Our month in Venice

Thanks - looking forward to the continuation.

Larry

Great start. I'm anxious to read how the rest of your month in Venice unfolds since that's something we'd like to do.

I almost didnt read it out of pure jealousy..
Now I want to hear more..

That's a funny co-incidence. We spent a while in Venice over Christmas, and in my trip report, I also referred to "Rear Window".

I'm enjoying tour writings.

mari- I love Venice so. Looking forward to the rest of your report, as I will be living vicariously through them. Great start! I like your writing style! Thanks for posting this!

Paula

It's bedtime for me now, but I thanks for the comments, I feel encouraged to continue. I've had some trepidation about posting a trip report, as there are others doing so with such verve and humor. I dread being a bore, so thanks for reading. To be continued tomorrow... this is also an excuse for not doing put away and housekeeping.

Hi!! Forget that housework, we need to hear more!! I like your style of reporting, and the photos interspersed.Where's the part with ME in it!!??? Yvonne xx

This is wonderful. We leave for Venice in 10 days. Can't wait for the rest of your report.

Your time in NYC sounds great. The price on the Rockefeller Center Hotel seems almost unbelievable. Thanks for that tip. Also what was the name of the apartment you were in in BCN, El Born?

I just looked up the Rockefeller Center Hotel on Trip Advisor and could only find rates of $345 per night. You really got a great deal.

Hello marisylvia

I am so enjoying your trip! I love the intro, a bit of background, put me right in there with you.

Glad to hear you like the pod seats on the 763. My DH and I will be trying them out this summer.

I look forward to following you thru the rest of your journey.

Happy travels!

It's Sunday morning, and when I told John I'd make pancakes his big smile made me realize that's my first priority today.
Seeing the positive comments gives me a glow, and I realize why I enjoy visiting the Fodors site.
Julie, we did luck out at the Rocekfeller Center Hotel that Saturday. I looked at their site again, and the rates go way up and down. I have more incentive to continue knowing I can give helpful hints to others.
Renting an apartment is the only way we could spend a month anywhere. Venice has a reputation for being expensive, but we found that the pizza there is often very good, and you can get a huge one for from 6 to 16 euros, certainly one is large enough for two to share. The prices I gave were the highest and lowest we paid. If you make your own dinner using the fresh vegetables from the outdoor market stalls (we shopped at the one in Cannaregio), or do someting really simple like a truffle fettucine dressed in either melted butter or olive oil, tossed with fresh parmagiana Reggiano, add a tossed salad with homemade dressing, pour a glass of wine and enjoy your cheap but satisfying dinner in enchanting Venice. Another tip--we took our wine bottles to the wine bar near the Accademia (I promise I will give the address), and they filled it with a drinkable house red for 1 1/2 euros.
Hey Yvonne, meeting you was one of the highlights of our trip! Of course that's coming up in my posting on our first week.
The apartment in El Born is at http://www.apartmentsapart.com/Europe/Spain/Barcelona/Apartments/Detail/678. It was an amazing find in so many ways. The location could not be better. We love El Born, and the ambience of the Gothic part of Barcelona. The apartment has an excellent modern kitchen which I enjoyed cooking in, very stylish, with a granite countertop and top quality appliances. Nice bedroom and bath, too. It's on the fourth floor overlooking the bustle of Princesa street, and best of all there are two balconies overlooking this always fascinating scene. I recommend it without reservation, and wait until you see the price for it!
I found it after putting in a lot of time, and it was being handled by this guy Charlie, an American married to a young Barcelona woman, raising their baby. He advertises himself as an expert on all things Catalan--and Barcelona is in Catalonia, a colony of Spain. He was our contact, but when we arrived we were met by Enric, who owns the apartment with his wife, Erminia. He's rather elderly, but he grabbed our bags, apologizing that the elevator was out of order, and easily climbed up four flights of stairs. I was glad we'd met them, because Charlie had a breakdown, and cursed me out when I called him to ask him to call a taxi for us for the airport. Erminia did that for us; she and Enric are lovely people. The taxi service is great in Barcelona, but most of the operators speak Catalan, and if you have to catch a plane, and need the taxi at 4 AM, you want to be sure it will be there!

This will be an interesting read. We live quite near you in the SF bay area. We love Venice but don't usually go for more than a few days at a time. We do go to Paris often, always renting for a month. Maybe the rest of your report will convince us to do the same in Venice!

Cooking pancakes on this hot Sunday? All I want to do is stay out of the kitchen!

It's funny the home food we crave while traveling.

A few years ago, my elderly parents joined us on their first-ever trip overseas (and this one was to Switzerland).

They seemed to enjoy the wonderful breakfasts each morning: beautifully sliced ham and cheeses, homemade breads and buttery croissants, jams, cereals, and fresh fruits.

One morning, though, Dad said he'd had enough of "this foreign food."

"I want a bowl of oatmeal."

The sweet gal who ran the breakfast room seemed perplexed. I went over to the breakfast area, put some mueseli in a bowl with some milk, and asked for it to be heated.

Oh, Dad was in heaven!

Sometimes you just gotta have those pancakes, lol!

marisylvia: this is already a good report and promises to get better. would love to spend more time in Venice, and you may be helping many of us to do it. We are even a little older than you and your husband, so you give me courage to try it. Keep writing, but enjoy every minute!

First week
We wanted to settle in at our apartment, and had to deal with some practicalities. This was the first apartment we'd stayed in which did not have a drip coffee maker. This may seem minor to non caffeine addicts, but my fellow hookees will understand. There were three little stove top espresso makers, and we tried doing our version of Americanos, but weren't pleased. I emailed Renato, our landlord, who was always responsive to any requests, asking where we could find a hardware store. We also needed to buy some cheap but serviceable knives (chef's and paring), plus a decent-sized bowl to mix a salad.
Renato directed us to a little store in a campiello off the Campo SS. Apostoli, which is at the end of Strada Nova, the main shopping street near Ca' d'Oro. It is true that you will find local people in Cannaregio, and also the stores they use, such as the Billa supermarket, but also pet stores, a funeral home, that sort of thing. Of course, Strada Nova is chockablock with the tourist kitsch shops, too--fake Murano glass and masks.
We also needed to find an ATM to replenish our supply of euros, as we'd had to pay cash for the iMob cards. We learned to our dismay that many ATMs in Venice would not accept our card. I was glad I had the laptop, as the Visa site told us which banks would work. There was one on the way to Rialto.
The hardware store was perfect, tucked away on a campiello, presided over by a lovely lady who spoke no English, so we got to use our tourist Italian. It was a shop with more upscale items, too, so we bought a nice caffe press, the knives and a lovely lime green salad bowl.
The next problem was that we needed to get coffee ground coarsely for the caffe press, or, the directions warned, not only would we not get good tasting results, but could get scalded.
We had a pizza lunch on Strada Nova, watching the endlessly fascinating passing parade.
More later, but here are some pictures from Strada Nova and Campo SS. Apostoli, Cannaregio, taken on April 14, our first full day in Venice.
You can see local people and businesses as well as tourists passing through :
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000072-1.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000073-1.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000085-1.jpg
Here is a dressmaker's shop where they love dogs:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000110.jpg
I call this one Young and Old in Campo SS. Apostoli:
http://s675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/?action=view&current=P1000074-1.jpg
Being cool on Strada Nova:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000090-1.jpg
Cool and uncool:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000093-1.jpg
You can see older Venetians like this lady, who wear tailored suits with skirts, even in warm weather. The gentlemen wear jackets and ties. They hark back to a more formal culture:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000078-1.jpg
On Wednesday we left for Rialto, to get euros and do some shopping, starting with finding a store selling coffee ground to order. I had translated my request to grind coarsely for a caffe press into Italian, and written it down.
I took some pictures along the way:
Young mothers on church steps:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000228.jpg
Frisky dogs:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000216.jpg
Here is grandpa entertaining the kids with tales of his adventures:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000138.jpg
Gondolier on a bridge:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000123.jpg
One of the colonnades by the Rialto Market:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000141.jpg
The bridge:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000205.jpg
Near Rialto:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000209.jpg
The all silk shop--how delicious!
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000182.jpg
Hello Kitty:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000172.jpg
We saw this sweater in the shop window, and I twisted John's arm:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000161.jpg
The attractive blonde sells real Murano, and we bought some:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000160.jpg
We found this shop just at closing, but the kind saleslady sold us some delicacies, and directed us to the coffee bean shop nearby:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000155.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000154.jpg
There is constant infrastructure repair all over Venice:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000158.jpg
Sottoportego near Rialto:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000112.jpg
Heading back to the apartment:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000238.jpg
Time to stop now; more later. Coming up: our lunch with ebullient Yvonne from Queensland, Australia, who we met through Slow Travel, and had been carrying on an email correspondence. She had an apartment near us, and was leaving as we were arriving.

marisylvia, I stayed in the same apartment in Barcelona (also in 2004) and really loved it. It's a very special rental. I don't think Charlie is renting it anymore (though I did not have any bad experiences with him.)

