May 17 - Monday - Anna

We have been busy little ragazze (girls) the last 3-4 days! Always exploring, poking in little shops, people-watching in the piazzas, always either in the rain or with the threat of rain. But today we are in summer clothes and have no umbrellas! We just spent a couple of hours in a delightful little park with a lake, ducks and their babies, and the pigeons that never quit begging for food. We read, studied, and strolled. Now THIS is Italy finally!

On the weekend, we went by train to Venice, a 2 hr trip. We took a vaporetto (taxi boat) down the Grand Canal, which passes under the famous Rialto bridge. It was absolutely teaming rain, and it was a sea of umbrellas. Why Europeans don't wear jackets with rain hoods is beyond me, especially with the sidewalks being so narrow and every time you meet someone you risk losing an eye. There is no apparent umbrella-carrying etiquette :-). We found our hotel no problem. The streets are really little alley-ways between the houses, some not more than one person wide. The office was in one building, our room in another, and breakfast in yet another. Very clean, with a patio, but only a view of walls and a few flower baskets, decorated otherwise by the air conditioning unit. But it was dry, and the shower had real water pressure!

Sunday dawned beautifully. We got to see the big clock tower doing its rare thing, which is the magi coming out of one door, and hailing Mary, before passing into the next bronze door. It only does this twice per year (we overheard from the English speaking guide we were eavesdropping on). We went up in the bell tower for a stupendous view of Venetia. We were in line to go into San Marco basilica but just when it was our turn, they closed the church for mass. Plus suddenly the low part of the piazza was flooding. It was very high tide, full moon, etc. And the masses were wading through a lot of sea water. By this time we were high up in the museum overlooking those unlucky enough to be caught in the tide. Then we hooked up with a couple of fellows from Texas and took a 40 min gondola ride through the various canals. We had heard Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp were in town but, alas, they didn't come out to greet us! I guess they hadn't heard that we were in town?? A wonderful couple of days with some little purchases along the way.

I'm going to d/l some photos now, which takes way too much time, but is necessary I think :)

A piu tarde!