I’m off to Venice! Thanks to Google Maps I figure out a city bus I can take to the train station instead of lugging 50lbs of gear for 25 minutes by foot. Much more civilized.
I find my seat on the train and have three women and their children beside me. They’re on their way to Venice for the day and taking the kids sightseeing. The women are super friendly and one of them, Adalfa, speaks excellent English so we chat the whole way. She says,
Next time to Venice, no kids! No husbands and no boyfriends! Just the women! You are so brave to travel solo. Italians aren’t adventurous and we wouldn’t like traveling alone.
I tell her that it has it’s good points and it’s bad, but the good far outweigh the bad. And that if I waited for others to want to travel with me, I wouldn’t have gone to half the places I’ve been.
Maybe you will meet an Italian lover while you are here!
I laugh and say it could be possible. We speak of COVid and how difficult things were in Italy during the height of it, but she says that despite that, Italians still don’t follow the rules. They don’t like being told what to do. Adalfa explains,
For example, we are told to wear masks on the train, but unless we are told, we take them off. We try to get away with not doing what we are told.
Adalfa’s son, Lorenza, is listening to John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” and I chuckle. He says something in Italian and Adalfa tells me he would like to speak English with me. With help from her, he shyly asks me where I’m from, my name and why he likes John Denver. The kids learn English in school for two hours a week, so he struggles to find the words, but it’s better than my Italian. He’s a cute kid and I can see the ladies swooning after him when he’s older.
We arrive in Venice and we start clapping because we’re so excited to be here. As we’re walking towards the ferries, Adalfa asks for my Instagram to keep in touch. We wish each other an amazing time in Venice and say our goodbyes.
Holy shit, I’m here! I can’t believe it. I wanted to come here for years and it’s even better than I imagined. I figure out the ferry and very un-Canadian like, I shove my way through the crowd to get on the boat that will take me to the Rialto stop near my hotel. I used my Hotels.com points to book my room for the night so it’s very swanky and when I walk into the lobby all sweaty with my backpack and my camera bag strapped to the front of me, I clearly don’t belong. The other guests look at me like I’m lost and seem puzzled that I’m here degrading their hotel. My room isn’t ready so the porter takes my backpack with apparent disdain and stows it.
I go in search of lunch and Panini e Vini da Babbo is the spot. It’s crowded with a large group of twenty-somethings getting their drink on. One of the young guys approaches me and says,
You will have drink with us.
Like it’s not a question but a statement. Not sure why they’re asking me of all people but if they’re buying, why not? A spritz is handed to me and I get barraged with questions as to where I’m from, how do I like Italy and how long will I be here. I finish my beverage and take my leave to a chorus of,
You must stay!!
Laughing, I shake my head. If I was thirty years younger I would be all over it, but alas I’m old enough to be their mother. Ciao my young friends!
Everywhere I look there’s beautiful architecture, bridges, teak boats, gondolas and canals. If I was wondering where all the tourists were…they’re here. There’s a mix of families, students, young couples, elderly and the dressed-to-the-nines snobs.
I explore the Dorsoduro area which is quieter and find a spot along the canal to eat my panini. Unbeknownst to me a giant seagull is sneaking up behind me with an eye on my sandwich. I have this eerie feeling that I’m being watched, swing around and he’s less than a foot away from me. I keep a firm hand on my lunch and a beady eye on the gull. He keeps getting closer and when a local walks by and sees my lunch buddy, he chuckles and says something in Italian. I tell the bird he’s not getting anything but at the end I give in and he gets a small piece of bread before I pack up and leave.
I head back to my ritzy hotel, get the room key and when the front desk girl attempts to lift my backpack, I quickly tell her it’s too heavy for her and I will carry it. My bathroom is white marble, there are motorized skylights and the bed is the most comfortable I’ve had on this trip. Apparently you get what you pay for. And even better, Versace and Jimmy Choo are just next door so I can get my shopping done…HA! Yea right.
Getting cleaned up I decide I’m going to treat myself to a nice dinner at Osteria Enoteca San Marco. It’s a hot spot in Venice with over 200 wines to choose from. Even though I don’t have a reservation they give me a great seat by the window so I can people watch. It’s still early so most people aren’t out for dinner yet. I can take my time and enjoy my wine and scallops. The food is delicious and the service is impeccable.
So far, Venice is everything that I imagined it would be. It’s always rewarding when a place lives up to your expectation, or even exceeds them after you’ve built it up in your mind for so many years.