I look forward to reading more of your report about Venice, too. You sure picked an awesome neighborhood!

I was so intent on working on the Trip Report that I didn't see the other posts. I am still learning the ins and outs of Photobucket.
Shellio, we also like to go to Paris for a month, but I hope I can convince you to do the same in Venice. It is a fascinating place, with a seductive ambience like nowhere else.

As for cooking pancakes today, it doesn't get very hot where we live. We're on top of the same hill as the Mormon Temple, we're on its right looking from San Francisco. It''s unusual to get over the mid-eighties here.

Swisshiker, thanks for the great story. Part of our plan is to keep our weight down and our health up, with the fruit and cereal. When we're in Europe we buy Nestle's whole wheat flakes, we learned the Italian: fiocchi di frumenti integrale. It is very good. We splurge on our lunches, though.

Taconictraveler, you must live near that bridge...One of the reasons I'm writing this trip report is to tell other travelers about some of the artists and artisans we met while wandering around Venice. We talked to them, and learned that they have a hard time staying in business, as it is so expensive in Venice. I want to let people know about them in this and other travel forums. It is the influx of tourists which is a curse and a blessing for Venice. You see so many schlock shops, but if you are persistent and wander away from St. Mark's Square, which has become Tourist Central, you will see real people and find shops selling fine merchandise at fair prices. But really, Venice is so quiet, so shimmering, so quirky. No cars! And the bells in the campaniles ring out morning, noon and evening. And the people we met there are lovely; rather formal and polite, like people in Paris.

Rialtogirl, did you meet Enric, too? I don't know what happened with Charlie. I'd read all the comments praising him, but he really lost it with us. Asking him to call the taxi was the second thing we asked of him, so it's not as if we were demanding. When I called, I heard the baby crying in the background. I think he was stressed, but he was incredibly rude to us, when we needed him to do something very simple. I hope he and his family are all right. Erminia, unlike Enric, speaks very good English, and was lovely.

Well, now you've gone and done it! I was patting myself on the back, because I hadn't gone through those ever lovin' missin' Venice blues. But, reading your words and seeing the photos has done it. I'm now going to sit in my darkened room, sobbing quietly.

I didn't realise that the beautiful sweater John wore at our lunch was a Venice purchase.

I'm going to tell some of my Italy loving friends about your post. Get up early, please, and keep going. xx

Thanks, Yvonne. Yes, the sweater was John's Italian finery. One thing I started doing on this trip was take pictures of the shop keepers, asking them first, of course. What charming people they are!

And don't feel sad--just savor your memories, and plan your next trip. And remember, we were there at the best time possible. It must be awfully crowded now, and getting hot, too.

marisylvia, it wasn't Enric who was our keymaster in Barcelona... it was an American or English guy - Dave? Scott? I can't remember.

Charlie still has some rentals but not in Barcelona, they are all in Catalonia. I've had no contact with him but am researching a trip there and came across his website.

That's off topic though - looking forward to reading more about your Venice trip!

Rialtogirl, Charlie told me Enric and Erminia own the apartment. They did the cleaning themselves. Sorry to be off topic...

Thanks for the encouragement about the trip report. It's dinnertime here, and I have a busy day tomorrow, but hope to have some time to add to it.

<Week One Continued>/
When we visited Venice in 2005, we visited the Accademia, the Frari, and most of the other sites for art. This time we revisited our favorite, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, in her palazzo on the Grand Canal. We bought a membership so we could return, get a discount at the shop, but also to support it. You enter through a garden full of art works, from a huge Calder stabile to neon script on a hedge. Photographing is allowed here, but not inside the building. The splendid terrace overlooking the Grand Canal was closed for maintenance, so the infamous sculpture of the sexually ecstatic horse and rider by Marino greeted us in the garden. I enjoyed watching people's reactions to it, and also some schoolkids clowning around, getting on the stone chair for a group photo:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000365.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000306-1.jpg
The happy rider's appendage used to be removable, but it got stolen so often that Peggy Guggenheim had it attached securely.
This is from the toilet compartment in the women's side of the bathroom:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000370.jpg

The cafe at the museum has a small menu, but the food is good, the people watching over the garden enjoyable, and members get a 10% discount, so we enjoyed lunch there.

We spent most of the day there, revisiting favorite works by Kandinsky, Max Ernst (once Peggy Guggenheim's husband), and PG's scintillating silver headboard by Alexander Calder. There is a photo of her sitting on the bed in front of it.

The next day we met Yvonne T., who some of you know from her postings here and on other travel forums. We had been emailing after I saw from the calendar on Slow Travel that she would be in Venice when we were there. Our first week there would be her last. I could tell from her emails that we'd enjoy meeting her.

Yvonne's apartment was close to ours, by the Fondamenta della Misericordia, so it was easy to meet at one of the local restaurants. We went to Fondamenta, where the waiters greeted her as a friend, and we were impressed with her excellent Italian pronunciation.

She is tall and slim, ebullient and humorous. She'd just returned from a side trip to Bassano del Grappa, and encouraged us to go there, too, as it is very beautiful. Meeting her was a warm welcome to Venice, and we commiserated with her having to leave, with a stop in Rome on her way home to Queensland, Australia.

Here we are with the friendly waiters at Fondamenta:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000258_3.jpg

When in Venice, I enjoy finding lions, so I'll add a few photos of them from time to time.
This is from the garden of a large house; I call it the pussycat of St. Mark's:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000419_2.jpg
This figure lurks nearby:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000421_2.jpg
The winged lion of St. Mark, Venice's patron saint, is the symbol of the city and the once mighty Republic, which used to rule the Mediterranean and beyond. It holds a book. When the book is open, Venice was at peace; closed, at war.
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000271_3.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000278_3.jpg

The next day we decided to go to Riviera, a restaurant on the Zattere which had been well reviewed in TripAdvisor. We took the vaporetto to Accademia and enjoyed our walk past the last squero, or gondola boatyard. It was opened in the 17th century, and is on the Rio San Trevaso.

This is a pleasant, rather rare grassy square with a wellhead, next to the squero, with a gondolier and a group of local people:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000403_2.jpg
This could be a sculpture at Peggy Guggenheim's; it was at the rear of the squero:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000407_2.jpg
I love this worn monster:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000402_4.jpg
Here is a more well preserved image:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000400_2.jpg


The Zattere overlooks the channel across from Giudecca Island which is used by cruise ships and other large vessels. It was built in the 16th century as a landing stage for timber, and now is a favorite promenade point for Venetians and tourists, too. There are many restaurants along it with outside tables, some with decks suspended into the channel. There are many worthwhile sights along it, palazzi which are now government buildings or hotels, such as La Calcina, Ruskin's home, and churches.

Riviera has a small outside view dining area, and we were given a table there by a smiling blond waiter, who brought us complementary glasses of prosecco to sip while deciding what to order.
Here is a picture of me, showing the Zattere in the background:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000410_2.jpg
Looking past a French couple, you can see Molina Stucky, formerly a flour mill, now a Hilton hotel, on Giudecca Island:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000411.jpg

We had a lovely leisurely lunch, attended to by our charming waiter, who brought us a complimentary grappa after our dessert and espresso. He then took this picture of us:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000412_2.jpg
So what if I have spinach in my teeth!

