Leaving France

We are currently in the Rennes Airport waiting for our flight.  We have had a marvelous trip but are ready to go home.  Today the cold wet weather broke and we had a beautiful sunny day.  Mireille came part of the way with us and took us to a street fair in Morlaix.  Beautiful old town and I really enjoyed walking around the booths at the street fair.  Wonderful food, of course, and interesting things to buy.  I did end up purchasing  a couple of Christmas gifts so Bill needed to go to the bank again so that we have enough cash for the final stop on our journey: Ireland.

It was so nice being able to spend some quiet relaxing time in France.  I like the France countryside much more than Paris – but that is typical of me.  The food has been particularly good – no surprise there.  The people have been quite friendly.  Many people speak English and those who don’t were patient with my broken French and hand gestures.

Rescue on the ‘low’ seas

Today was our last full day in France.  The weather was ‘variable’.  Mostly gray with periods of rain and periods of sun.  We spent the day exploring the little towns on the coast in Brittany and even discovered places where Mireille had never been.  Unfortunately when we ventured from the car to walk around, the rain would fall.  We would scurry back to the car and then the sun would break out.

The coast is beautiful, though.  It is wonderful to see how dramatic the sky is as it changes. One moment it will be gray and overcast and then a beam of light will break through and light up a building or a boat or a hill.  Everything around it will be gray and indistinct.  And then the next moment, the light is gone again.  It is fascinating to see.  Very religous in feeling.

We had a great lunch at a little Creperie in a small town on the coast south of here.  I had a crepe with scallops, onions, and cream sauce.  Delicious.  I need to get more adventurous with my sauces! 

The owner was very friendly and we ended up staying a long time.  That area of Brittany grows a lot of onions and when they are ready, some of the people from Brittany will take onions to England and Ireland to sell.  The people are called ‘Johnnys’.  They travel around the countryside in England on their bicycles selling onions. 

When we came back to the island, we were a little too early and the tide had not cleared the road to the island so we were prepared to wait for awhile.  Unfortunately one car had decided not to wait and had tried to turn around on the sand next to the road.  The sand was still pretty waterlogged and the front tires sank deep into the sand.   The owners had called a local tow truck but the shop was closed and they weren’t reachable. 

Panic was starting to set in when we  arrived.  Cars frequently get stuck in the sand.  If they cannot be extracted before the tide comes in again, that is a very bad thing.  Some cars could not be extracted and are now completely buried.

Mireille and Bill  tried to help push the car out – no luck at all.  Then one of the locals had a brilliant idea.  They put a piece of plywood under the car jack and used it to jack the car up.  Then wood was placed under the front wheels so they could get traction and get out of the sand.  Luckily that worked!

I am impressed with the amount of resourcefulness that island living requires.  When the tide is in, people on the island have to figure out how to solve their problems without access to mainland resources.  This creates a very independent and self reliant mentality.

Thursday - Island Fun

Today we helped wrestle Mireille’s brothers boat over to the other side of the island so he could launch it.  He had forgotten to bring the truck attachment for the boat wagon.  So his friend rode in the back of the truck holding the boat wagon.  The rest of us helped push and pull the boat wagon into place.  Looked very silly but it worked.

We had grilled lobster for dinner and Mireille has promised me a picture of them cooking on the grill.  It was delicious.  It was almost much easier to eat than boiled lobster because they are cut in half (lengthwise) before being placed on the grill.  This is something I would like to try the next time I make lobster.  But I don’t quite understand how you cut them in half.  A knife certainly won’t do it.  Perhaps a hacksaw ?

Island Time

The tide is like a giant clock here.  You glance at the water and know soon if the tide is coming in or going out.  When the water goes out, the landbridge is open and that drives many decisions: when will we go to the store or run errands, what time will we get up in the morning, when will visitors come, when will dinner be ?

