35th Anniversary Trip to Venice

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Bill & Cathy's 35th Anniversary
Venice, August 2-10, 2001

   I was twenty-four and a soldier at Fort Dix, NJ; Cathy was younger and on a eight week European grand tour with her friend Sue. I had a few hotel addresses in the larger cities and I tried to have a letter waiting for Cathy when she arrived. As I penned the letter to meet Cathy in Venice, I was inspired to write "- ---- ---" in my closing. In Venice, of all cities of the world, it was easy for Cathy to fill in the blanks of my message. Two years later, Cathy and I married on August 6, 1966. Through the years Cathy had unsuccessfully tried to get me to travel to Venice, but this year I surprised her with a trip there. The night before we left, we enjoyed an awesome sunset over the Delaware Bay as a bon voyage gift from Mother Nature.
   We left from Philadelphia on an airbus with individual entertainment consoles, even in steerage for us peasants. I tried to sleep in vain and ended up watching four movies on the way to Rome: "Someone Like Me", "Toy Story 2", "State and Main", and "The Heartbreakers". I enjoyed all of the films. I lucked into a vegetarian meal because the one vacant seat on the plane was to be occupied by someone else with weird eating habits. I don't want to speculate if there was any connection between the eating preference and the lack of presence on the plane.
   We landed in Rome at 8:50 AM. The Italian authorities ignored us and didn't check our passports when we passed through the airport. I saw Frank Webb, a runner whom I have seen at many of the races around Cape May County, as we headed for the train station. We bought tickets at an information booth, stamped them in a machine, and boarded the 10:07 AM express train for Stazione Termini in Rome. We saw no officials on the train, so our tickets were not checked. A pattern of either trust or indolence was quickly being established: nobody seems to check tickets. I had recently purchased an etrex GPS for kayaking, hiking, and touring strange cities. We made good use of the GPS unit as we rolled and carried our bags from the train station to our hotel, Grand Palace, located on the Via Veneto made famous by Fellini decades ago in La Dolce Vita. We checked into the hotel, reserved a city tour, changed money with Senora Tetons, ate lunch, and walked to the old city wall and the Tritone Fountain in our "we can do the Grand Canyon in a half day" mode. In fact, our only down time was our wait for the city tour to pick us up in the hotel lobby. It was an extremely hot afternoon and our tour was mostly a walking one. Our guide was quite a character who bummed cigarettes from half of the citizens of Rome as we climbed the steps to Capitoline Hill and headed into the Forum. We were really awed by the ancient ruins of differing levels and epochs as we walked through history (pics: 1, 2, 3). From the bottom of the Forum, the buildings on the top of Capitoline Hill looked massive and imperial. At the end of the Forum, we approached the Colosseum. We expected to see buff gladiators strolling around the area, but just saw the regular old farts loitering nearby. Close by the Colosseum, I spotted a beautiful tree on a high spot. Next, we climbed back aboard our tour bus and drove out to St. Paul's Outside the Walls. This church where St. Paul was buried is a reconstruction of the original destroyed by fire. The alabaster columns and windows are marvelous. We were dropped off at the hotel where we cleaned up and cooled off. I had found a restaurant, Ciao Bella, on the Internet and had planned for us to eat there. We decided to share one each of three courses: antipasto (mixed salad), pasta (ravioli), and fish (flounder with potatoes). We enjoyed the dinner which cost us around $85. The night was warm and pleasant so we walked to Trevi Fountain and saw ten thousand tourists. Finally we went to bed around 11 PM.
   The next morning I was up at 6:22 AM. We enjoyed the continental breakfast that came with the room and walked to the Spanish Steps. There were interesting buildings in this quarter of the city. We had been noticing some really small cars, with a brand name of "Smart", fitting into little parking spots around the city. We checked out and walked back to Stazione Termini past a basilica built by Michelangelo and waited (the woman with the child is begging for money from a nun) for a very late train to Venice. Rome was visited in a day.
