Day 3-Venice
We left Sante Angelo di Celle early this morning and headed out for Venice. I had my international driver’s license with my but my SC driver’s license was in my wallet when it was stolen in Rome. Technically, my international license is invalid without my SC license, but nothing can be done about that now.
Driving in Italy is truly an adventure. Everyone drives as though they have nine lives. I love it. The Italians are the friendliest, most laid back people you can imagine . . . until they get behind the wheel of a car or scooter. There were several times that I was driving 20 km/h over the speed limit and people were behind me honking and flashing their lights to pass me. Not to mention that it is fun to look at the speedometer and see the needle on 120! There is an amazing law over here; on any four lane road, the trucks must stay in the right lane. Can you imagine if they passed that law in the US?
The drive to Venice is supposed to take about 4-5 hours and the route that we took takes you through some of the most scenic parts of Umbria (where the Di Bagnos live) and Tuscany. The fog was so thick this morning that we could not see very far. In addition, there were so many trucks on the road that I began measuring visibility in truck lengths. "It is clearing up a little; I can see up to six trucks in front of us." I spent a good part of the morning trying to pass the trucks and finally passed the last pesky truck and found open road about 30 km south of Venice. The open road lasted for about 5 km and we came to a dead stop. I still do not know what caused the delay, but we sat still for an hour, ate lunch; I finally ran out of patience and grabbed the map and found a route around the delay. 25 minutes later we were crossing the bridge into Venice.
Lunch, by the way was ham and cheese sandwiches, which I usually do not enjoy very much. Today, however, the ham was prosciutto (If you can find it in the states it is usually $18 per pound) and the cheese was some variety of local cheese.
Of course the streets in Venice are either glorified sidewalks or canals, so once you drive onto the island you are forced to either turn around or park in the garage. We parked and began the walk to our hotel. Venice is , of course, on an island and has a series of canals running throughout the city. The canals all connect to the Grand Canal that runs from the northwest corner of the city to the southwest corner. The smaller canals are about 2-3 meters deep and the Grand Canal is about 5-6 meters deep.
We found our hotel yesterday on the internet. The website is www.virtualtourist.com. I highly recommend it as all the information on it was left by tourists. We stayed in the Albergo Marin. "Albergo" means simply "hotel." It was only about two blocks from the garage and one block back from the grand canal. The hotel was great, especially for the price. It was set back in a small alley in a residential area; it was clean and the staff was very friendly (they even lent us umbrellas when it rained). It was not very ornate, but was attractive and quaint.
Rain was predicted today, but it way still sunny so we decided to take our gondola ride immediately so we wouldn’t get rained on in the boat. We found a gondola driver who was available and took our ride. It lasted about 40 minutes and was very relaxing. We went out on the Grand Canal and also went through some of the side tunnels. The driver’s English was not very good so Sarah and her mother interpreted for the rest of us (he also couldn’t/wouldn’t sing and spent about 20 minutes on his cell phone). All in all, we enjoyed our ride and saw a small section of the city.
We spent several hours shopping and walking around. Sarah and I bought some oil paintings on canvas and some knick knacks for some of our friends. Venice is well known for its hand blown and hand painted glass and there are about a thousand shops in town. We got turned around a little bit, but once I got a map of the city we did not get lost again. We explored several parts of the city near our hotel and countless churches.
Monday night for dinner we ate at a small restaurant on the north side of the canal. They have "tourist menus" that are a great deal. Italian meals are several courses and are designed to take 1-3 hours to eat. With the tourist menu, you get to pick an appetizer, a first course, a second course, and a dessert. I had gnocci with tomato sauce, salad, baked fish, and coffee. Sarah had lasagna, fried potatoes (essentially French Fries), baked chicken and creme caramel. Everything was good except for the creme caramel.
Driving in Italy is truly an adventure. Everyone drives as though they have nine lives. I love it. The Italians are the friendliest, most laid back people you can imagine . . . until they get behind the wheel of a car or scooter. There were several times that I was driving 20 km/h over the speed limit and people were behind me honking and flashing their lights to pass me. Not to mention that it is fun to look at the speedometer and see the needle on 120! There is an amazing law over here; on any four lane road, the trucks must stay in the right lane. Can you imagine if they passed that law in the US?
The drive to Venice is supposed to take about 4-5 hours and the route that we took takes you through some of the most scenic parts of Umbria (where the Di Bagnos live) and Tuscany. The fog was so thick this morning that we could not see very far. In addition, there were so many trucks on the road that I began measuring visibility in truck lengths. "It is clearing up a little; I can see up to six trucks in front of us." I spent a good part of the morning trying to pass the trucks and finally passed the last pesky truck and found open road about 30 km south of Venice. The open road lasted for about 5 km and we came to a dead stop. I still do not know what caused the delay, but we sat still for an hour, ate lunch; I finally ran out of patience and grabbed the map and found a route around the delay. 25 minutes later we were crossing the bridge into Venice.
Lunch, by the way was ham and cheese sandwiches, which I usually do not enjoy very much. Today, however, the ham was prosciutto (If you can find it in the states it is usually $18 per pound) and the cheese was some variety of local cheese.
Of course the streets in Venice are either glorified sidewalks or canals, so once you drive onto the island you are forced to either turn around or park in the garage. We parked and began the walk to our hotel. Venice is , of course, on an island and has a series of canals running throughout the city. The canals all connect to the Grand Canal that runs from the northwest corner of the city to the southwest corner. The smaller canals are about 2-3 meters deep and the Grand Canal is about 5-6 meters deep.
We found our hotel yesterday on the internet. The website is www.virtualtourist.com. I highly recommend it as all the information on it was left by tourists. We stayed in the Albergo Marin. "Albergo" means simply "hotel." It was only about two blocks from the garage and one block back from the grand canal. The hotel was great, especially for the price. It was set back in a small alley in a residential area; it was clean and the staff was very friendly (they even lent us umbrellas when it rained). It was not very ornate, but was attractive and quaint.
Rain was predicted today, but it way still sunny so we decided to take our gondola ride immediately so we wouldn’t get rained on in the boat. We found a gondola driver who was available and took our ride. It lasted about 40 minutes and was very relaxing. We went out on the Grand Canal and also went through some of the side tunnels. The driver’s English was not very good so Sarah and her mother interpreted for the rest of us (he also couldn’t/wouldn’t sing and spent about 20 minutes on his cell phone). All in all, we enjoyed our ride and saw a small section of the city.
We spent several hours shopping and walking around. Sarah and I bought some oil paintings on canvas and some knick knacks for some of our friends. Venice is well known for its hand blown and hand painted glass and there are about a thousand shops in town. We got turned around a little bit, but once I got a map of the city we did not get lost again. We explored several parts of the city near our hotel and countless churches.
Monday night for dinner we ate at a small restaurant on the north side of the canal. They have "tourist menus" that are a great deal. Italian meals are several courses and are designed to take 1-3 hours to eat. With the tourist menu, you get to pick an appetizer, a first course, a second course, and a dessert. I had gnocci with tomato sauce, salad, baked fish, and coffee. Sarah had lasagna, fried potatoes (essentially French Fries), baked chicken and creme caramel. Everything was good except for the creme caramel.
posted by Bobby Wales at
5:53 PM
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