When the sun shines the water sparkles and dances as the waves advance and recede.  When the water is out the boats are marooned and you see all the rocks and the bottom of the sea.  And then the water comes in again and covers everything up. Endless change.

People who live on this island need to be in sync with the nature around them.  Whether or not the tide is in or out is an important consideration for many routine activities.  Whether or not it will rain determines when you do your laundry so you can dry it on the clothesline.

The Three Stooges

Mireille, Bill and I trimmed one of Mireille’s hedges today.  Between the ladder, the power clippers, the rake and the hand clippers we were an accident waiting to happen.  But at the end of the operation the only casualty was the hedge.


Mireille says that she has promoted Bill to 'French Gardener'. 

Bill went for a run this morning on the island.  He says it is a wonderful place to run.  We have washed some laundry and hung it up to dry but it isn’t very warm and sunny so I am a little worried about it getting dry before night fall.

Meanwhile I am sitting in her sun room watching the sailboats and the kayaks on the bay.  It’s beautiful and peaceful.  Bill is sacked out on the couch and Mireille is working in the kitchen.

Later today we will go in to town (when the tide goes out) and we will go grocery shopping and perhaps do some site seeing.  Mireille’s brother is coming out to stay tonight to help her with some remodeling projects she is doing.  It will be nice to meet him, I’m sure.

Tuesday Evening – Keystone Cops strike again

I am sitting in Mireille’s beautiful sunroom watching the tide come in as the sun is setting.  We just finished a delicious meal (our first homecooked meal in several weeks).  Mireille has gone off to deliver some items to her neighbors and will be back later.  She has forbidden us from doing dishes (tonight).

The island is really spectacular.  You can only enter or leave the island when the tide is out so everything you do always need to take that into account.  We entered around 4 p.m. and as we came across, we saw Mireille driving out!  She had an errand to run and told us where her house was.  Another friend is also staying and she greeted us when we got there.

We talked for awhile and then Mireille’s friend, Franca, took us on a walking tour of the island.  There are about 30 houses here and an old stone church (of course).  We walked to the end where there is a nice sand beach.  The tide was out so you couldn’t swim there (and it was overcast anyways) but perhaps on another day when it is sunny we will brave the cold of the English Channel!

When we walked back to the house, we found ourselves locked out! Mireille has some workers here and they had packed up for the day and locked the house.  We searched in vain for another entrance and eventually gave up and waited for Mireille to return.  She had a good laugh at us for getting locked out so quickly after arriving!

Driving through Normandy and Brittany

This morning we saw the Croux Tapestry.   It is a ‘graphic novel’ of the story of William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings.  Pretty interesting and amazing that a tapestry that is over a thousand years old is both so well done and in such great shape.  It is interesting, however, to see the PR at work.  William was justified because the old king choose him, because he behaved nobly and honorably toward Howard, because Howard betrayed his oath, because the Pope supported him.  And, finally, the stars themselves (Halley’s comet) condemned Howard for seizing the throne falsely.  The battle ends with an arrow killing Howard with the implication of divine guidance.  Pretty powerful stuff.  Truly the victors write the history.

My knowledge of history is extremely limited because all of the different schools I went to seemed to want to cover the time period from the Pilgrims through the end of the civil war.  I don’t think I ever studied anything before or after that time.

The drive through the countryside has been beautiful and very rural.  We had some trouble finding the main highway out of the Normandy and at one point we stumbled across a beautiful church and graveyard in the middle of nowhere.  Bill named it ‘the tomb of the unknown traveler’.

At breakfast this morning, some Americans were talking about how they had come here to learn French and originally they had planned to speak only French to each other.  That didn’t last long obviously.

We tried it in the car but since the only French we could think of at the time was ‘ooh, la, la’,  the conversation was pretty limited  J

The signs here are interesting.  Most are quite understandable.  But some of the picto-graphs are puzzling.  There is a sign that seems to say ‘don’t use caution here’.  Odd thing to say.  Also a sign that seems to say ‘don’t yield’.  Many speed signs have the word ‘rappel’ beneath them.  The only meaning of that word that I know is to rappel down cliffs or buildings.  It seems an odd thing to suggest on a highway.  Perhaps it means to go slow ?   A little knowledge of French is a dangerous thing.

