We started out early on the 3rd of June on our way to Venice through Slovenia, the 5:00am wake up was not welcomed by all in our marriage. We luckily met a together, with it couple from Victoria (Karen & Peter) who steered us to the right train with 3 minutes to spare. Thanks again. Of all the people we told that we had not lined up accommodation before getting to Venice, Karen seemed the most horrified though all did not think this would bode well for our finances. They were all very, very, very correct. We got out of the train station in Venice and were immediately hustled by a “Dude” for a 80 Euro room. I laughed the guy off and we then went and got a very nice bottom line quote of 140 Euro from the tourist reservation office. I went back to the initial, now “Gentleman” and beseeched him for his forgiveness for my initial rude behaviour. The Hotel turned out to be very nice, unfortunately our room was not in the Hotel but its back shed, very close to the water and home to 30% of Venice’s mosquitoes. After 10 minutes of mosquito murdering and the fact that similar massacres had taken place as evidence by the mashed bloody mosquito smears on the wall, we decided we had to find another room and did. As we left the lobby of our Hotel/Shed the front clerk did not accept our apology for leaving all that well and yelled out to us on the street “This is not how it works in Venice… This is not your like your stupid country!” Since we had not given him our passports yet I yelled back “Go write my President, his name is George.”

Being from such a young country the history of these countries continually amazes us. But Venice is unlike any country we’ve seen. There are no beautiful or historic or culturally rich areas in Venice, the whole damn thing is all that and more! In most cities we have visited there was a walking tour from point of interest to point of interest. No such thing is required in Venice, just walk you can not help but continually be in awe. The city was built as a Nation unto it self right out of the gates in the 700’s. Physically its foundations are in the wood and mud of the Adriatic Sea but in reality it is trade and culture. The later is what led Venetians such as Marco Polo to “discover” and bring back the riches of the Orient. The Basilica San Marco and its surrounding Piazza and Palaces are really too much to take in all at once. We went back to this three times and each time was sort of like the first. These marvels are so colossal and ornate that you would need many viewings to know all that it has to offer. There are too many churches for the amount of people and many have fallen into use as theaters and concert halls. If all the churches were used on Sunday there would be like 6 people in each church, it’s a church crazy berg.

If you have money burning a hole in your pocket this town can extract it from you in many ways. With one of our essential needs (lodgings) taken care of we committed to watching our Euros on our other pressing need (food). The small take-out cafes and buffets are not only delicious but cost effective. Our room came with breakfast each day which I basically force fed to Brandy as she is not a breakfast person to begin with and asking her to take in two meals worth of calories when tea is all she really feels like was even pushing it for me. Note: always order as if you are a party of four and take little baggies for the left-overs.

The first night rewarded us with FFP #5. To make this a truly magical FFP not more than 24 hours later we saw the subject in an identical black one though a photo was not possible… Enjoy, I sure did.

Day two had us hire a boat to see the city (24 hour pass on public transport ferry) and we saw most of the city from the water and ventured out to some of the islands including Lido. We watched the sun set while sitting on the Grand Canal eating pizza and enjoying a bottle of red wine (you can drink anywhere just like Vegas). Then in all our dress finery (cargo pants and flip flops) we were off to a real Venetian Opera complete with period costumes. It was excellent and the venue matched the costumes in a surreal way. Some of the audience may have mistaken my preference to enjoy opera with my eyes closed to napping, though one could not be persecuted for heavy eye lids after all that wine. We finished off the evening with a cruise in our boat (ferry) drinking wine and watching the lights of canals drift by us.

We were back in our boat (ferry) early the next morning to see city rise and maybe the sun, plus we still had 45 minutes left on our 24 hour pass. We wandered the day away as my Mom said all you do is wander because if you try and get anywhere you will just be spending the whole day with your head in a map. We visited the original Jewish Geto where Jews were required to live starting in the 1500’s. This is also where the term Ghetto derives from.
You can see why Venice is the City of Romance and remains for lovers. It is too bad that my beautiful wife had to discover it with the Canadian Miser.

Ciao Italy and Salam Egypt.

KLH

PS: In the photos I’m just stretching in one and there was a double chin scare in the other.

Photos:
Venetian Canal
Brandy in Venice
Gay Paris... I mean Venice
Piazza San Marco
Grand Canal Rush Hour
For Brandy's Dad
Kevin with no double chin

This installment's FFP:
KRAMER: Yes, yes. This pirate trend that she's come up with, Jerry, - this is gonna be the new look for the 90's. You're gonna be the first pirate!
JERRY: (Like a little kid) But, I don't want to be a pirate!
FFP 5