Roam, Italy
John & Marilyn Mraz
Italy "My Way" Tour Chronicles
2014
September 19, 2014
Euros to Dollars
Another day, another Euro in the pocket of the hard-working Venetians. They say Venice is a very expensive place to live. It is also an expensive place to visit! Prices quoted in Euros seem upper end of fair, then you factor +40% exchange rate and wa-la: Cha-Ching!
Upon leaving our hotel this morning, we were approached by a gentleman who said he was a city council member and today they were sponsoring free tours of the Murano glass works that included a demonstration by the factory artisans. BUT, we had to leave this very minute (10:30) because the workers quit at noon. We thought it smelled fishy (pun intended). We threw caution to the wind and went for it. He hustled us over to a wooden water taxi (think old school mahogany boat), told us to jump in and ordered the skipper to take us to Murano Island.
We were the only ones on the boat. We looked at each other and decided one of two things were about to happen: 1: we were going to have a great time, or 2: we were about to begin a kick-starter campaign to raise ransom money.
We arrived at Murano island about twenty minutes later and were greeted at the dock by a retired gentleman who said he was a third generation glass worker at this very facility. He gave us a wonderful tour and demonstration which culminated in their showroom. He assured us that we were under no obligation to buy, but if we chose to, they could ship it directly to our home. Throughout the gallery there were amazing works of art - that all started in the $5,000 to $50,000 range. I hurriedly checked my latest lottery ticket and was saddened to realize that I wasn’t a winner. Shoot, I hadn’t bought a lotto ticket in months! To make conversation, I mentioned that I was from a fourth generation farming family. He quickly deduced that we weren’t about to break out the old billfold and thanked us for coming. He politely showed us to the nearest public water transit station.
Our traveling friends Marty and Bobbie Salina joined us early in the evening from their London, Paris, and Milan excursions. We are glad to connect with them and look forward to spending the next two weeks exploring together.
We continue to honor our pledge to try a different gelato flavor every day. So far, I think we are running about four days ahead of schedule. I think we have those gelato farmers working nights, too. Job security - got to love it!
VENICE
Spokane, WA, USA – September 16, 2014
We’re History
We are packed and ready to hit the skies this afternoon. If everything stays on schedule, we should be in Venice, Italy by 4:30pm tomorrow (their time). Italy is 9 hours AHEAD of PST. In theory, we should know the outcome of next Sunday’s Seahawks game before it is played in Seattle. We will share that info for a 10% rake. Place your bets!
September 17, 2014
Mrazes Hit Venice... Raise Water Level 6"!
Apparently, cannon balls are frowned upon over here. Where’s the fun in that?
After 15 hours of flying time, plus lay over time, plus 9 hours time difference, we finally arrived in Venice one looooong day after we left the Lilac City.
All flights were on time and all was going well until Delta “forgot” Marilyn’s gluten-free meal order. After a rowdy W-T-F? from her concerned husband, an industrious 70-year old flight attendant had an idea. She had the first-class cabin lad put something together from the Downton Abbey section. Out he comes with an arugula, goat cheese, and beet salad. Along with a Brie, Flagship, and Cheddar cheese plate garnished with grapes and strawberries. Get this - served on white china, with silverware and a cloth napkin! Talk about crap-to-cream! I'm sitting next to her slurping cabin-temp noodles with a plastic spork and a soda cracker and she keeps glancing up and down the aisle looking for the cello player.
Upon landing in Amsterdam, the attendant felt so concerned for Marilyn that she gave her a whole shopping bag of Delta Air peanuts. With the holidays around the corner - stocking stuffers!!
Venice looks pretty cool, so will verify tomorrow.
September 18, 2014
The Thundering Herd
Today we set out to see if Venice is a cool place. We think it is, but is hard to quantify with tens of thousands of other tourists trying to do the same. Two more cruise ships dropped anchor today. No wonder Venice is sinking - take all the people off for a few days and it should pop right back up! Think Bloomsday crowd, all funneling down an alley the size of the hall to your bathroom. Oh yah, and everyone is looking up and taking pictures every 3 meters (my nod to the metric system). And another oh yah, a third have a lit cig that you have to dodge. You spend half the day walking sideways -which does work a whole other muscle group. Glass always half full here.
It seems to be rare when you hear someone speaking English. Folks from those other countries should try it - it is so much easier. Today we encountered a couple from Australia that helped us figure out the ATM machine. Very nice folks.
We took to the water today and toured the Grand Canal. As per our buddy Rick’s advice, we scored the front two seats. Weather was perfect for the sight-seeing loop. The architecture is incredible in that many of the structures were built somewhere between 1100 and 1500. That’s a lot of years to collect property taxes on the same address. The buildings have a similar look but upon closer scrutiny, are each a little different. Much like fingerprints.
As with every previous night, we ended the day with a glass of wine for Marilyn and an Italian beer for John, and a gelato chaser for both of us. (Those gelato farmers have to eat too.)
September 20, 2014
In The Rear View Mirror
Our last day in Venezia. We’ve had thunder, lightning, and rain events off and on since last night. Kind of a nice break from the heat and humidity. Still pleasant to wander in the drizzle.
It may be easiest to offer a few summary comments on our overall Venice experience. Remember, as a retired designer, my sense of observation is a bit more acute than the average bear. BUT, I tend to see things through very thick “FarSidean” (Gary Larson) lenses so my ramblings need to be taken with a block of salt.
Helpful key:
Pos: a plus
Neg: a minus
=: it is what it is
Hmm: what the (blank)?
Pos: Amazing experience for this son of a dirt farmer. I never thought I would ever see any of this. So much history measured not in years, but in centuries!
Neg: Great place to visit if it weren’t for all the damn tourists.
=: This must be the best week to visit Japan and Korea, because half their populations are here. Right. Frigg’in. Now.
Hmm: An ashtray on every table.
Pos: The choreographed multiple ten-boat weave (on all x-y-z axes) is a crazy thing to watch up and down the canals. Italians are so animated when they casually speak to each other - I would hate to hear an argument after a bow bender.
=: All buildings look to be in the category of “fixer upper.” However, considering most are at least 500+ years old, they get props (pun intended) for still resisting Mother Nature’s relentless wear and tear.
Neg: It appears the bulk of this city’s economy is from marine maintenance and tourism. With tourists comes the usual cheap junk/souvenir vendors in every open space larger than a two-
car garage. I’m a bit surprised we haven’t seen any Expo '74 paraphernalia.
=: Any “street” wider than 8 flagstones would be considered a four-lane highway.
=/Hmm: Restaurants line item charge: cover charge for bread and tablecloth overhead; extra $ if you sit vs stand to eat; water; mandatory 12 percent tip. Rule of thumb: figure out what you want to eat, check price, double it, proceed with order. These folks must take their cue from the airlines.
=: They say that Venice is loosing 1000 people a year due to high cost of living. A 1000 sq.ft. walk up goes for a $million plus. Combine that with the rising sea levels, some predict that in a couple decades Venice could become a ghost town museum. It would be a sad finish for Europe’s richest city from 1100-1500AD.
Pos: Our host hotel is a family-run business that has served the visiting public for 150 years. That is one huge amount of towels laundered!
We met the other 24 travelers in our group last night. All seem to be quite nice. Many are from the PNW, two each from Quebec and Toronto and four from Atlanta. Tomorrow morning we head northwest for Varenna/Lake Como.