We wandered back to our apartment by way of Campo Santa Marghereta, which is near the university and always a lively spot, with families enjoying it as well as students and tourists.

It was a scenic walk, of course.
Many houses in Venice are topped by altanas, or roof decks, sometimes with impressive shrubbery:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000424.jpg
Occasionally you'll see a gondola in a residential area:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000425.jpg
The portico of this building is interesting:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000427.jpg
Here are some children at Campo Santa Margheria, playing a game with string on their ankles:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000429.jpg

Walking to the vaporetto, we heard a canary singing, and saw its cage in front of a closed restaurant:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000438.jpg

Venice is full of surprises.

Marisylvia: I'm loving your photos. We spent a lot of time on the Zattere, a good place for a long walk, followed by a nice glass of wine.
thanks again for the memories.
I don't know the reference you made to me living near "the bridge." Being dumb no doubt. try me again, and continue your stories.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying your trip report!! Like you, my husband & I started in 1999 taking a yearly trip to Europe. We also enjoyed taking our time and savoring as much as possible. We have been to Italy 3 times including Venice twice. Venice is my all time favorite city. I can swell with such feelings just thinking about it and both times I was teary-eyed as our water taxi was departing on our final day. Because of health reasons(mine), we have not been back to Europe since 2005....it was Italy of course. It is a dream of mine to return to Venice and spend at least 2 weeks. I fantasize about getting an apt. and feeling as if we're actually "living" in that wonderful place and really being a part of it. Your photos are marvelous and they along with your report are bringing back so many sweet memories. I really like your creative idea of taking lion shots. We especially enjoyed the Cannaregio district. You are so correct, it is very special getting away from the main tourist areas and walking back into the little streets and alleys of the true local neighborhoods. We missed seeing the "one man band" guy, but we did have some very yummy pizza. I also loved the bells and found evening in Venice to be magical Forgive me for rambling on, but I feel as though I've found a comrade so to speak. I'm so glad I found your report....what a nice way to spend some of this weekend! BTW, we are 59 and 61 so we're part of the older set on this forum.

I really enjoyed this trip report. But I was also very happy to read that John is working for a company enlightened enough to employ a software engineer in his 70s. I hope he continues to work as long as he wants to do so.

...might I ask what camera you used for all these wonderful shots? I love the story you and the pictures tell!

Oh, goodie, you're back, with more of your personalised report. Your photos add so much to our enjoyment. Thanks!!

Thanks for the encouragement!

Taconic, I think I'm the dumb one. I thought there's a Taconic bridge somewhere in New York, but I must be wrong.

RSTravelers, thanks for the touching comments; I agree, we must have a lot in common. I hesitated about the lion pictures, so I'm glad you like them. There are more coming up!

WillTravel, John does work for an enlightened company. His colleagues are around half his age. He commutes from Oakland to Santa Clara on the Amtrak Capital Corridor train, which has made our lives much easier. We leave the house at 6 AM, and wait in the car until the train arrives. I call it the Nerd Train; many of the riders have bicycles, some collapsible. Some of the commuters play hackysack, others do calisthenics. It's always fun to see what's happening on the platform.

Pametravels, I bought a Panasonic Lumix TZ5A just before leaving. It is a wonder: very light and compact, with a Leica lens, and it takes movies, too. I hope I can figure out how to post some of them with Photobucket.

Hi, Yvonne. I restrained myself talking about you; it was a treat getting together for lunch. You are such a positive force!

Actually, there is a Taconic Bridge, that goes over the Croton Reservoir in NY. There's also the old Taconic River Parkway (really narrow lanes), so there must be a Taconic River. And the name is used for other places in the general area - it's thought to be an old Mahecan name. But taconictraveler will have to tell us how it got to be a Fodor's handle.

Now we're getting pictures! Almost takes me back to Venice.

hi marisylvia,

just found this - why did I miss it before?

please keep it coming - spending a month or so in one [non -uk] european city is a dream of mine, which at the moment I have to fulfill through others like you.

regards, ann

Thanks Justretired. I have a pack rat brain, all kinds of things are piled among the cobwebs. I'm from Philadelphia originally, and Taconic has the connotations you mentioned. Of course, there is also the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge...

Ann, thanks for the encouragement.

I'm feeling frustrated. I started in on my account and had written several paragraphs, then decided I'd try to get a movie in of people getting seated in a gondola, amid whoops as they tipped the boat. After trying different approaches, I got the spinning circle which meant I had to Force Quit Safari, so it's all gone. I will restrain myself, but it I write *&%#*#!!! you may fill in the blanks. I should probably stick to still photos. It's dinnertime, and I have some lovely fresh fettucine with Meyer lemon and porcini mushroom in it...John has been busy sorting junk in our garage, so he deserves a good dinner. He always does, actually.

Hmmm, I may have to report you for that *&%#*#!!! (at least, the way I translated it).

I've learned (the hard way, of course) that if I'm going to write a lot of stuff, it's best to write it in a text or word processor, in which it's easy to save it periodically. Then, when I'm done, I can copy and paste it into the Fodor's text entry box.

That used to also provide a spelling checker, but the Fodor's text entry box now includes one.

They tipped a gondola!! Whoa, the canals are picturesque, but I wouldn't want to swim in them!

Hello marisylvia, I have so been enjoying your trip report and your pictures. But please..could you somehow post that gondola video..I have never heard of any gondola tipping over. Were they all drunk? Or are you referring to those little boats that just go across the Grand Canal, I can't think of the name of them right now, sigh, but it starts with a T. Everyone stands up during the ride across the Grand Canal. I never have had the nerve to do that.

And justretired, when you say "but the Fodor's text entry box now includes one" referring to a spelling checker I am confused. Are you referring to the box I am now writing in? The box that is entitled "Your Reply" and if so, where is the spelling checker? Thank you.

Yes, LoveItaly, I am referring to the "Your Reply" box. The spelling checker is always active.

Just type a word that is mispelled (like that one). In the "Your Reply" box, a red dotted underline appears under it. Move the cursor over it, and right-click. A number of alternative spellings will appear. Select "misspelled", and left-click, and your misspelled word will be replaced by the selected spelling.

Just the way the spelling checker acts in Word.

The boats that cross the Grand Canal are called "traghetti". The Italian word "traghetto" simply means "ferry". In Venice, it refers to a boat that crosses the Grand Canal, I think for half a euro per person. These are generally gondole, not regular boats.

But outside of Venice, the word traghetto is generally short for autotraghetto, and refers to a boat that carries cars.

Hello, LoveItaly

While you're typing in your reply, you'll see the spell checker go to work IF you make a mistake!! Like tthis !!!!

And, those little boats across the Grand Canal are traghetti. They sure are a boon when your feet are tired, and that next bridge is just too far away.

Uffa ... favorite Italian expression for me .. our posts crossed and you beat me to the wire, justretired.

Apparently YvonneT and I were typing at the same time, except she managed to be a good deal more concise than I. It's a problem of mine.

The only traghetti I ever saw in Venice were themselves gondole. But both LoveItaly and YvonneT have called them "little boats". So I gather that both regular boats and gondole are used as traghetti. The only traghetto I ever rode in Venice was a gondola.

By the way, at the request of some Fodorites on another thread, I've posted a couple of miscellaneous files on Venice. You can see them, and download them if you'd like, at:

http://ljkrakauer.com/docs/travel/

A quarter to midnight here in the Boston area - I'm going to bed.

- Larry

Well I am a dunce I guess. In this reply box I typed in "mispelled" and "tthis and there is not the little red dots of lines under either misspelled word. I have Vista Home, does that make a difference?

Traghetti, yes those little boats that take one across the canal where everyone stands up. They scare me half to death.

I am going to go to bed soon also Larry as it almost 11:00p.m. here in California.

Wish I knew how you and Yvonne have that spell checker, sigh. But my thanks to both of you to responding to my questions. And Larry, thanks for posting your website, I will enjoy that I am sure. Best regards to both of you.

