Ciao, Italia!

It's been nine months since we went to Italy.  NINE months.  And yet, I still want to spend time talking about it and posting pictures to remember everything.  Because, you know, this blog is one of the ways we remember our good times - an interactive photo album of sorts.

But I realize, nine months on, that I really do need to move on to other news and other trips.  Since we took this picture, we've traveled through Bavaria, gone to Athens, attended a sister's wedding in the U.S., and toured across Saxony.  And, in two weeks, we'll have the pièce de résistance, our trip to Paris.

So, I suppose it's time to say goodbye to Italy, though I never really got to tell or show you much about my favorite city (for overall feeling), Venice.  And I never got to really write about the hilarious passive-aggressive hotel notes we encountered ("Where are you from?  RUDELAND??")--actually maybe that's just aggressive-aggressive.  Or recount the time we sat in the Frari Basilica, away from the tourist glut near San Marco's gondola stands, and take in Titian's Assumption of the Virgin, not in a museum, but as the altarpiece it was always intended to be.

Or tell you about the tiny, little pizza shop off the Campo Santa Maria Formosa that we went to for lunch every day we were there.  No chairs, standing-room only.  We ordered pizza by weight -- "un etto!" -- and it was where I tried my first egg and asparagus.  

Or, maybe talk about finding a mask and costume shop one night when we were lost (that's what you do in Venice, you get lost.  It's the number one activity.), filled with silks and velvets and porcelain masks -- and we could never find it again.

Or about that last night we had in Italy, where we bought our final gelatto, and walked along the promenade, across the bridge of sighs, watching the gondolas and traghettos and vaporettos go by, as the sun set over the beautiful, old city.

But, it's time to say goodbye to Italy now.  Just for now.

...

And hey, at least we got this mask!

The Italy Series: Arriving in Venice

We took the train from Ravenna to Venice.  Before our trip, I didn't realize that Venice is an island within a bay and surrounded by smaller neighborhood islands (Venice suburbs).  Surprise! 

We rode over the only bridge linking the island with the Italian mainland and walked out to see that (no, seriously) the roads are all canals.  Or, more simply, there are no roads.  None.  I thought there might be one or two maybe.  With carriages or something touristy.  Nope.  I knew that there were canals in Venice.  I wasn't prepared for how surreal it was to see absolutely no land-based motorized vehicles. 

We found the Venetian version of the bus station (Vaporretto boats) and hopped on the line that ran through the grand canal to St. Mark's Square.  We passed churches and old warehouses and mansions and bridges.  There were construction boats and fire boats and police boats and taxi boats on the way.  And, of course, the gondolas.

Did you know that gondolas are very oddly shaped?  I thought they were just black canoes with pointy curved ends.  But, really, they look crooked.   The ends lean away from center and they all look riiiiight on the verge of capsizing.  I'd never seen anything like it.

From St. Mark's Square we had to follow directions to find our hotel.  Street names (or rather, path names) in Venice are more like suggestions that change every twenty feet and not every alleyway has one.  Our directions went something like this:  

1.  Find St. Mark's Square, since that is something that is easy to find.

2.  On the north facing wall of the Doges' palace, to the right, there are two roads (they meant alleys).  Take the second, darkest, scariest-looking one.

3.  Turn left at the place where the road widens.

4. Cross the crooked bridge over the third canal.

5.  Follow the sound of the accordion player until the song ends.

6.  Turn right and take 147 steps while whistling "O Sole Mio"--this is very important.

7.  Find the man in a black cape and bird mask.  He will lead you to the door that only opens for the pure in heart.  

8.  Clap twice.  And wait five minutes.  We will come and meet you on the third stone stair.   

We actually found it.