It’s been a gray and sometimes rainy day but we did have one very cool sight.  There are many windmills here.  On top of one ridge, the windmills were spinning and the top blades were hidden in the clouds.  Very cool to see them appear and disappear as they churned the cloud.

We will get to Mireille’s island soon and then we won’t have Internet access, I believe.  So it may be awhile before I can post again.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row,

Okay - it isn't Flanders and the poppies are in the fields not the cemetery - but the spirit is the same. Today we visited the Normandy D-Day beaches and the war memorial museum in Caen.

Very impressive.   They showed a movie at the museum in Caen that is so very haunting.  No words.  The left side of the screen is the Allied preparations for the battle.  The right side is the Germans preparing.  And then the battle begins and you see video from both sides.

It is amazing to me how much video they have of this war.  Watching the soldiers storm the beach into the teeth of the machine gun fire, see the bodies fall and the men keep running by their stricken companions.  It is a sight I will not forget.

The museums exhibits were also very impressive and very comprehensive.  From the build up to the war, the war itself and then the cold war, the fall of the Berlin wall and finally some stuff about the current status of world tensions.  Very well done.

The American Cemetery is very beautiful and very sad.  There is a nice exhibit paying tribute to the solders who fought there.  The sight of all of those crosses is very moving, of course.  Looking over the  beaches it is hard to imagine the carnage of that day when now it is to quiet and peaceful.

This area of France is beautiful, quiet and rural.  We are staying the night in Bayoux - an ancient town. One of the claims to fame is a tapestry that tells the story of William the Conqueror.  We will go see that tomorrow.

It is chilly now and we had a little bit of rain today.  But it is a nice change from the heat of Italy.

And it is nice to be able to claim the best seat in the car and have the driver be willing to stop at any time and take any detours that look interesting !

We had a little trouble with all of our 'devices' today.  Turns out that we didn't bring the proper cable to plug the GPS into the car to charge.  So we tried to use it as little as possible as we drove around.  We did end up in some beautiful and interesting places that weren't on our itinerary :-)

But by the end of the day we had found a bank to replenish our supply of Euros, found a hotel to stay at and Bill came up with a brilliant system late in the day to re-charge the GPS.  He plugged it into my computer.  The battery from my computer charged the GPS enough to get us to the hotel.  Now everything is charged up again and we are ready for another day of excitement tomorrow as we make our way to Brittany to see Mireille.  We will need to drive over to her island when the tide is out so the timing really matters.

Sunday Evening - Orly Airport

We have arrived in France and are staying at the Orly Airport Hilton for one night.  Tomorrow we will head out to the Normandy Beaches.

We are enjoying our trip very much but the least enjoyable part is the traveling from place A to place B.  This step was by air but it was still frustrating.  Our experience of mass transit in Europe has been badly organized, poorly documented and inefficient. 

I know it is terribly American of me but I am looking forward to renting a car tomorrow.

Another thing that is annoying: this hotel charges 15 euros for 24 hours of internet access.  We won’t pay that just to collect email and post a blog entry.  Internet access should be included in major hotels.  I understand that it might not be in small hotels or ‘bed and breakfasts’.  But a Hilton ? At the airport ?? Give me a break.

The flight over the mountains (probably the Alps ??) was beautiful.  And the weather here is cooler – at least for now.  It’s raining a little but we can’t check the weather report for tomorrow without internet access.  Aargh.  But even if it rains a little, that isn’t a problem for us tomorrow since we will have a car and spend the morning driving.

Fashion and Italian Men

The men in Florence seemed to be much more fashion conscious that I am used to.  I don’t know if that is just in Florence or if it is all Italian men.  Perhaps because they are constantly surrounded by statues of beautiful nude men they are not so self conscious ?

