October 27, 2019
My beloved wife poked me – I had just looked at my phone and it said 7:04 – and said, “Are you getting up? It’s after 8 o’clock!”
After I assured her it wasn’t, she said her watch and her phone said it was. I looked at the traveling computer which also said 8. I had set the computer to Venice time when we arrived, and she never changes the time on her devices, so I’m not sure how she tells the time because sometimes she doesn’t add or subtract correctly. On the other hand (there are five more fingers) I set my phone to keep up with local time, which meant my calculation should have been correct.
Well, we went to breakfast and then stopped at the desk to enquire as to the time. Raffi told me it was the time I thought it was because Italy had “fallen back” last night, a week ahead of the United States. So, she got me up an hour early.
That put us in San Marco Piazza around 10 o’clock and when we walked into the square we saw barricades everywhere. After heading in the direction of our first quest for today we saw signs that said this was the route for the local marathon. Interestingly, we saw runners over the next six hours. No idea when they started, maybe it was a staggered start, but all throughout the rest of the morning and into the afternoon we saw racers pounding along the way, damaging their knees for a small medallion and a t-shirt. And the thrill of competition.
I bring all of this up because at 4 o’clock we were back in St. Mark’s Square qued up to ride the elevator to the top of the 325 foot high Campanile Tower for a 360 degree view of the city. We heard cheering from across the square and watched as a lone runner, accompanied by two members of the polizia, came chugging by. He was the last contestant, and was on his way to the finish line. No speed record would be set, but he would cross the finish line. Which reminded me of Ecclesiastes 9:11 – “The race is not given to the swift nor the strong but he who endures until the end.” Or as Commander Peter Quincy Taggart said in Galaxy Quest, “Never give up! Never surrender!”
Good advice!
And we took said advice as we looked for the Libreria Acqua Alta (Book Store of the High Water). One of the front desk folks gave us directions, and we headed out, ending up walking too far, but finding the Naval Military Museum – four interesting floors of ships, weapons, uniforms, and other regalia. We headed back to pick up the trail and wandered away from the lagoon into a part of the city we had yet to explore.
After a while I did what no self-respecting man should ever do. I asked for directions. A shop attendant told me it was right behind the church which was just down the street. Well, it wasn’t.
A second shop attendant said, “Go over the first bridge and keep straight. Then go over the second bridge and keep straight.” We did, and it wasn’t there.
So I asked a waiter at an outdoor café. He pointed to the corner and said, “Turn right there. In 80 meters it will be on your left.” And it was. After all that, the book store was disappointing, but we found it.
We passed a church we wanted to visit, but being that this is Sunday, the churches were not open to tourists, just worshipers. So we will head back tomorrow.
Okay. I’m through typing now.
TTFN
I am sure you just heard that awful sound, that was my body groaning in pain moving from the couch to the chair. We walked over 15,000 steps, 6 miles and 27 flights of stairs. Yes I am very achy tonight. And I have the hiccups for the second time today.
We were surrounded by even more people today as they had barricaded half of all the pathways up and down the street and over the bridges for the race. The walking areas were extremely crowded. Plus you had to deal with all the tour leaders and their followers. It was maddening. There are always lots of people on the very narrow streets but today was worse.
The Naval museum was very nice with lots of cannons, old ships, and models of old ships, uniforms, swords, and more. The elevator didn’t work, and I wouldn’t have used it anyway, and we walked from level 0 to 4. It was very interesting. We saw some of the clocks that were made to use on ships and help them tell the longitude when they travel. David has a talk about that.
The trip trying to find the bookstore was LOOOOONG. We went here there and yon.
Then it wasn’t really what he expected to see so that was sad. Tomorrow we are going to try and get to a church we can see the dome of that is across the grand canal and below the Guggenheim museum. We also want to take a gondola ride. They are pricey but you can’t come to Venice and not take a ride.
For lunch we shared a caprese pizza (tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and basil) it was very good. The crust on the pizza here is soooo good, you just eat it all without ranch! Then, for supper it was a hamburger and we shared a salad of tomatoes, lettuce and corn (strange but good) with oil and vinegar. There are no salad dressings in Venice, just oil and vinegar. And of course there was gelato. We bought a couple of souvenirs too. The top of the tower was very nice and it really didn’t take too long to get to the top, but as everywhere else it was crowded. But I got to look out all four sides.
Well, happy birthday Maggie!! Hope you enjoy your presents.
Love you all, Mom, Granny and Bonnie
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