LoveItaly, never assume you're the dunce.

I assumed that the spelling checker had appeared as part of the new Fodor's format. But a little experimentation shows that it is in fact a feature of the Mozilla Firefox browser. I switched to mainly using that browser at around the same time as the recent Fodor's website changes. When the spelling checker appeared, I attributed it to Fodor's.

But my assumption was incorrect. As they say, "Never ASSUME. It makes an ASS out of U and ME."

How did I test this? When I use Internet Explorer as my browser, I don't see the spelling checker. In Firefox, under:

Tools >> Options >> Advanced >> [General]

There's a selection, "Check my spelling as I type." If I un-check it, and restart the browser, the spelling checker disappears.

LoveItaly, your last message was a challenge to the engineer in me to figure out what was going on.

And there you have it.

Larry

justretired - thanks for the clarification on the spell checker. When I read your comments about the little red line, I tried it out but, no, mine didn't have it either. However, I do have Internet Explorer, so therein lies the difference.

marisylvia - I love how you've integrated your photos into your text. I've tried using Photobucket, but each time I ended up giving access to all my albums. How do you do just one picture at a time?

Hi, swisshiker. I'm glad I was curious enough to get to the bottom of the spelling checker issue, because my first comment saying it is a Fodor's feature was really misleading. I'm happy to have corrected it pretty quickly.

marisylvia really has given access to the entire Photobucket album. Take one of her photos, say:

http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000419_2.jpg

Trim the URL by removing the "P1000419_2.jpg" part, and you see the entire album.

When you're looking at an album, click on any thumbnail, and you'll see a larger version of that single picture. On the left, among other things, you'll see the words "Direct Link". To the right of those words is a small box with the start of a URL in it. Click on that box, which will turn it blue, and that will also put the URL of that individual picture on your "clipboard" (a small yellow box with the word "Copied" in it briefly appears).

Once that "Direct Link" URL is on you clipboard, you can paste it anywhere you want.

Larry

Oh justretired, you are just what I needed!!! Thank you so much!

Is there no way to just send a picture without access to all albums?

(Sorry marisylvia for this bit of off topic instruction.)

swisshiker, actually, I've never used Photobucket. I was just reporting on the result of a little fooling around. But Photobucket has a pretty good "help" section, which includes an extensive "faq":

http://photobucket.com/tips

A quick perusal seems to show that you can make your entire account, or individual sub-albums, public or private. If they're private, a password will be needed for access. At a first glance, I don't see anything about individual images.

So one way to deal with this would be to put all your public images in one album, and all your private images in another. Or even open up separate accounts (different log-in names and passwords) for your public and private images. Then you can generously share your best trip photos on Fodor's, and have only your best friends see the one of you plunging off the gondola into the Grand Canal.

I think that now we should cut off this techie discussion, and return this thread to mariesylvia's marvelous trip report.

Larry

Enjoying your report on your "slow" visit to Venice, a dream of mine as well.

It's just after 9 AM here in Oakland, CA, and I just had to peek to see if there were comments on my trip report. Thanks, everyone.

Larry, thanks for the Word suggestion. As for spellcheck, Safari has one, but I noticed when I looked at the start of my report that I used "there" instead of "their" and was appalled people will think I'm illiterate. A confession: I used to be a copyeditor--but never a proofreader.

I feel guilty, though, by piquing interest in seeing a gondola tip over. Sorry, it just swayed a lot, but the people getting in with the help of two gondoliers thought they'd be in the canal! I think the gondola is so well designed that it's almost impossible to capsize one.

I love the traghetti too, Yvonne. On our first experience crossing on one in 2005, a woman boarded with her German shepherd, who apparently was used to the trip. This time I tried surreptitiously to video a crossing, and there is a lot of bouncing around. I'm going to have to do some editing of all the videos. Some of the real commuters read the paper during the crossing--talk about being blase! (If I use Word, which I obviously didn't now, I'd be able to add accents, too.)

Can anyone advise me on getting videos onto Photobucket? Larry? By the way, I saw that I'd screwed up on the posting which gave access to all the photos. I think I did it correctly with most of them. The only photos on the site are ones I put in to publish, so I'm not worried.

I'm going to eat some cereal with berries now, but I'll put in some more time on the trip report. I'm glowing with all the compliments, and want to respond to the kind encouragement.

I'll stick to still photos, too, unless someone can help me get the gondola video into Photobucket. I moved it from iPhoto to iMovie to Mobile Me Gallery, which is all Mac tech.

Thank you so much for your information Larry! I have IE so that explains why I do not have the spellchecker. But when it comes to computers I am let's just say not a "brain surgeon" for sure! My "computer fellow", my son-in-law, could verify that.

Good morning marisylvia, I hope it is warmer in the Oakland Hills then it is here in the southern end of the Sacramento Valley, I am freezing!

Will check back later as I am so enjoying your trip report. And glad to hear the passengers of the gondola didn't end up in the canal!

This is a great report! I'm looking forward to more.

marisylvia, I just found your report today and am thoroughly enjoying reading it. We have fond memories of Ristorante Riviera and the nice waiter as well. Please come back soon with your next installment.

LoveItaly, the spell check doesn't work for me either.

Hi bfrac, did you read Larry's good explanation? An engineer is always a good source at getting to the bottom of a problem. And I so agree, marisylvia's report and pictures are wonderful!

marisylvia
Can you tell me the name of a couple of good hotels you have seen since you have spent a month there please? we are thinking of flying into milan and taking the train straight to venice where should we stay? this is for a 25anniversary and 50thbday, my husband has never been. we were going to travel from venice to florence to rome. is this a bad itinerary.?

nelle--good itinerary--see if you can fly directly to Venice if you have no interest in Milan.

Like a few others here I have just found your great report and am enjoying your travels. Something like this always brings back good memories of our own trips to Venice. It's such a magical place.

We are now discussing a return trip for next year after looking at all your wonderful photos.

Keep posting.

Just getting ready to read. An entire month? Oh boy, oh boy!

I am eagerly awaiting each new installment of your trip report. You really bring it to life. I will be making my first trip to Venice in 38 days!

Hello Nelle, you might want to start a thread of your own regarding your 25th wedding anniversary trip. You can than ask any questions that you have and no doubt will get a multitude of answers and opinions. Italy..a lovely country for your 25th wedding anniversary!

I love Venice, too. You can get accents and other non-keyboard characters by holding the 'Alt' key down while you type in three numbers. For instance Alt+130 gives you é. There must be somewhere you can get a list, but I made my own by holding the Alt key down and typing 100 to 299. I'll be in Venice in July for the Redentore, and again in September (I hope) for the Regatta Storica (3rd time!). It's easy for me as I live in UK, and Ryanair will fly me there with no hold luggage for £4!! I'm using Firefox with Vista, and 'check my spelling as I type' is ticked, but I get no spellchecker in this box. Can I recommend some sites to all you Venice lovers? - ombra.net, for maps and photos, venessia.com for loads of interesting stuff, but it helps if you can read Italian, campiello-venise.com which has 1500 photos and some great itineraries, and venice.jc-r.net for information on 200 palazzos (or palazzi, if you prefer).

OK, following up on Bert4545's post, some more techie stuff:

The "Alt" accents, etc: http://ljkrakauer.com/accents.htm

How to format text in Fodor's: http://ljkrakauer.com/tags.htm

Bert, I don't understand the spelling checker problem. Vista, the operating system, shouldn't have anything to do with it (although you never know). I do know that you need to have Firefox version 2 or 3, so you may need to upgrade (Help >> "About Mozilla Firefox" shows my version to be 3.0.10). Also, after you checkmark "Check my spelling as I type", you have to restart Firefox before that setting takes effect (but the default setting is "selected").

End of techie stuff.

Bert, thanks for the Venice info sites. I've previously mentioned some Venice info files at:

http://ljkrakauer.com/docs/travel/

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Trip Report.

RSTravelers....(I just had to comment on this)..sorry for the very minor hijacking, Silvia!)

we are 59 and 61 so we're part of the older set on this forum.