There were many men walking around Florence who had obviously put a lot of time (and probably money) into their ‘looks’.    There were also many women dressed beautifully, of course.  That is more common in any big city.

It was also interesting seeing all the stores dedicated to fashion.  Many, many shops filled with beautiful leather things.  Shoes, of course.  Belts, bags, coats, jackets.  Very, very nice things.

Very few people walking around in sneakers – but sandals seem to be acceptable everywhere.  

The ocean is calling...

Today we decided to take a side trip to the ocean (since it has been almost a week since we got off of the boat and we are both going through withdrawal).

We took a bus tour to Cinque Terre - five villages nestled up against the ocean on the western  side of Italy.  We expected to walk between the villages (there is a walking path the connects all five villages).  But this particular trip only had us walk one leg of the journey.  This was probably good for me because my feet still ache from yesterday and I did manage to get blisters on both feet even with this reduced walk :-(

The walk was really beautiful though.  I will post pictures as soon as I can get them off of the camera.

It was a really lovely day (I LOVE 25 degrees celsius - it is SO MUCH better than 33 degrees celsius!!!)  Our tour guide was nice and we enjoyed meeting the other people.  Several newlyweds which was nice to see.  Hard to believe that Bill and I have been married for 28 years.

We started our trip in Manarola and walked the "Via dell'Amore" to Riomaggiore.  Then we took a train to Monterooso al Mare where we had a nice lunch and then we were all free to explore for awhile.  Bill and I went swimming, of course.  The water was lovely and warm.  The beach was made out of small pebbles which were hard on our tender American feet.  The Italians didn't seem to have any trouble with the rocks and we felt like wimps (or at least I did). The last leg was on a boat to Vernazza and then we caught the train to La Spezia to pick up our bus for the return trip to Florence.

It was a lovely relaxing day.

Tomorrow we leave Italy for France.  This has been a great part of our trip and I definitely want to come back to Italy again.

Art in Florence: the good, the bad and the ugly

We enjoyed our trip to the Uffizi Museum very much.  We weren't able to get advance tickets so we had to wait in line but we met a very nice couple from Australia and had a good time getting to know them a little.

The building is huge.  The top floor is where most of the art is and it is broken into three galleries.  Each gallery is essentially a long building and they are connected at one end.  The galleries consist of a long hall filled with sculpture and the rooms with paintings open up to the corridor.  We were halfway down the second corridor before we looked up and saw that the ceilings were all painted and that there were portraits lining all the walls along the top!

Way too much art to absorb in one visit - and quite possibly a lifetime.  I did enjoy the contrast between the sculptures - which were mostly Greek or Roman - and the paintings which were mostly Renaissance.  Bill commented that the sculptures of 'elderly men' didn't look all that elderly to him :-)

I cannot tell the difference between good art and great art.  Some of the paintings I enjoyed the most were not the ones that received a lot of prominent placement or attention in the audio guide.

Toward the end there were a couple of paintings that were in the 'Dutch master' style and it was refreshing to see something different.

After our visit to these galleries, we spent some time having a refreshing drink at a very nice rooftop garden/coffee shop in the museum.  It was nice to see across the rooftops of Florence.

But...when we were pretty much pooped and ready to go, we started following the 'exit' signs only to be led through a maze of additional galleries.  By the time we got out I felt like I was in a twilight zone episode entitled 'the revenge of the medicis'.

After we left the building, I realized I had left my new hat (!) in the restroom near the rooftop coffee shop. There was no way I was going back for it (assuming they would even have let me do so).  But I missed it all day today.

Next we crossed the Pontiveechy Bridge.  This bridge is covered with jewelry stores - apparently it has been for centuries.  I thought it would be fun to look and perhaps purchase something small here but I was surprised to see so much really boring, not very attractive jewelry.  All very traditional and encrusted with stones (and therefore probably expensive).  But none of it was interesting or attractive to me.  I guess my taste in jewelry is more modern.  Probably a good thing - I certainly don't need to be spending any more money on this trip!

