9.23 – Friday - Venetian Saints?!?

SAN MARCO, SAN BASILIO, SAN THIS AND SAN THAT

Do Ya think they gotta lotta Saints?!?

“So today’s game plan, check the car at Avis, do Murano glass factories, tchtchoke stores & back to St Marco for the audio tours.”

“Yes, Then we can do a little shopping and repeat the Grand Canal…with a camera this time?” 

“OK, lets go, there’s Vaporetto 62 now.

“But the girl at the hotel said to take Vaporetto #52 instead of 62, supposedly less stops”

Apparently Vaporetto #52 is on a seasonal schedule and made more stops between Lido & Piazalle.Roma than #62. And…at the Santa Marta stop they make us changes boats for a 2 minute ride to the Piazalle. Roma stop which is a long trek from the regular stops.

This time we took what we thought was a short cut to get to Avis to check on the car for Saturday [because Chucky is paranoid about getting a non-smoking car] before we headed out to Murano, turns out its another Long way around.

Avis confirms our reservation but our car hasn’t come yet, [this is ONE BUSY PLACE] where Chucky is told,
"Seniore Mercurio... there are no Non-Smoking cars in Italia, be surprised for whatever you get."
Hoooh Boy… this does not leave Chucky with a warm and fuzzy, but it is, what it is.

We find the DM Vaporetto [Directo Murano] in plenty of time and settle in for the 30 minute ride to the island.  Once there, after some erroneous instructions to get off at  the wrong stop, and an aborted stop at the museum which isn’t much we found out, [even walking we make girare-u’s]  we found a Glass Factory where we taped a bit of excellent construction of a giant tortoise.  Hopefully we can get the slide show and video to work, if not it will be on our picassa web site when we can get it uploaded.

Tchotchke shopping takes less time than expected, [on Murano,"ya seen one glass shop, ya seen ‘em all"] a few trinkets for gifts [shoulda got the Christmas shopping outta the way, but there are more stops... boy are there more stops.]

Vaporetto back to San Marco uneventful and after a pics at the Bridge of Sighs [which was overwhelmed with large billboard ads for an opera on both sides, top and Bottom],

we start the St Marks Square audio tour which wasn’t bad for 45 minutes.  Taking too long for pics in the square caused us to miss entrance to St Marks Basilica as they closed 1½ hours early due to a special event.  We literally got in Line 3 minutes too late]  sooooo…
Maybe someday we'll be back for that one, but don’t count on it.

About St Marks... every picture, advertisment or movie always shows all the pigeons...soooo Dragon Chick decides she has to feed them... and freaks-out when they attack...

Then there were these 2 cute French Hotties, who decided to catch some sun... and of course Chucky had to catch it on film.  [also got their e-mail address for his 2 single sons... not that it will do any good]

More pics at bridge of Sighs [why I don’t know] - Dragon Lady helps a few couples with their pics, and we're off to find una spuntino [a Snack].  After wandering around looking at different menus, we settle on a cute little corner enoteca that had a few seats, grabbed a Panini and some Vino Rosso, 2 café’s and we were off to finish the Grand Canal tour [with camera this time] getting off at the Rialto Bridge to grab some Gondolier T’s for the Bambino’s. 

Back on Vapporetto #1 to finish the Audio Tour, more pics and the sun was getting ready to set, so we decided to stay on ‘till Lido and get an early dinner.  W R O NG!!!

At the Giardini stop, we decided to jump off and take a quick tour of the Garden, but it got dark too quick to really see all the art displayed.  Then we heard church bells… lots and Lots of church bells, so we wandered a gravel road and stumbled on Campo Garibaldi, a " So Que Cute" little square with loads of locals standing around enjoying Happy Hour, with the kids playing around them, the fruit stores just closing up, all so carefree and beautiful.  Also one of the narrowest streets we've seen yet since the one in Toledo, Spain, “Calle Streta de Ca’ Sarasina” [Ca’ is short for Casa… there are lot of Ca’s all over Venice since they couldn’t be called Palace’s]

We found our way back to the Vaporetto stop and headed back to Lido, for a later dinner than planned at Ristorante Roxy, right next door to Hotel Cristallo.

Food Good, Wine Better, Staff Excellent, [even though they misunderstood and brought both Antipasto and Pizze {that’s how they spell it} at the same time.  4 Stars. 

Dragon LadyNote:  "The Best Damn Pizze" I've ever had, no worry about thin crust, thick crust, original, extra crispy… Whatever.  Just a Great hand tossed well cheesed loaded pizze.

An attempt to pen this NOWAT Friday night, but Chucky was fragged and it was actually written on the way to Lake Garda.

Stay tuned for Ciao and Arivaderci Venezia tomorrow as we head to Lake Garda for some R&R from all this walking and boat rides…
Then again… who knows what will really happen with the Wacky American Tourist and the Ever Lovely Illy, but you can expect a lot of girare-u’s for sure.

 Ciao 4 Now

Uncle Chuck & The boat weary – still rolling & wobbling,  Dragon Lady

Finally enjoying Fine Tuscan Wine, Aged Sharp Cheese & Great Crusty Bread