No, you're not...in fact you're closer to the young 'uns..we have several 80's (including me), a ton of 70's. and numerous 60's)...c'mon RS, we're all young ...after all, we're travlers, and that alone shaves off a decade or so!

Like I always like to say..."keep on truckin'...AND "travel 'til you unravel!"

Stu Tower

RS...sorry, I was remiss in not adding, I hope you are soon on the road to wellness...so you can realize your dream of returning to Venice....we'll be rooting for you...

stu

Hi Marisylvia

Thanks for sharing all this info. I luv the Venice apartment. Good value too. My only reservation is there is a cafe across the canal. Was there much noise from there in the evenings?

Hi LoveItaly, we've been shivering here, but assumed you'd be roasting in Sacramento. Isn't there a jazz festival this weekend? We saw an Amtrak announcement last weed while waiting for the Capitol Corridor train.

Larry, I just found your great page on formatting: http://ljkrakauer.com/tags.htm. Thanks--now I can write "blasé"!

Okay, back to the trip report.

Weekend and Starting Week Two, with a Diversion

Having a month to leisurely explore Venice gave us a chance to find some wonderful artists and artisans whose work offers a contrast to all the multiple stores selling fake Murano, Hello Kitty and masks. We enjoyed meeting and talking to them, and the consistent message we got was how difficult it is to compete and stay in business in Venice. The rents are high, but also they are getting no support from the city government, or, certainly, policy makers in Rome. The diversion I mentioned is to give the ones we found some publicity.

At the end of our first day, after hauling our bags to the apartment, we took a walk along Strada Nova with the thought of buying food and other supplies at the Billa market there. We walked past it, enjoying being in Venice, to the Campo S. Apostoli, where people gather and we saw a young woman with a display of watercolors. They were very good, and amazingly inexpensive at 25 euros. After paying cash for our iMob cards, we could only afford one:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010809-1.jpg
We were tired, or I would have thought to ask where we could find her again. Of course, we never saw her again, alas, but at least we have one of her paintings. One shouldn't get greedy.

One of our favorite places to take a break was at Ciak, a cafe on Campiello S. Toma, near the Frari. We would get a bottle of acqua minerale frizzante, settle in at a table, and view the parade of people passing by. I don't know why the people watching here was the best I'd found in Venice, but there were many odd sights:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000795.jpg

We spotted an ascetic looking man put out a rack of prints in front of his shop, and wandered over to see his wares. His window featured old maps of Venice, and I saw several framed prints of the Lion of St. Mark. His prices for framed prints was amazingly low--20-30 euros.

The address is S. Toma, 2819, 30125 Venezia, but just go to Campiello S. Toma and you'll find him.

Here is his shop:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010346.jpg

This is what we bought (sorry about the reflections):
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010810.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010812-1.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010811.jpg


Signor Gabbiato speaks little English, but he smiled and ruefully rolled his eyes when I told him how much we loved his shop and his work, and how unusual it is to find such a place now in Venice. He is a lovely and dignified man, who seems a bit sad and bemused by the modern world. I asked whether I could take his picture:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000804.jpg

One shop we wanted to find was Signor Blum, so we could buy a mobile for friends with a new baby. They have unusual cut wood pieces, which look like puzzles, but I think are works of art. John remembered it was near the produce boat, and led us there.

We found a wonderful colorful mobile, with sea creatures suspended from the arms of an octopus (sorry, it's wrapped for shipping), but bought other pieces for ourselves:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010805-1.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010799.jpg
This is Palazzo Foscari: http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010801-1.jpg
All of the parts are loose, so you can take out windows, etc., if you want to. I referred to it as Ca' Foscari, which I knew was part of the University, and the lovely lady who was helping us said it is different. Then I saw it from the vaporetto, and realized what a fine reproduction we got at Signor Blum.

The shop is owned in partnership by three women, and they are having a hard time staying in business due to city policies, the lady told us. However, they have a website: http://www.signorblum.com/. We looked at many objects there, and I would not hesitate to order by mail. I'm going to email them, I think, to have them add more of their pieces to the website. I think they could sell many of the mobiles, and other items like colorful motorcycles, plus the palazzi and the animals.
Here is the lady who helped us:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010607.jpg
I wish now I'd taken more pictures of the merchandise, like the octopus mobiles.

We enjoyed wandering around San Polo, and found two more artisans. The first was Giuliana Rolli, who hand paints on porcelain. She does a variety of work, but has been inspired lately by artists like Kandinsky, Miro and Klee. There is a wide range of pieces, and we bought some:
These were photographed in the shop, because Giuliana said they were originals, and I agreed to send her the photos:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010610.jpg
This is on top of the book of Kandinsky's painting on porcelain which inspired Giuliana:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010611.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010802-1.jpg
Here is a closer view of the salt bowls:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010795.jpg
This is just for fun (we have three cats
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/IMG_3986-1.jpg
Here is her address: Giuliana Rolli, S. Polo 2599 A/B, 30125 Venezia; email giulianarolli@virgilio.it
And here is a picture of her:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010660.jpg
As you can see, she works in her small shop. She said she recently had some vandalism, with her window being broken and many pieces smashed. She said there are drunken young people who carouse nearby.
Her shop is a bit hard to find, but worth it. Her prices are reasonable, too: the plate, for example, was 33 euros. I suggested she set up a website, which she'd like to do, but said it is hard, as she is busy working.
One of the shop windows: http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000790.jpg

Another find was in the middle of a line of shops on a narrow street. We saw through the window that someone was actually working with molton glass, rotating the piece skillfully in front of the flame::
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010088-1.jpg

Here is what we bought from her:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010797.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010803_3.jpg
Her shop is San Polo Vetro, and she is Viviana Tosa. Address:
San Polo, 2309, S. Agostin 30125 Venezia

John just asked whether we could think of dinner, and as it's about 7:20 and our alarm sounds at 4:45 AM, I'd better stop now. I feel I'm abandoning the artists I haven't mentioned yet, but I'll try to return tomorrow.

Hmmm...a notice for a jazz festival last weed...must be more careful.

That work on porcelain, by Giuliana Rolli, is just wonderful. You made some good finds, for sure.

(.. "a jazz festival last weed" sounds feasible!)

I can recognise the watercolour painting that you bought. It is looking down the Rio San Barnaba towards the Grand Canal, Campo San Barnaba on the right. The vista is from the Ponte de Pugni, with the greengrocer's barge not quite showing in the painting. Signor Blum's shop is just out of frame on the right.

And I recognised the guy in the shop where you bought the framed art works.

It's making me horribly melancholy for Venice.

Cheers

Peter

You've obviously found many shops selling the works of very creative artists and artisans! I love the photos of your purchases. And I love the photo of Signor Gabbiato in his shop, with the mirror set up to show his reflection.

On our first trip to Venice in 2000, we bought a great mask of the face of a chimpanzee, with another (attached) traditional Venetian mask pulled up over its head, as if the chimp had just lifted it up. This was a gift for our daughter, who was starting her study of primatology at the time. I'm afraid I've lost track of the name of the shop (there must be 100 mask shops in Venice), and I regretted not taking a picture of the mask maker.

The work of Signor Blum reminds me of another jigsaw artist we saw in Venice, Vanni Morandin. We bought a piece from him, a depiction of "Le Petit Prince" on his circular planet, which contains a hidden weight that causes it to balance upright without rolling. I do have the address of his shop, S. Stae 1921, 30135 Venezia (Tel. 347-2482637). The phone number is from 2000, but a search on "Vanni Morandin" turned up a blog from June, 2008 that shows the shop to still be at the same address. That blog can be seen at:

http://lamiavenexia.blogspot.com/2008/07/samedi-dernier-28-juin-2008-11h42.html

It contains a picture of his work, but I should note that the blog is in French (except for one paragraph about the blog which appears in both French and Italian).

My old trip report on our visit to Venice can still be seen at:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/italy-trip-report-venice.cfm

(By the way, the Fodor's site crashed while I was writing this, but I had saved my text in a Word file.)

