Saturday
October 8 and Sunday October 9, 2016:
Today (Saturday), we
had to wake up early (for me, 6:30 am), get our baggage out the door at 6:45
am, have breakfast at 6:45 am, and leave for Ferrara and Venice, Italy at 7:45
am.
We drove for a couple
of hours, and then we stopped just before reaching Ferrara, Italy for a quick
bathroom break. Rosie thought that if
there were lots of tourists visiting Ferrara all at the same time, we would be
doing nothing but waiting in a queue to use the bathroom. Once we were in Ferrara, we had about
three-quarters of an hour to take a few pictures of an old castle there, visit
the bathroom if needed, shop and / or get a snack. I bought some very colourful postcards – ones
that I would not be sending to anyone.
Rather, I’d like to put them into an album for display purposes for
family and friends when I get home.
After visiting Ferrara
and while it was raining out, we left for Venice (or, Venezia in Italian). But, I wasn’t at all sure I was going to like
Venice this time; my last visit there in June 1981 did not impress me in the
least! It was dirty and stinky and I did
not have any intention of ever visiting Venice again back then.
However tonight, after
settling into our hotel on the mainland in Venice, the Hotel Plaza (or just,
The Plaza), we were taken by bus to a motor boat launch for water taxis and two
such taxis took the group of us to dinner at an Italian restaurant on one of
the Venetian islands (there are hundreds!).
It was a very nice dinner in a lovely restaurant. To reach it, we had to navigate (via the
water taxis) through some very narrow “streets” that are only big enough for
pedestrians. Cars can never drive on any
Venetian island! I think that most shops
and restaurants on the islands are open till at least 8:00 pm. The one we were in was open till 9:00
pm. Then, we were taken back by boat to
the mainland and then by bus back to our hotel, arriving at about 10:00 pm.
Tomorrow morning
(Sunday), we can “sleep in” till 6:40 am, have breakfast at 7:10 am, and leave
again for the Venetian islands at 8:10 am.
We are staying in Venice for two nights.
We’ll be seeing the sights via a local guide, and then shop and eat,
and, of course, take pictures. We saw
the Doges’ Palace with Sergio, our local guide, and then we saw part of the
prison that was attached. During our
tour with Sergio, we crossed the famous Bridge of Sighs twice – going into the
prison and returning from the prison. After
that, we saw the front of the extremely old Roman Catholic Church in St. Mark’s
Square (or, San Marco in Italian). Then,
we had a couple of hours to ourselves. I
bought myself a much-needed watch, went to get lunch at a nearby restaurant,
and then wandered around taking pictures and eating Italian gelato (ice cream –
yummy!). I also bought some relatively
cheap kerchiefs for ten Euros!
A gondola serenade
followed at 4:30 pm in which we were taken, in groups of five, via gondolas
that were each built for five people, through part of the canal system in
Venice. It was a really lovely excursion
– one of the last ones I’ll participate in.
My impression of Venice
is definitely changing. It seems like a
much nicer and cleaner place to visit than in June 1981. Today was a great day and the weather held up
– it was a lovely sunny day all day long!
In the future, I think
I would really like to visit Italy, not as a
tourist exactly - mostly to shop for clothes and meet a lot of men – not to get
involved, just to date!
copyright 2016 - Anne Shier
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