I did step into a leather store and find a new purse, though.  It is very attractive and a significant improvement over the purse I have been carrying around for almost a decade now.  Bill tells me that I need to stop looking at purses now that I bought one but that isn't the way shopping works for me.  So I continue to browse and come to the conclusion that the one I got is the best one out there :-)

So tired...

We have been on our feet for 10 of the last 12 hours!  My feet need a rest.

We started out at the Uffizi Museum - it claims to be the largest single repository of Renaissance Art.  Most collected by the Medicis.  We had to wait an hour and a half to get in and then spent several hours there.  It was overwhelming in both quantity and quality but I have now seen my lifetime quota of 'Madonna and child'.  It would have been very nice if the subject matter of the Renaissance paintings was more varied.

Afterwards we tried to go to the Bobo gardens but couldn't get in.

Then we had lunch and went back to the room to rest for a bit.  Followed by an attempt to see the statue of David (unsuccessful) and a very nice visit to the Galileo museum.  Lots of very interesting old science instruments.

Then we crept back to our hotel to collapse in a heap.

I have lots of half-formed thoughts about wealth, privilege, art, science, etc.  But they are incoherent and I am too tired to make sense out of them just now.

One piece of excellent news - we found a cable for the camera so I should be able to start posting pictures soon.

The rhythm of the day

I really like the way that we structure our days here.  We get up pretty early and have a light breakfast.  Then we ‘do something’.   Generally a museum or something like that.  Then we wander around the streets sight-seeing and people watching until early afternoon when we have a long leisurely lunch.  Back to the hotel.  If it’s been hot and sticky, we will get showers.  Bill takes a nap and I usually work on my volunteer database project (I know, it sounds like work, but I really enjoy doing it).  Late afternoon we return to the streets to either go see something else or just wander about.   7 p.m. we have dinner and go to a concert or some other evening activity.  Frequently we are in bed by 10 or 11 at the latest.

It’s a very restful way to live.  It would be very nice to break up the day this way at home – even if we are working in the morning and afternoon.  But you just can’t do that if you don’t live walking distance from work.

Yum – truffles

Bill and I just got back from a delicious dinner at a restaurant recommended by an Italian friend of his.  He said that he would recommend anything that included truffles.

We had an artichoke appetizer.  Bill had an omelette with truffles and I had linguine with truffle sauce.  Realy, really good.  Then I had tiramisu for dessert.  Need I say how good that was ?

I think I may be inspired to try more adventurous cooking at home.

(Oh, and if you are curious, this delicious meal cost LESS then most every meal we had in Venice).

Tomorrow we will try to get into the Uffizi Museum.

Florence !

We arrived in Florence and easily located our hotel – walking distance from the train station.  A couple of early observations about Florence:

•  Florence is a real city.
•  Florence has more Italians than tourists
• The temperature in Florence is just as high as Venice but the humidity is much lower so this is not nearly as uncomfortable
• The roads are marked, Maps are ubiquitous and people are very friendly, On the other hand, the cars really don’t seem to care if pedestrians are in the way.  It’s your job to avoid them.
• The sodas from street vendors are truly cold (my favorite feature!)

After checking in to our hotel, we immediately headed out to see the Duomo.  Easy walking distance.

The Duomo is very grand, of course.  I think this dome may be Brunellesci’s dome ? I’m not sure. Walking around inside reminds me of how the Catholic Church reached the heights of its power in a pre-literate society.   So much of the architecture and art is intended to communicate the message of the church.  Among other things, the church is built to make people feel small and to inspire awe.  The art glorifies suffering and the afterlife in preference to enjoyment in this world. At St. Mark’s in Venice, women were not even allowed on the floor of the church.  There were special ‘viewing galleries’ upstairs where they would go for services.  