You've obviously found many shops selling the works of very creative artists and artisans! I love the photos of your purchases. And I love the photo of Signor Gabbiato in his shop, with the mirror set up to show his reflection.

On our first trip to Venice in 2000, we bought a great mask of the face of a chimpanzee, with another (attached) traditional Venetian mask pulled up over its head, as if it were just lifted off. This was a gift for our daughter, who was starting her study of primatology at the time. I'm afraid I've lost track of the name of the shop (there must be 100 mask shops in Venice), and I regretted not taking a picture of the mask maker.

The work of Signor Blum reminds me of another jigsaw artist we saw in Venice, Vanni Morandin. We bought a piece from him, a depiction of "Le Petit Prince" on his circular planet, which contains a hidden weight that causes it to balance upright without rolling. I do have the address of his shop, S. Stae 1921, 30135 Venezia (Tel. 347-2482637). The phone number is from 2000, but a search on "Vanni Morandin" turned up a blog from June, 2008 that shows the shop to still be at the same address. That blog can be seen at:

http://lamiavenexia.blogspot.com/2008/07/samedi-dernier-28-juin-2008-11h42.html

It contains a picture of his work, but I should note that the blog is in French (except for one paragraph about the blog which appears in both French and Italian).

My old trip report on our visit to Venice can still be seen at:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/italy-trip-report-venice.cfm

(By the way, the Fodor’s site crashed several times while I was writing this, but I had saved my work in a Word file.)

Darn, I tried to post, and it didn't work. I did a reload to be sure it wasn't there, and it wasn't. So I re-posted it, and now it appears twice. Sorry.

- Larry

"Computers let you make more mistakes faster than anything except handguns and tequila." (Mitch Radcliffe)

Mari,

What a great trip report and so sweet! My favorite line:

"It's Sunday morning, and when I told John I'd make pancakes his big smile made me realize that's my first priority today."

I envy you, how wonderful to spend one month in Venice.

justretired, someone has a signature that reads "Drink coffee. Do stupid things faster." That would be a good match to your computer quote.
marisylvia, we keep hijacking your post ... sorry.

Thanks for the tips, justretired (I've been retired less than one year myself). I, too, have Firefox 3.0.10, the spell checker is ticked, and it's not splckig this, as you can see.
Marisylvia, I'm loving your trip report. I'm so glad you spotted that typo/spelling mistake yourself (I'd have hated to mention it). I often make that sort of mistake myself - we both know when to use "there" and "their" (and even "they're"), but some perverse trick of the brain makes us type what is probably the one that is used more often, and then stops us seeing it before we hit "submit". It's a shame this forum does not have an "edit" function for the submitter, after a post has been submitted.
But what I wanted to ask is, how do you tell fake Murano from genuine Murano? I don't really like any of it, though I appreciate the skill that goes into making it. But I was amused to hear a shopkeeper say to a potential customer, something like, "We sell only genuine Murano glass here, you can tell because there is a sticker saying 'Made in Murano'" (!) Like the Chinese cannot make fake stickers!

Hi
I had originally only penciled in 2 days for Venice.. but your report (and Peter_S's LONG (and brilliant) one have me thinking I have made a HUGE mistake. Back to the drawing board again!

We have stayed twice in S. Croce so our main vaporetto was S. Toma and we always loved the area and would linger in the campiello upon returning each afternoon. Oh how reading this makes me miss it even more.

emerald125, different people have different reactions to Venice. We've met people who didn't like it. Because it's unique, it draws a lot of tourists, and if you stay in the major tourist areas, it can seem more like Disneyland than a real city. Also due to the tourists, there are a lot of cheaply-made tourist wares for sale, lots of inferior restaurants, and prices overall are higher than in the rest of Italy.

But my wife and I find it magical! One problem with staying only two days is that you're less apt to stray from the major tourist areas (you do want to see those sights, after all). But if you have longer, you're more apt to wander further afield, and discover that there's a real city there. And there are good restaurants. And as you can see by some of the artists and artisans marisylvia is patronizing, there are some remarkable things to purchase. You just have to do your homework so you know where to go.

For me, in particular, as an engineer, the sheer mechanics of the city are endlessly fascinating. There are no cars and trucks, except insofar as boats serve that purpose. So how does a refrigerator get delivered, for instance? The truck boat can only take it up to the dock. Then what? It turns out that there are a variety of dollies and slings used to carry heavy objects. There's a type of dolly in which in place of each wheel, there are three wheels in a triangular support that can pivot around a central point. These can be pulled up and down the steps of the bridges crossing the smaller canals. For me, the sheer logistics of the city are endlessly fascinating.

As is the architecture - pink palazzi and various rococo ornamentation included. My jaw dropped when we first arrived at the train station, and I've discovered I'm hardly the only person in that circumstance who immediately thought of the words, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

Yes, I'd recommend more than two days in Venice.

- Larry

Larry, I wonder whether your mask came from a shop we passed every day going back to our apartment. It's on the corner of Campo Santa Fosca, where there's the statue of Paolo Sarpi? One display window is full of interesting animal masks.

Bert, I'll post some photos of jewelry I bought. It was a splurge, but I wore it every day. I think you'll see it's real Murano, worth its cost. I love to look at the glowing red and gold when I wear the bracelets. These photos do not do them justice, but hint at their beauty:

http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010814.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010815_2.jpg
And here is a closeup of the pendant from San Polo Vetro:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010813.jpg

Cafegoddess, I count my blessings often.

marisylvia, I know the mask didn't come from that shop, because the Campo Santa Fosca is up in the Cannaregio. I know it came from a shop somewhere in the San Marco district, probably on some side street off the Calle de la Verona.

Because of the doctoral program in Primatology my daughter was starting, we had been going in to mask shops, and asking for masks of chimpanzees, or even monkeys. My daughter had worked with chimpanzees (she even once had a brief sign-language conversation with the late Washoe, who was much more famous than any of us). She ended up doing research on lemurs in Madagascar. Anyway, I digress. This particular shop was the first one that had what we were after. And I loved the image of a reveler in Venice lifting his mask, and turning out to be a chimpanzee.

While I've got so many Venice mavens in one place here on the forum, let me ask a question. Can anyone identify the church in this picture, and the square in front of it? The picture:

http://images.kodakgallery.com/servlet/Images/photos2022/2/10/36/82/12/5/512823610206_0_BG.jpg?a=1049

This is an image from my photos from our 2006 trip to Venice, but when I got back, I couldn't figure out from my notes where we were when that picture was taken. I've even found a similar image of that distinctive church tower on a web site, but it didn't identify the location. Anyone recognize it? Thanks.

Those photos show our entire 2006 trip to the Lakes district, Dolomites, Venice, and Milan, not just the Venice part. They are at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=lgb54rm.7plude7y&x=0&y=-jcjeim

The trip report, Venice portion only, is at:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34821418

- Larry

Artists and Artisans, Continued

One day we decided to look for what the website of the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica de Venzia said was their gallery at the end of the Fondamenta Misericordia, heading towards the Ponte d. Tre Archi. This puts you at the oppostite end of the fish from San Marco, in many ways.

Strolling along, looking into shop windows which sold hardware, fabric and food, not a glass or mask shop in sight, I saw some art which I loved immediately. One of the prints was of one of our favorite restaurants, Il Refolo, and an added feature was the artist had stood on the nearby bridge, and you could see his hands holding his pen.

We were delighted to find the shop open, and greeted the artist, who is of Japanese descent, there with his young son. We were joined by his wife, whose abstract work was also displayed. We chatted with them, and learned he had come to Venice 20 years ago, fell in love with it, and never left. He said it is expensive to live on Venice, but they feel it is worth it. Being in Venice sustains their art. We also learned that they both teach at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica.

We bought the Il Refolo print, and some others, which I photographed, but the pictures do not do the prints justice. Still, you’ll get an idea of them:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010807-1.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010808-1.jpg
Here is the campiello with Il Refolo. Can you see the artist’s hands?
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010806-1.jpg

I asked the artist to give me a card with his name and address, and I saw him stamp it on the back of one of the cardboard pieces he was using in wrapping the prints, but having unwrapped them, I don’t see it, and I can’’t decipher his name from the prints.

