Venice: Chapter one

     Most of our lives are spent doing what we have to do, and there are moments when we get to do, what we want to do. Actually, I take that back, most of my life is spent doing what I have to do, and there are moments, I get to do what I want to do. I should not speak as if I know what most peoples' lives are like but, I would guess, that is true for most, and maybe for you. I am struggling with this post, I have written, erased, rewritten and erased again, and, here I am again, paragraph one. Why am I struggling to write a post about a trip to Venice?  As I described in my Introduction and Re-introduction, this blog is as much a journal for myself, as it is a public travel journal, with great writing, amusing anecdotes and fantastic pictures, brought to you, by me. No need to thank me, I do if for the joy of sharing. So, can I write a post, that friends and family may read, and still write about personal thoughts and feelings, for myself? I believe I can.

     We arrived in Venice, as expected, at 7 pm. and dead tired. Our friends, K & J met us at the waterbus stop. For those of you who do not know, or hadn't considered this, there are no cars in Venice, you either walk or take a boat somewhere. A police car, is a police boat, an ambulance, is a boat and a bus, is a waterbus.

Here, we are in front of a hospital,  and this, is an ambulance.

And here, we are on our waterbus, pulling up to the bus stop.

As I was saying, K & J met us at the waterbus stop, brought us to our rental apartment, Tilly's House , which was fantastic, we dropped our luggage, and went to dinner. After dinner, we slept like the dead. Tuesday morning, we, were ready to see, Venice!

     Our day began with cappuccino. One of my favorite things about Europe, is cappuccino, is a thing, an event, a time to take a breath, relax and enjoy. Enjoy what? Not sure, life maybe, I am trying to figure it out, and loving it, as I learn. After cappuccino, was a tour. Not just any tour, but a "Cicchetti" tour. Cicchetti is like tapas or h'orderves and the tour is on the same order as a "pub crawl." This turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. Roberto, our guide, was fantastic, he gave us some history of Venice, recommended things to do and places to eat, as he walked us around the back allies of Venice, while we ate cicchetti and drank wines from various bars. Maybe we were lucky, I am sure there are as many bad tour companies, as there are good ones. I would recommend Urban Adventures and Roberto, he's quite "jazzy." The rest of the day was spent meandering through the streets, more like allies, of Venice, soaking in all the sights, such as, the Rialto Bridge . I have plenty of pictures, links and stories, which I will get to, soon enough. For now, the night ended with dinner, and time spent in the apartment, chatting with our friends, who we haven't seen since August, and our Bareboating trip in the BVI's, looking at the pictures of the day and of course, Facebook. The night ended with that, for them, I however, could not sleep, not one minute of sleep. This means, some nice pictures though. I left the apartment at 5 in the morning with my camera, and headed towards the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal .

Looking SW down the Grand Canal  from the Rialto. 

The Rialto Bridge 

I had always intended to sneak away, and take some photos, just not at five in the morning. The Rialto Bridge is usually packed, wall to wall tourist, I cannot imagine Venice at peak season. So as it turns out, five am was a great time to photograph the Rialto. I stayed long enough for the sun to come up, take more photos, and then headed back to our apartment to begin my day with Day and our friends, fully expecting to have to explain to my concerned wife, as to the nature of my sleepless night.