Tuesday: July 1
Venice, A Lot of Walking
Last night, when I went to bed, I turned off the “Master Switch” next to my bed. This was a mistake. It turned off the lights as I had intended, but they were off permanently. Amy got up in the middle of the night, couldn’t get the bathroom light on, and had to use the toilet in the pitch dark. When we got up, I couldn’t get the lights in the bathroom to work either. I tried a bunch of things, but then I remembered the “Master Switch” next to the bed, flicked that, and the lights worked again.
I found that my phone was only at about 80%. I wonder if I killed the outlet that the charger was in as well. I also found that in the middle of the night, I was rather warm and sweaty. I wasn’t sick, it just seemed that the comforter was too much for the room temperature. I wonder if that switch also killed the A/C.
We got up at 8, got dressed, and went down for a very good buffet breakfast. Afterwards, we did a short tour of the island. Amy was fascinated by everything. I got bored and went up to the room. Amy showed up a short while later. We got changed into our day clothes, loaded up our day packs, and headed out. I think we caught the 11:00 boat to the city.
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We wanted to see the inside of St. Mark’s Basilica. There was, of course, an entrance fee. However, it appeared you couldn’t buy tickets there. You had to scan a QR code and buy them online. I have no idea what would happen if you didn’t have a working cell phone with you.
This was almost a comedy of errors. It took us a while to figure out how to convert the site to English. Then you had to create an account. This involved a confirmation email, so then Amy had to manage to get her email on her phone. Finally, we got our timed tickets.
We wandered around the plaza for about 20 minutes, and then our tickets appeared. We had about 10 more minutes to kill, and then it was time to go in.
Not really.
It was then time to get into the really long line of people who were scheduled to get in at the same time that we were. Fortunately, the line moved at a reasonable pace.
When we got in, we ended up getting a pair of audio tours. We just got the basic tour, as we hadn’t paid for any of the options/extensions. It was essentially an app on a (presumably cheap) cell phone type device. They needed an ID to hold to make sure we returned them. We didn’t have our passports, but fortunately I did have my driver’s license.
We then spent an hour-ish (about 12:30 to 1:30) wandering around, listening to the audio tour, and taking a bazillion pictures. When we had listened to everything and taken as many pictures as we wanted, we returned the devices, got my license back, and left.
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We walked semi-directly to the Rialto bridge. We needed to eat, and it was hot and we wanted to cool off, so we found a small place and had lunch. I got a pizza, and Amy got Tortellini.
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After lunch (now around 3:30), we followed Rick Steve’s suggested walk from the bridge to the Frari Church. We paid a small fee to get in, and then took a bazillion more pictures. There were some very large monuments in the sides of the church. We spent about 4:30 to 5:30 there.
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Afterwards, we wanted to cross back over the Grand Canal. Rather than walking back to the Rialto Bridge, we took the nearby Traghetto, which is sort of an oversized, utilitarian gondola that just gets paddled back and forth across the canel, like a small ferry.
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Amy needed to use the WC. We found a sign for one, but when we followed it, it led to another sign, and another, etc. We ended up walking all the way back to the Rialto Bridge, and there we found the WC.
We checked out a restaurant on the Grand Canal, and it looked promising, but I wasn’t hungry. So we followed another Rick Steve’s walk from the Rialto Bridge back to St. Mark’s square.
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I think of the main part of Venice as being one (relatively) big island, which is separated into a myriad of tiny islands by a bazillion canals. Then there are larger islands clustered around the main island. The city is a maze of tiny streets and alley ways. There is no way one could get a car or a truck through there. With all of the bridges (and the narrow lanes/alleys), you really couldn’t ride a bike through the city either. I guess you can drive to the island over a causeway, but then you need to park your car at the edge of the city and walk the rest of the way.
To move goods there, you would have to use a push cart, or move it via boat on the canals. With all of the bridges, moving anything substantial via pushcart would be a real pain. I think most deliveries are via boat, with maybe a short stint in a hand cart for a short distance.
There are a large number of gondola stations scattered around. I think the gondoliers are at least mostly self-employed, and you just find one that is available, pay them in cash, and get your ride (although I think the fare schedule is relatively standardized, so you don’t need to worry about whether this guy is cheaper than that guy or not.)
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By the time we got the St Mark’s Square, Amy was running out of steam. We went more or less straight over to the Rialto, and then about a block down to the restaurant that Amy had liked. They had Venetian Liver, which really appealed to Amy. I got a salad, which is probably what my body wanted, but it was not the greatest. It appeared to be a bowl of lettuce, a few slices of tomato, a little carrots and corn, and a scoop of tuna. As far as I could tell, there was no dressing.
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We sat outside, right next to the Grand Canal. It was by then about 7:30, and the sun was behind the buildings, so we weren’t in direct sun. It was still somewhat warm and humid, however. We were both very thirsty. I didn’t want alcohol, coffee, or anything carbonated. I wanted something cold. We ended up getting some fresh-squeezed OJ.
After dinner, Amy was feeling tired and sore, so we decided to take Venice “Rapid Transit”. It was the Vaporetto. The map looked like a typical city subway map, except in this case, rather than trains, it was boats. It would save us the walk back, and it would give us a relatively cheap trip down the Grand Canal.
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I wasn’t quite ready to call it a day, so while Amy sat and rested, I took a quick walk down to the “point” of that part of Venice. I hadn’t intended to, but I ended up going to the Academy Bridge, so I crossed it, took some pictures, and then returned and found Amy.
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There are a ton of mask stores all over Venice. These are in the style of Mardi Gras, or Carnival (the big party just before Lent). Apparently Carnival is very big in Venice. You can get cheap masks or very expensive, very elaborate masks. The other strange type of store that we saw a few of were Rubber Duck stores. These were filled with variations of little rubber ducks, which you might find in a bathtub or hot tub. I find it hard to believe that there would be such a demand for such things that you could have a store devoted to them, much less more than one such store.
It was by then almost 10. We thought about finding a place for ice cream, but Amy was rather sore and not into it, so we just grabbed the 10:00 boat back to the hotel. We ended up sitting opposite a family that was sitting opposite us on the boat into the city in the morning. What a strange coincidence. She mentioned that they had walked 23,000 steps that day. That prompted me to check my watch. Not that I’m competitive, but I was just over 24,000. I think I ended the day at 24,400.
We took showers, and now I’m writing this up.
The plan for tomorrow is that we leave our suitcases (or in my case, just my big suitcase) outside our room by midnight. Someone will collect them and bring them to the boat. Tomorrow morning, we’ll have breakfast, then at 10:30 get shuttled to the ship, where we can check in, explore the ship a bit, and probably have lunch. Then we’re free for the afternoon, to explore Venice on our own again. Tomorrow would be the day we would be arriving if we didn’t have the Venice extension. The following day is the normal Venice tour day, and then we leave for the next stop.
I can’t wait to get to the ship, both because I’m curious as to what it will be like, but it will be really nice to unpack my suitcase and get my things organized.