We also went to see the Piazza S. Maria Novella.  It was another beautiful church that felt more like a real church and less like a tourist destination.  The paintings were very ornate, of course. 

My favorite thing about churches are that they are quiet and cool and welcome people to come in and sit for awhile and contemplate whatever.

We are back in the room now for awhile and will go out again tonight. Tomorrow – museums (I think) !

Leaving Venice

Thursday

We are on the high speed train about to leave for Florence.  I am struck again and again with how unfriendly Venice is to tourists.  There were no ramps into the train station for luggage, limited seating in the train station while you wait for your trains and very limited luggage storage area on the train itself.  Basically it feels like this is designed for locals (and possibly Italian visitors).  For everyone else, no accomodations are made. 

The signs in the train station were good, though.  It was relatively easy for us to find when and where to board our train.  And the train is quite clean and comfortable.  It’s a high speed train – 2 hours to Florence.  So that will be nice.

The train is leaving now.  They do seem to be quite scrupulous about running on time (both the trains and the busses).  That is very nice.  The busses stations show when the busses will come but are quite ambiguous about direction. How hard woud it be to number them 2A for clockwise and 2B for counterclockwise ? Even though they cover the same stops, they are NOT the same route!

Vivaldi Concert

The concert was amazingly good.  The venue was an old church (of course!) in the Acadamie section of Venice.  It looked like it had been recently re-furbished.  Beautiful statues and paintings on the walls.  But not nearly as ornate as many places (which was kind of nice).  There was cloth bafflings around some of the columns – probably to prevent too much of the sound bouncing off of the walls.

We sat about 5 rows back.  The crowd was mostly tourists and mostly Americans.  A smattering of other languages.

There were nine musicians.  A bass, a cello, a harpsichord, an oboe and the rest were violins.  The solo-ist role switched between the different violinists which was nice, too.

I don’t believe I have ever been to a concert where it was so easy to pick out the contributions of the individual performers at the same time as hearing the way they blended and made the sound whole.  You could hear the performers build a foundation and then see and hear the solo-ist float above.

We were so close that we could see them as they listened and responded to each other as well.

It is amazing the number of different ways that a violinist coaxes music out of the violin.  There is much more dexterity involved with the bow than I realized.

The oboe was beautiful, too.  The sound was haunting and plaintive.  Very emotional instrument.

I enjoyed the harpsichord particularly and it made me think of Aaron Rae.  Watching the player's hands (I could not see his face), was so interesting.  I am so glad that Aaron taught me piano.  It has changed the way I listen to music.

Truly music was meant to be heard in this way.

Vivaldi is my new favorite composer.

Another side of Venice

Wednesday

This morning we went to a local self service Laundromat to replenish our supply of clean clothes.  It was across a bridge and into a relatively residential section – who knew that those existed in Venice ?  We were next to a school yard (behind a wall) and could hear children playing while we waited.  Nice.  Lots of young tourists there but also some locals.  And the coffee shop in the area had ‘local’ prices instead of ‘tourist’ prices so that was nice.

A tour guide did take a group of people through and he talked about the price of housing in Venice.  Apparently it costs 1.1 million euros to buy a small two bedroom condo in Venice.  It is cheaper, of course, to by on Murano or one of the other outlying islands.

Once everything was clean and (mostly) dry, we headed out to the Accedemia section of Venice.  I like this much more than St. Mark’s Square area.  Slightly fewer people.  The shops have more art and less kitsch in them.  We went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum and enjoyed it immensely.  Lots of very interesting modern art.  Picasso, Jackson Pollack, Mondrian, others whose names escape me right now. 

We had lunch at the museum shop.  The prices were what you would expect for a museum restaurant – high but not ridiculous.  And the food was really good.

This section of Venice appeals to me a lot which is good because we are returning to that area for dinner and a concert tonight.

