Day four
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2008
1
5
18
Trip End
Jun 24, 2008
Venice,
Italy
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Hopefully by now, you've seen Nonna's and Boppa's earlier blogs posted! What's funny (to us, anyway) is that when I first noticed the internet café we went to last night, it was our first day out in Venice and we had been walking around for quite a while, and continued to walk a while before we found our apartment again. I wrote down the address on the map, knowing we would try to find the café at another time. Last night, we walked to the end of the alley our apartment is located on, turned right and walked about a block, and ran right into the café we were looking for! We had no idea it was so close...
The internet café was run by Asians of some sort, probably Vietnamese or Cambodian, and very friendly. They got our computer set up, and we managed to order some red wine and a Quattro pizza, which you can get anywhere. It's a pizza with the toppings put on it in quarters - one quarter is prosciutto, another quarter is mushroom, the 3rd quarter is artichokes, and the 4th is cheese w/ oregano. Quite tasty!
While Dave worked on pasting our blogs from Word and inserting photos, I gazed out the window and people-watched. This was between 8 and 10pm - most of the tourists had gone back to their hotels - and the whole atmosphere of the neighborhood changed. The locals were out once more, and everyone stood around outside with their dogs, smoking and drinking their wine, and catching up on the latest gossip (I guess that's what they were doing!). It's like being in a very small town, where you patronize the local merchants, and everybody knows everybody else.
This morning, the DH and I decided to take it a little easier instead of rushing off somewhere touristy. That's the beauty of this trip...
C. Maria Nova
most of y'all probably know Dave messed up his knees pretty bad about a year and a half ago, and one of mine isn't in such great shape, either, so we can cut back when we get to feeling a little too achy! We ventured out in search of cappuccino (which my DH informs me you can only drink before 11 am, or the Italians will sneer at you) and found a lovely spot by the Ponte S. Maria Nova under some umbrellas. The morning was beautiful and cool, the gondolas were gliding by, an elderly Italian woman was leaning out the windows of her apartment watering her flowers, and the coffee was perfect. Can it get any better than this??!We wander into some shops, and I see an art shop that looks promising... I've been studying the phrase book and think maybe now I can see what I'm capable of. Hah! I found an oil painting I really, REALLY liked, so I walked over to the owner who is busy stacking more canvases and said, "Mi scusi", and pointed to the painting I liked. "Quanto costa?" How much? At this point, he starts jabbering excitedly in Italian, and I'm nodding my head enthusiastically while frantically trying to get DH's attention to get himself over here and rescue me! He sauntered over - you know Dave, never in a hurry - and manages to get what he thinks is a price of 132 euros. Well, that's a price the 2 of us have to talk over, so I smiled as graciously as I know how, said "grazie", and beat a hasty retreat! But Dave, sweetie, if you're reading this, I really, REALLY liked that painting...
Then it was time to shop for toilet paper - reality does intrude - so we found the grocery store again, the produce stand, and the cheese shop, and this went much more smoothly when I let Boppa handle the merchants. I got to wander over to a gentleman at the newsstand who had his beagle along, and understanding my gestures, let me pet him. I whipped out my cell phone and showed off the picture of my Sam, and he broke out into a big smile. Some things just don't need words...
Now we're off to find a ristorante, and see what we can eat that's a little more exotic than pizza and spaghetti!
