Breakfast is bananas, apples and croissants, all with nutella - Nutella has been the thread through our travels - we're thinking of calling it "European Vacation: Nutella Tour" - we need shirts.
Over breakfast we're listening to the radio; we have a teeeeny tv with an antennae that Ricardo apologized for, but we told him we wouldn't understand it anyway - no worries. Amy treats us to her breakfast dance - we see Amy's future. She'll be the old lady shakin her stuff alone on the dance floor that everyone thinks is cute.
The music mix on the radio is odd - mix of italian, spanish and English - pop and jazz and hispanic caliope... The song playing now says "She's a monster, beautiful monster, but I don't mind, no I don't mind" - its Amy's new favorite. From there it goes to the theme of The A-Team with house music remix, and and remake of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with a male singer, "Girl I'm just trying to have fun - You know you're You're still number one, girl I'm just trying to have fun, now" - And now I need a hero from Footloose - Let it Be... And a funky song "This is your invitation to the dance floor" that gets Patti singing along.
As we get further along our starts are slower and later and our "nights" end earlier... But that's a good pace for us. We're still trying to find time to just be and relax. We head out about 10:30, but we're stopped about a block from the apt at this beautiful Murano glass shop. We all get some baubles, and Amy has some shipped home. I'm attaching some pics of it - we wanted to get more than we did. It was a dangerous store.
We're walking the city today - and its a maze. Streets are randomly marked - so we just wander and hope we'll find something cool. We're heading in the general direction of a church that takes up a large space on the map - so its worthy of visiting.
We stop for lunch at this cheap place that says pizza and coke for 3Euro - It was a NYC style slice of pizza and it tasted a little like home. We've noticed that the food in Venice isn't as much about the food as it is in other places we've visited, its about being fast and convenient. You can spot a Venetians, they're the ones that walk past you going three times as fast with annoyed looks on their faces. Food is here is sandwiches, pizza and Riccardo says the natives go to a Bachassa (?) - its like a "small plates" place that serves red wine with your meal. Very fast. We saw one and there was a crowd of Italians out the door.
There are many covered wells here - we found one that we think is the hatch from the tv show Lost... Its a really big well. :)
We find the church - less ornate inside than others, but a nice collection of art. Our next stop is the Rialto bridge, a center with open markets. All the streets are lined with shops for masks, glass and leather - the things Venice and Italy are know for. The glass is Murano glass (one of the islands) and is a must get here. The masks were prevalent here during the plague - and Carnivale is celebrated here when the whole city wears elaborate costumes and masks.
We wanted to go see the bridge of fists, but its not labeled on the map - or if it is, we can't find it. We sit for a bit right by the water (pic of Patti where we sat), and we're talking and there is a fisherman that pulls his boat up right in front of us. I ask him about the bridge - no English - ok, sign language... Water (point), over (arch over like a bridge), fists, fight? Oh yah! We show him the map and he points it out for us! Yay!
Then says in English, "10 minutes" - we figure that it may be 10 in Venetian walking pace.. But we're taking the bus.
At the bus stop, while we're waiting, two old men start chatting with us, well, with Patti who is sitting on their side. They're speaking in full Italian, and one seems to make an obscene gesture that makes us think we are being hit on (or Patti is). Amy starts to get it through her spanish - these are guys who used to be opera singers, and now they put on shows. Another guy joins us and starts talking to the old guys and says "English, they speak English" (in Italian). One of the men points a finger at him like he's miming shooting a gun and says in English, but a very thick accent, "Ima not talkin to YOU". Then the other starts to serenade us - with the echo of the small waiting area, the sound quality is great. He has a beautiful voice. Amy says that when they sat down they were telling us who they were and inviting us to sing with them - the best part is that I have most of it on tape. One of our funniest experiences so far.
We find the bridge of fists, and its not labeled - so people look at us strangely as we pose in our fighting stances. We're used to that by now. :). Near the bridge we see some gandoliers, and we make Amy go approach them. We were pretty tired and actually were thinking that we didn't need to do a ride - but Amy was good and said we should. And she's right, we can't come to Venice and then go back home and honestly tell people we didn't do a gondola ride. It was 80euro for the ride - 20 each, not bad. Getting in the boat was a little shaky because there were two gondolas parked side by side and we had to take the other boat, so we step down and into one gondola, and up and into the second.
It was a nice leisurely ride through narrow passages and low bridges. We had a brief outing into the grand canal where our guy pointed out Napolean's palace and other sites of interest. He sang to us sporadically, "Besa mi mucho" and other standards. We were very impressed with how he balanced the boat and pushed off objects around us to propell us. We were glad we did it. Amy was right.
Every man here has a man bag, and we see a lot of guys here in capris. Looks funny on the old guys. Amy is writing a song about how she wants a man with a man bag. It sounds like a hit to me.
Its about 4:30 and we are done! Siesta time! We head back to apt to relax, lay around - find dinner, shower and pack. We head out tonight on an overnight train to Munich. It leaves at 10:51pm and we arrive at 6:30am in Munich, so we want to shower now for tmw.
We grab dinner at a place we scouted out yesterday - I order tuna, olives and tomatoes with penne; Patti, Dana and Amy all get the Tortellini carbonara. My food comes a full ten minutes before their food. Both are yummy, but I'm finished (even with eating slowly and pacing myself) before their food arrives. Amy orders bread ... That never arrives. So we don't feel bad about not tipping here. We asked for the check... Oh, you mean now... Now means 15min later. The Italians linger at their dinner tables and we are strange for wanting to eat and pay and go.
We have not been stared at like we were in Monopoli - but that's a small town. People there stared long, hard , and without shame. Even Riccardo hadn't heard of Monopoli and he was "made in Italy". But tonight Amy is getting stares from the German people at the table next to us. The lady is looking her up and down - Patti says in a voice that can be overheard that "I guess she's never seen a black person before"... And the lady never looked back, in fact moved her chair so that she couldn't turn and look anymore. Amy pointed out that Germans are required to take English lessons - she definitely understood what was said.
We have to get gelato tonight - our last night in Italy - we've been in this country 2 weeks tonight, and it will be strange to hear another language around us. Munich tomorrow, and we'll be at the Murphy's in Heidelburg by tmw evening! Home in a week. Wow.
Right now we're on the sleeper train. There are 6 beds in a cabin and Patti and I are on the top bunk, Amy and Dana on the bottom, and no one in the middle. The top bunk is high! And my bed is squeaky... We'll see how this goes. :)
Night!
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