We are, slowly, starting to figure out the bus system.  The busses arrive very regularly so they are easy to catch – it’s just hard to know where they will take you J The buses run both clockwise and counter-clockwise on the Grand Canal. So catching the right one makes a huge difference in how long it takes you to get somewhere.  There is no trivial way to figure out which bus will go which direction but we are starting to get it. 

It is still outrageously hot here.  33 Celsius yesterday and today.  I don’t know what that is in Fahrenheit but it feels like it over 90 degrees.  And humid.  When the sun hits you, it’s like you are in an oven.  And, of course, all of the stone absorbs that heat and reflects it back at you, too.  Pretty uncomfortable.  We are drinking tons of water and I  can’t remember ever being more tan – with occasional spots of sunburn to vary the mix!  I am praying that Florence will not be so hot.  Bills says he is looking forward to hearing me complain about cold for awhile.

Hrrumph

We just paid 70 Euros for one (not very good) pizza, one plate of grilled veggies with cheese and three diet cokes.  And the food wasn’t very good.  I don’t mind paying a lot of money for a good meal, or getting a mediocre meal for a bargain.  But I do resent paying a lot of money for a mediocre meal.

Music

Some of my favorite moments here so far have related to music. 

I love the sound of Italian.  The language itself is very musical.  Just walking around and hearing people speak to each other is like listening to a duet sometimes.

While we were in St. Mark’s Square, we heard the bells ring.  It was a lovely deep resonant sound that was echoed and intensified by the stone walls of the church and the square.  Later that night at dinner we also heard church bells chime.  It’s such a nice way to mark the passage of the day.

Today we went to the Island of Moreno.  The glass was beautiful in it’s own way but much of it is too elaborate and decorated for my taste. Interesting  to see. 

We wandered through the streets and ended up in a very residential area at one point. We stepped in to a church only to find it filled with several groups of children (looked like school groups) who were singing a song along with the priest.  The song had arm gestures that went along with it so it was really sweet to see them singing and dancing as they sang ‘hallelujah’ and other words I didn’t recognize.

Tomorrow night we plan to go to a classical music concert after dinner (Vivaldi, I think, and some others).

Pedestrians

Venice is a very interesting, probably unique urban environment.  Because all of the motor vehicles are on the water, there is no conflict between pedestrians and cars.  This makes it an ideal environment for pedestrians.  I do think it would be very difficult, though, for handicapped people.  We see some with canes and/or wheelchairs but I cannot see how they can get around much.  The major bridges have improvised ramps but there are many smaller bridges with nothing.

The pedestrian nature helps to impose a human scale and the scramble of streets and waterways ensures that there is always something interesting to see here and to discover if you walk a little further.  Many places to sit and watch the world go by. 

Our hotel has wireless internet access but only in the lobby.  It is an interesting contrast when we come back in the evening.  Walking around the city, watching people interact (or not) with each other.  Then walking in to the hotel where many seats in the lobby are filled with people interacting with their various screens.  Kind of spooky.  But we do it, too.

Venice wants to avoid becoming only a tourist destination but I cannot imagine them succeeding at that.  I wouldn’t call it a Disneyland for adults but it is definitely a vacation destination aimed at adults. This does not seem to be a city to live in.  It’s a lovely vacation but I cannot imagine doing all of the practical things you need to do to actually live somewhere.  Bill thinks some businesses must have offices here but I see no sign of that.  I don’t even see signs of the ‘normal’ shops that cater to residents instead of tourists.  But, of course, we have seen only a small part of the city as we have walked around and travelled on the Grand Canal.

Monday - Busy day in Venice

Monday afternoon – Venice

Hot, hot, hot (again).  It seems odd to me that it would be this hot in June.  I don’t know how much is caused by climate change and how much this is just the weather in Venice.  It is also humid so it stays warm in the evenings.  I am very glad that we have air-conditioning in our hotel.

We slept 12 hours last night!  Bill says that in his dream we were wandering around Venice but the center was built like a lazy susan or a turntable.  After entering, it would rotate so it was impossible to retrace your steps.  It’s a good analogy for Venice but luckily we haven’t gotten lost yet.

