. 

We decided that, for the last real day of our trip, we should wake up early to get good pictures of Venice when it wasn't too crowded, so we agreed to get up before sunrise again. Poor Jay, faced with the looming return to Ann Arbor and the unknown nature of our living situation, slept horribly. He was wide awake when my alarm went off at 5:45. We ventured out and had a wonderful time taking pictures. After finding breakfast, we said good bye to our wi-fi hotspot, bought some food that we could shape into a picnic, and headed to Murano.

The lagoon at sunrise

Playing around with perspective during our early morning walk

Everyone uses these old-fashioned brooms to sweep the streets in Venice. Not sure why, but they sure make for a good picture. 

Once we got to Murano, the island of the glass artisans, we quickly found a very touristy glass demonstration at one of the studios. It was very cool to watch and delightfully short. After that we spent several hours wandering in galleries and shops searching for the perfect souvenir for our time in Venice. Right around the time that Jay was about to drop, we found it. I'd known that if we looked long enough, I'd see something and be like: This is the one. And I was right. It's a clock (big surprise) and it's red (another big surprise) and we are very happy about it.

Venice from Murano, with a pomegranate dangling in the foreground. We only got a little told off for trespassing in someone's garden....

One of the streets of Murano, I liked the colorful laundry. Jay thought it was weird that I was taking a picture of someone's underwear. I didn't realize there was underwear up there, and I don't think it shows from this angle. 

Glass blowing demonstration at Murano

We headed back to Venice, I got some more gelato at Grom (keep in mind at this point that I'm getting ready to say good bye to gelato). It took us a while to get home cause I got all twisted around, and Jay was dead on his feet, but we eventually made it and spent the next couple of hours resting. Around five we headed back out and walked around some of the areas that we hadn't seen yet, including the Jewish quarter. We'd settled on an AIC restaurant to eat at that night and we were mostly just spending the time till they opened. Eventually we settled down and sat on the edge of a canal to watch gondola tours go by. My favorite was when the gondolier was busy thumbing through his phone while simultaneously piloting own the canal. That or the gondolier who actually sang to his passengers, but didn’t know all the words, so he kept alternating between singing the words he knew, singing la la la with the tune, whistling, and mimicking a guitar solo or two. It was awesome.

Gondoliers, chilling out.

When we got to the restaurant, as usual, they asked if we had a reservation. As usual, the answer was no. They looked a little unsure at this, and we thought that maybe our "no reservation" luck had run out. But they decided they could seat us. That's the good thing about eating on an American schedule: you start dinner so early that by the time the restaurant is starting to fill up, you're done.

This was another AIC restaurant serving "traditional Venetian food." I interpreted that as "a good place to get seafood." And boy did we. We got a fish sampler as an antipasti, it was delicious and included something called a "grey shrimp" that I have never heard of but was absolutely delicious. We shared a seafood risotto for our first course that was fantastic. After that I had grilled eel (I liked it so much in Bolsena that I couldn't pass it up) and Jay got branzino. The branzino was brought out to the table whole, in the cooking pan, and the waiter dismantled it in front of us and plated it. It's amazing how dexterous a person can be with a big fork and a big spoon. Everything was fantastic. The waiter also recommended an  Italian Pinot Grigio that came in a half bottle for us, and it ended up being quite good. We were both pretty tired, but Jay was especially wiped, thanks to the lack of sleep the night before, so we it was time to say "Goodnight" to Venice. And stop one more time at Grom for gelato. On the walk back I stopped at one point to take a picture with my phone, but it was kind of dark, and not that great a picture, and when I was finished Jay was so done that he said "I almost just murdered you." And I laughed all the way home.

The next day we were up early to catch the train. A quick train to the mainland, then an hour to Verona, then two 4 hour train rides later (North through the mountains and in to Austria) we made it to Mainz. We stopped over in Munich for a couple of hours, and it's Oktoberfest. So I got to see a lot of lederhosen and dirndl, which was entertaining for me. I think I'd look awesome in a dirndl, but I'm not sure about Jay in lederhosen…

We got to Mainz and met up with Oliver's mother, who took us back to her place and fed us (she'd even gotten some gluten free bread for me at the store). I then set to work on the origami project that is assembling shipping quality wine boxes and we started the process of packing up our wine. Fortunately, we were able to use enough of our clothes as wrapping for the bottles that it made room in our backpacks for our souvenirs. Eventually we stumbled in to bed. Monday (we're up to September 26 now) we woke up early, finished up the packing, and got the cab Oliver had arranged for us to the airport. We got our wine boxes checked without difficulty, security was a breeze, and we hung out, sipped expensive coffee (sigh, I already miss Italy) and taking advantage of the free wi-fi (hooray Frankfurt airport).

The flight was uneventful. We're home.