   The train was a EuroStar which was comfortable and cramped at the same time. According to my GPS, the train hit a high speed of 149 mph during the run to Venice. The trip took about 5 hours and included several stops at cities along the way. Once again, nobody checked our tickets, which were 1st class and included an assigned car and assigned seats. Finally, the train came across the causeway and Venice came into view. The afternoon was hot and humid, but we decided to use the GPS to find our way to our hotel. We traversed big bridges, little bridges, big walkways, and little alleys on our way. We discovered that the hundreds of bridges of Venice all have steps, so rolling a big, heavy suitcase over a bridge is no treat. We finally arrived at our hotel, the Danieli (our room has open shutters over the alley on the next to top floor), and were pleased to find it to be very posh and luxurious. We had carried with us to Italy a card from our children marked "Do not open until Venice." So we opened the card and found a very nice anniversary message and gift certificates to spend on our anniversary meal. Cathy cried. We went out to buy our daily ration of water and also to purchase two weekly passes for the vaporetti (nobody checked them all week). We took a two-hour vaporetto ride up and down the Grand Canal. We ate dinner on the promenade at the hotel next door. We finished the meal at about 10:30 PM and called it a night.
   I slept-in until 7:40 AM in our very comfortable room. We walked up an alley to a bar for breakfast. We took a boat from the hotel to a glass factory on the island of Murano. We saw a quick glassblowing demonstration wherein the craftsman made a horse, had a quick tour of the glass showroom, and then browsed the factory store and purchased a whale for ourselves (and to get the salesperson off of our backs). Then we wandered around Murano for a while. It is a miniature Venice with canals, bridges, and alleys. Murano also has a lighthouse. We took a vaporetto back to Venice and wandered around looking for a restaurant on the Grand Canal. We finally found a pizzeria about a block from the canal and enjoyed Italian pizza for lunch. The main differences from American pizza are that they don't precut the pie into slices, and the toppings are very thin on top of the crust. Across the way was a mask shop where we purchased masks for two of our neighbors. We returned to the hotel and I went out to buy more water. It is so hot that we went through a lot of water. We took a long vaporetto ride during the late afternoon. Then we walked to St. Mark's plaza and looked at the pigeons, the people, the basilica, the columns (one has at its top St. Theodore standing on a crocodile), and the Doge's Palace. After returning to the room for a bit of a rest and a shower, we went out to eat at Le Bistro de Venise where we enjoyed a good meal. We took a vaporetto ride before turning in.
   The morning of our 35th Anniversary arrived. I awoke at 7:11 AM and had a hard time waking Cathy who was enjoying an unusual capacity for sleeping while in Venice. We went up to the Danieli's terrace restaurant for a great buffet breakfast. Then we went to the Doge's Palace for a "secret itinerary" tour. We were able to tour Casanova's cell and various secret rooms for the administration of "justice" in the old republic. Before we came to Venice, we had viewed a movie that featured the quest by a young couple to take a gondola ride under the Bridge of Sighs. We were happy to find that the bridge was very near to our hotel. During our tour of the Doge's Palace, we were able to cross on the inside of the bridge. I took a picture of the canal below and also got a shot of the crowd taking their own pictures of the bridge. We jumped on a vaporetto for a trip to the Lido, a barrier island on the Adriatic Sea. I ran for an hour while Cathy patiently waited and read in the shade. We ate pizza in a nearby restaurant. Then we walked in the heat of the day to the Westin Hotel on the beach. We saw a huge, crowded array of cabanas on the beach, very unlike what we're used to in the Cape May area. The Westin has a partnership with the Danieli, so we were able to use their facilities, including the beach and sunbathing jetty. The hotel has a commanding presence on the beach of the Lido. From her previous visit to the Lido, Cathy remembered a classic old hotel, Hotel des Bains, which we could see in the distance. We took the hotel boat back to the Danieli and napped and read in the room after buying water. We went to dinner on the terrace. Great Meal, great view! The night was perfect and featured an almost full moon rising over the Lido around 10 PM. We walked around a while before turning in.
   Venice is completely linked with the water in which it exists. A view from above shows how little land there is in the lagoon. Everything moves by water. Supplies come in and trash goes out. Even the McDonald's restaurants burgers and fries come in a McDonald's boat. We were particularly intrigued with the gondolas. This ancient form of transportation has continued throughout the years. At their peak, there were 10,000 gondolas in Venice. Now there are hundreds. We decided against a gondola ride for ourselves, but enjoyed watching others partake (click here for a short video; click here for help). Near the front of our hotel, the boat traffic gets pretty heavy at times (click here for a short video; click here for help). The Grand Canal (click here for a short video; click here for help) is populated with lots of different types of watercraft, but all of them must be low enough to fit under the bridges. I was amazed to see small boats on the canal at night with no lights on them. The smaller canals come in various sizes and configurations (pics: 1, 2, 3). What really intrigued me was the lack of kayaks in Venice and the lagoon; we saw none. I think it would be a wonderful way to tour Venice and the other islands. Maybe next time...