We had a very nice (if warm) day today.  We had a large breakfast in the hotel (after discovering that it is not included in the room rate (aargh, we will eat elsewhere tomorrow). Then we bought a 3-day pass to the waterbus and headed in to St Mark’s Square. 

We had, luckily, been informed that you can purchase a ticket for 1 euro that will let you bypass the long line to get into the cathedral so we did that before we left the hotel.  The line looked very long and it was mostly in the sun so we were very happy to have our little magic ticket.

The cathedral is as awesome as everyone says.  No expense has been spared for hundreds (possibly thousands ??) of years to ornament the space.  It was (relatively) cool, quiet and extremely impressive.

After leaving the cathedral, we had a good time wandering through the small side streets mostly window shopping and people watching.  We did see some shoe stores with very impressive (very impractical) shoes which I am sure were also very expensive.  But Bill said that we would have to upgrade our shoes twice before we could even enter those stores so we let the opportunity pass J

I did buy a really nice hat that helped to shade my eyes and neck.  I usually cannot find women’s hats that fit me so that was a pleasant surprise.  It is well made and attractive, too. 

We also found a very pretty embroidered lace runner that we purchased to go on the bookshelf that divides our ‘mudroom’ from the sun room.  I have been planning on having a different runner there for every season.  I have one that I like for the fall and this one can either be spring or summer.

We had a pleasant (but gastronomically uninteresting – canned mushrooms!) pizza

 for lunch .  But we it wasn’t very expensive (unusual for the location) and we had a nice table near the street so we could people watch.

Many tourists here, of course.  Many Americans.  But also a surprising number of Chinese.  Including some of the people who are working here (at least they are working in the shops and restaurants).  Who knew there was a connection between China and Venice ?

Our final activity today was going to another museum on St. Mark’s Square.  I cannot remember the name right now but they a special exhibit for Gustav Klimpt.  It was quite interesting and we also looked at some of the standing exhibits in the rest of the museum.

The thing that impressed me most was a sculpture of Icarus and his father. (I like sculpture a lot).  The father is older and very stern looking.  He is helping to strap wings onto his son who is only 12 or so.  It is very evocative of the story and, of course, of parenthood.  Giving your children wings and encouraging them to fly while also fearing for their safety.  Or perhaps the dangers of asking them to fulfill your dreams.  Or perhaps I am reading too much into the story J  One of the things I liked about the statue, ironically, was the feet.  The man’s feet looked utterly real – just made out of stone.  The toes were worn and misshapen just like a real person’s would be.  Many statues have perfectly formed feet.

All in all, my impression of Venice is somewhat mixed.  It is marvelously beautiful in a ‘Grand Dame’ way, of course.  Watching the buildings go by on the Grand Canal, you can totally imagine what it would be like to live in the past and go into these marvelous buildings for grand dinners or balls.  Every building is different. Ornamentation is elaborate and beautiful.  Every window is decorated with beautiful stone ornaments, wooden door and lace like metal work.  Bill noticed one where there were stone heads over the centers of the windows.  When the light caught them in a particular way, it looks like they were leaning forward over the canal and the wooden doors were their robes.  Pretty impressive design.

On the other hand, for a city that depends utterly on tourism, it is ironic how difficult they make it for tourists.  There are no street displays that show you where major attractions are.  We searched for a long time to find the museum because there were NO signs indicating where the entrance was.  We walked right near it several times and ended up searching for someone, anyone who looked like they were Italian to ask them where it was.

We also find the Italian sense of time amusing.  The most common unit of distance is ‘2 minutes walk’.  Everything in Venice is ‘2 minutes walk’ from everywhere else – according to the Venetians.   This is sometimes literally next door and sometimes a 20 minute walk away.  Of course, perhaps the turntable always delivers the Venetians to the right place at the right time.