I sent an email to the Scuola, and hope to add that information, but perhaps someone else knows this artist?

Sorry, this is not a good photo of him:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010020.jpg

The last piece I’ll show is a photo album we bought:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/IMG_3990-1.jpg

The paper is hand made, and the button on the spine is onyx.

We had a good conversation with the vivacious lady in the shop, who was filling in for her daughter, who was expecting her first child.
Here she is: http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010166.jpg

What a stylish and attractive grandmother to be!

I’ll close this segment with some art not for sale:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010142_2.jpg
This is an installation at Ca’ Pesaro:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000998-1.jpg
Was the artist inspired by this?
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1010048-1.jpg

Now I’ll move on to the chronology, but lunch first.

Larry, I tried to get your photo of the church, but it wouldn't load.

I love this trip report! How fortunate you were to be able to spend a month in Venice! I was there last year, only for a few days, though, and fell in love with the city.

I really like the way you have included your pictures in your report instead of posting them seperately.

Johanna

marisylvia, thanks for trying. I don't know what the problem is. I can just click on the (long) link. The link spreads out over two lines on my screen; are you sure you're getting the whole link?

Unlike Photobucket, the Kodak Easy-share site doesn't make any explicit provision for sharing a single photo. So I just right-clicked on the image, selected "Display Image", and then copied the link. I checked to be sure I wasn't logged in to the Kodak site.

If you want to go to the trouble, you can bring up the entire album, at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=lgb54rm.7plude7y&x=0&y=-jcjeim

If you start the slideshow, and then scroll down on your secreen, you see really tiny "thumbnails" of all the photos. The one of the church is the 16th from the last. If you click on it, it has the caption, "I'm afraid I can't recall the name of this church. (L232)".

After your lion series, you might enjoy the set of photos starting 8 from the last: Margie photographed the daily changes in the laundry drying across from our hotel window.

Don't bother with this if you're busy - you're doing enough for us already.

Can anyone else see the photo? Is anyone else having a problem with it?

Larry

Mari and Larry,

I just love all the photos, they are all so beautiful!

I don't want to work anymore, I just want to travel!

Hi, Larry

With the original link, I got the message "Access denied", or the equivalent. So, I went to your slide show (and spent many moments admiring the photos), but I don't recognise that church, sorry. Guess I'll just have to go back again. I'll bet someone will know, amongst the Venice lovers. The last one, of the lamp base, was a good find!

Cheers. Yvonne

Thanks, Yvonne. Obviously Kodak does something so that people can't just go directly to that photo's URL. Maybe they plant a cookie or something to indicate that you've been to the slide show.

That's a point for Photobucket. Maybe I'll open an account.

Anyway, Kodak won't maintain your photos any more unless you spend a minimum amount with them per year. It's not much, but that's their policy.

justretired, if you want to find the name of the church, you might try visiting this site
http://www.invenicetoday.com/art-tour/
I had a similar problem when I got home from Venice trying to remember which photo went with which church. This seems to list them all with location, picture, and description.

Hi Larry,

I was wondering when did you take your trip to Venice and Lake Cuomo? Month? I don't want to hijact this wonderful trip report, but did you do a trip report? I was curious about the different hotels on your pictures and what you thought of them. Thanks.

M

Larry, I believe this is your church: http://www.invenicetoday.com/art-tour/churches/castello/sanmaria_formosa.htm

Definitely Santa Maria Formosa:
http://venicedailyphoto.blogspot.com/2007/03/santa-maria-formosa.html

Still enjoying, marisylvia!

Weekend and Tours—Week Two

John and I both love Donna Leon’s atmospheric and rueful novels showing Venice at its best and worst through the eyes of Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice police. She critiques bureaucracy, greed, tourism, status and its perks, through this romantic cynic who is married to a leftist professor of English at the University, the redoubtable Paola, daughter of a Venetian noble family. They have two bright and feisty teenaged children, who add to the mix, plus Brunetti’s colleagues, especially Signorina Elettra, the diplomatic fashion plate who can cut any corner and get any information through her contacts and computer.

Through Donna Leon’s website I got in touch with Toni Sepeda, a professor at the university who leads tours of Brunetti’s Venice, showing the important sites from the novels. She could fit us in on only one tour, meeting Saturday morning at 10:30 in front of La Fenice, which is beloved by opera buff Leon, and the setting of her first novel.

John checked our maps to plan our route, taking the vaporetto from Ca’ d’Oro to Giglio. We allowed an hour to get there.

That morning the vaporetto was very crowded, and it took a lot of time to get the mobs off and on. We arrived at Giglio around 10:15, and I remarked to John we’d better step quickly. We followed signs pointing to La Fenice, but ended up in an area with fancy shops and a shrouded building. We were set upon by young women with clipboards asking us to sign and anti-drug petition. We wandered around, John kept looking at the map, the minutes ticked away until it was 10:30 and we still hadn’t found it. We tried a narrow calle and there, in all its unmistakable glory, was La Fenice, but, of course, the tour had left. John felt terrible, as he felt he’d failed in his role of pathfinder, which he excels at, even in Venice. I was afraid he’d be under a dark cloud all day, but as we strolled along, we stopped on a bridge overlooking a cluster of gondolas, and watched the efforts of gondoliers helping people onto the boats while keeping them from falling into the canal. It was the perfect mood lifter. I took a video which I was unable to get into Photobucket, but no stills.

We walked through St. Mark’s Square to the vaporetto at San Zaccaria, which is less crowded than San Marco.

I liked this sign:

http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000446-1.jpg
Of course, I can never resist the lions:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000463.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000465-1.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000466-1.jpg

And, of course, the Grand Canal: http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000467.jpg

We always enjoy the friendly waiters and the people watching at Accademia Pizzeria, so that’s where we headed for to start our Sunday. It’s another good place to watch people getting into gondolas, as it overlooks two gondola stations.

There are many tour groups passing by:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000490.jpg
But our main entertainment came from the bulldog under the table next to ours, who would get agitated whenever another dog passed by.
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000493.jpg

I’ll post some pictures from various wanderings; I don’t recall where we were going at the time.

There is a dragon holding umbrellas like this in Barcelona:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000482-1.jpg

http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000487-1.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000494.jpg

Early in the week we were passing through Campo Manin, seeing people lounging on the great man’s pedestal:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000526.jpg

We wandered some more. We saw this couple:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000499.jpg

We found this lovely archway:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000502.jpg

We came upon a building next to a bridge:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000504.jpg
We went inside:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000505.jpg
and looked around:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000509.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000510.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000507.jpg
It must be an abandoned palazzo:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000508.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000507.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000512.jpg
It was very atmospheric:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000511.jpg
There were workmen there, but nothing much seemed to be getting done:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000514.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000516.jpg
It overlooked a canal:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000515.jpg
Were we suddenly in an Antonioni movie?
I opened a door:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000508.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000517.jpg
We saw another wanderer:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000518.jpg
And went out and over the bridge:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000520.jpg

Suddenly we were in Campo S. Vidal:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000530.jpg

An artist was packing up:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000534.jpg

The Accedamia is draped, and a huge crane hovers over it. We crossed the bridge to catch the vaporetto:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000537.jpg

I saw a sandolo!
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000547.jpg

And I looked up “sandolos” and found a quote from this site:
http://gondolablog.blogspot.com/2009/04/sandolo-in-venezia.html

There aren't very many of them in Venice when compared to the more well-known gondolas, so a "sandolo sighting" is often rare and unexpected.

-A great percentage of these boats are privately owned, and are usually independently operated. Because of this, the decor of a sandolo often reflects the personality of the owner.

- From a gondola owner's perspective, I view the boat as unique and even exotic. I would love to own one some day.

- There's also a sort of novelty to the boat because she has a number of parecio often seen on gondolas, but in smaller proportional form.

Here is another view:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000548.jpg

I had to take this man’s picture. He is probably a Venetian Count:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000557.jpg

This sorrowful lion overlooks a fast food stand on Strada Nova:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000562.jpg

John at the sotoportego which leads to our apartment:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000565_2.jpg

Tempus fugit—It’s dinnertime again.