   On Tuesday morning I awoke at 6:30 AM. It was another beautiful day: hot and clear. We walked a bit to a bar for breakfast. Then we took a boat to three of the outer islands. Burano is noted for fishing and lace-making (actually, lace-selling is the dominant activity). The island is also noted for its colorful houses and its leaning bell tower. Burano also has canals and supply boats. We walked around Burano and crossed a footbridge to the neighboring island of Mazzorbo which is mostly residential. We got on a vaporetto to the genesis island of Torcello. This island had a population of 20,000 at one point in its history, but is now down to a couple of restaurants, a museum (pics: 1, 2), and a basilica (pics: 1, 2, 3, 4) dating from the 7th century (modern restoration in 1008) which is the oldest building in the lagoon. Cathy posed on the supposed throne of Attila the Hun in a great piece of type-casting. Her nickname for the rest of the trip was Senora Attila. We ate a good lunch on Torcello sweltered in the heat. We stopped at the cemetery island of St. Michele on the way back to Venice. When we got back to our hotel, we bought water and rested a bit. We found the restaurant, Al Conte Pescaor, that we tried to find on Sunday night and enjoyed a great meal. After dinner we took a nighttime vaporetto ride up and down the Grand Canal. It was hard to call it quits on this beautiful night following a beautiful day.
   I awoke at 6 AM and went for a 4 mile run along the Venice waterfront. I showered when I got back and waited with lights glaring and T.V. blaring for Cathy to awake. We went to a bar for breakfast. Then we walked to the northern waterfront and caught a vaporetto for Murano. We walked around and bought glass pieces for Alex, Bill, Katie, and Erin. We headed back to the hotel to drop off the glass and then walked to Accademia bridge and had pizza for lunch. We went on the the Peggy Guggenheim museum of modern art. The movie, Pollock, gives a good characterization of Peggy. We took a vaporetto over to the island of Giudecca and walked around a while. We had a good view of our hotel across the water. The island has a central canal, a waterfront undergoing extensive restoration, a youth hostel, loads of condominiums, and the luxurious Hotel Cipriani. We took a short ride on a vaporetto to the next small island of San Giorgio Maggiore. We took the elevator to the top of the bell tower and took some photographs. We bought our usual ration of water and chilled out in the room for a while. Then we walked to the Rialto Bridge to eat on canalside. After dinner, we took a vaporetto to the Lido and back on this very pretty night.
   I awoke at 7:30 AM. We ate breakfast on the terrace at the top of the hotel. Then we walked over to the church, La Salute, which is the most visible in Venice. This church was built in the 17th century to celebrate the end of the plague in Venice. The interior is quite as impressive as the exterior. This is the only church that we visited in Venice. We found some beautiful paintings by Titian inside. We both felt the urge to light a candle in this church dedicated to wellness. When we were back outside the church, we took a photo of the restaurant where we would eat that night. We returned to the room to change into shorts and tank tops and then took a boat to Burano where we ate lunch at a pizzeria. It was hot and humid with storms threatening. We took a boat back to Venice and then took another boat to the Guglia Bridge spanning one of the bigger canals. We walked around the world's first ghetto - named after a nearby foundry, where jews were forced to live from 1516 to 1866. We ate our most expensive dinner ($200) at the Hotel Gritti Palace where Hemingway and other writers stayed. It was a great meal. During dinner I spotted a gondolier using a cell phone. Just as we were paying our bill, a thunderstorm hit and we had to hustle to get on a vaporetto and out of the rain. By the time we got to our hotel the rain had let up.
   I awoke at 6:20 AM. We ate breakfast on the Danieli terrace. Then we packed and called to get our bags taken downstairs. We checked-out and then sat by the water for half an hour. We got a water taxi at the hotel dock at 9:40 AM and headed for Marco Polo Airport. The dock at the airport is closer than the parking lot. We flew on British Airways to Gatwick Airport in London and then via US Airways to Philadelphia. We drove away from the economy parking lot at about 8:30 PM and headed toward the shore in the rain with lots of Friday night shore traffic. We were home shortly after 10 PM (4 AM in Venice). It was a great trip, but it's always wonderful to return home.