I've tried to find a definition of "parecio", with no luck. Can anyone help!?

bfrac and swisshiker, thanks! You've definitely identified the church. I'll re-label my photo soon. I knew this group of Fodorites would be able to come up with it. Toni_g_b, that's a very interesting website. But it includes a different view of that particular church that doesn't show the campanile or the big facade on the Campo, so I was not able to identify it that way.

cafegoddess, our trip that started in the Lakes District and ended in Venice and (briefly) in Milan was in May-June of 2006. The trip report is divided into sections, and starts at:

"Italy trip report: Lakes district, Dolomites, Venice, and Milan":
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34821411

Each section, at the end, provides a link to the next. But if you want to go to them directly, the separate sections are at:

"Italy trip report: The Lakes District":
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34821416

"Italy trip report: The Dolomites":
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34821417

"Italy trip report: Venice":
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34821418

"Italy trip report: Milan (Milano), and some final thoughts":
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34821421

If the trip report doesn't answer all your questions, you can write me at LJK@alum.mit.edu.

YvonneT, I don't know any meaning of "parecio" in Italian. It would be pronounced "pa-ray-cho". Can you give the entire sentence, to put it into context? Maybe it's misspelled. ("Pareció" is a word in Spanish, but I don't think that's what you're after.)

Bedtime.

Marisylvia, it's a shame you missed the Toni Sepeda tour, but take heart. She has just published a guidebook called "Brunetti's Venice", with a foreword by Donna Leon. There are a number of walks accompanied with excerpts from the novels in which Brunetti visits those sites.

what a great report! I love how you have pictures mixed in.

I love old maps and I've copied down the address of the store where you bought the map so that when I go back in September of this year, I'll make sure to look for this store.

How lucky of you to be able to spend a full month in Venice, I'm jealous!

justretired, the word came up in the blog marisylvia mentioned re: sandoli

- There's also a sort of novelty to the boat because she has a number of parecio often seen on gondolas, but in smaller proportional form.

I looked up various spellings, no luck, just came back to the Spanish version. Why do we get hung up on this sort of thing, when we could be out campaigning for world peace???

Thanks for the information, Shellio. I first saw "Brunetti's Venice" in German at the Peggy Guggenheim gift shop. They had no copies in English. I found it on Amazon, and it got rather unfavorable reviews, so I passed on it. Actually, the same information is on Donna Leon's website, but we'd thought the guided tour would be fun.

Lyb, I'm sure you will love Signor Gabbiato's shop. I hope you'll also have time to sit and drink something at the cafe, as the passing parade there is endlessly fascinating. I will post some of the photos eventually.

Thank you for your lovely photos; they bring back so many memories of Venice for me.

I have been to Venice 3 times.

Thin

Haven't been back on here for a couple days(sister/nephews arrived from out of state)....I'm so glad to see further installments of this saga have been added. It is such fun reading, but I'm getting very homesick for Venice! marisylvia, you are doing a great report. tower, thank you for the encouraging comments. I do have hopes of returning to Europe in the future. And, I really don't think DH & I are THAT old, but from previous posts, I had the feeling many members were 30-40 somethings. You're right, as long as one can keep going anywhere, one stays young in body & mind.

YvonneT, I think I've got the answer on parecio. Google knows all. To try to find out what it might mean in the context of a gondola, I did a Google search on [gondola parecio] (I used the brackets to make it clear that I didn't put the words in quotation marks in the search box).

Why do we care about these things? Well, for my part, I'm a language geek.

Here's what turned up:

1) This site (scroll way to the bottom) has a poster that shows that the parecio comprises all the movable parts of a gondola ("Parti mobili per gondola"):

http://www.veniceboats.com/eng-designs-boats-gondola.htm

2) This site (again scroll to the bottom) actually lists what all those parts are ("a two-seat divan at the feet of the rowing stand, a couple of stools to sit other passengers, ..."). Caution: this site plays music at you:

http://www.veneziaweb.net/Making.htm

As far as the word itself, I'll take a wild guess that our mention of Spanish is not far off the mark. The parecio includes seats and carpets and stools and metal flourishes that determine the overall appearance of the gondola - without these, they would all look alike (everything goes with basic black). The Italian verb "to appear" is apparire, which means "to appear" in the sense of "to show up", but which can also mean "to appear" in the sense of sembrare, "to seem". The corresponding Spanish verb is parecer. Parecido in Spanish means "similarity, likeness". The Spanish conjugated verb pareció means "it seemed", or "it appeared".

So here's my guess: the word parecio, applied to a gondola, has something to do with "appearance", and comes from a Venetian dialect that was spoken in Venice before modern Italian, which perhaps had some words that were similar to modern Spanish. Any Venetians out there?

Isn't this fun?

Sorry, marisylvia. But at least we're still on the topic of Venice. We're nearing the 100th reply - this is a very popular thread.

hi marisylivia,

I'm still enjoying your report so much. what those who belong to the "if it's tuesday it must be Venice" brigade miss is ..well, how much they miss! being a fan of Donna Leon myself, I really felt for you when you got to la Fenice and found the trip gone. is there really a Brunetti website? - I'm going there immediately I've finished here.

Yvonne - my Collins Italian dictionary and grammar [all 833 pages] does not give "parecio" at all. the closest is "parecchio" which means "quite a lot of, quite a bit, quite a while," etc. does that help?

regards, ann

But wait! There's more! A free set of Ginsu knives

There's an on-line Venetian - Italian dictionary:

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~stermole/piccio/dicty.php?str=parecio&l=d&ignoreaccents=1

It translates parecio (veneziano) into preparativo (italiano). And preparativo in Italian means "preparation". And that fits.

To look up more words, click "search again" at the upper-left.

yvonne - i was posting at the same time as just-retired. i think that sounds much better than my suggestion.

some italian dialects ARE close to spanish - i had an italian teacher from Sardinia who said that when he went to Spain, he could understand what they said much better than when he went to Florence.

This reminds me of being in Barcelona, being able to understand a lot of written Catalan, which is closer to French (which I know) than Spanish (which I don't). When we see maps of Europe, we should remember that historically what is within a country's present boundaries does not relate to the city states, with their own languages, which were incorporated often fairly recently.

Thanks to those who write encouraging compliments. I just popped in to see what was happening, but can't stay because it's such a beautiful day and my rose garden needs me, and then I need to put in some time on my Wii Fit. My Pilates teacher, who I worked out with this morning, has been tough on me since I returned. My hamstrings were screaming for mercy!

I'll try to get some more posting in soon if I can.

The "parecio" investigation is fascinating. I appreciate the intrepid scholarship.

Good morning/buongiorno,

I just love it when something in a post triggers an erudite discussion!! Thank you, justretired and annhig, for your research. Now, we can all go and construct our own gondola or sandolo.

Someone had told me about the symbolism of the iron decoration at the prow of a gondola, and there it was in one of justretired's links:

"The 'fero da prova', that is the prow iron, has undergone changes during the centuries. According to popular tradition, its higher part represents the doge's horn, that is the famous hat worn by the doges, the six front teeth stand for Venice 'sestieri' (i.e. six quarters) and the one facing the boat, the seventh, for the Giudecca, one of the many city isles. The S-sharped iron mirrors the course of the Grand Canal, Venice main waterway." I was also told that the open bit below the Doge's horn represents Rialto bridge.

I think everyone on marisylvia's thread needs to plan a get together in Venice; we'd make many interesting discoveries. So, thank you, marisylvia, for triggering many diverse responses.

Yvonne

Thank you, Yvonne, for your contributions to the discussion. What a great itdea; if only...John and I enjoyed meeting you, and your sparkling (should I say frizzante?) personality and sense of humor make you great company.

A question for Larry: I've been using Word, thanks to you, and I don't know why my Bold in word doesn't appear in the post. I keep forgetting how to format it, and get lazy about it.

Our learned fellow Venice lover (justretired) has posted this link regarding formatting. If I wasn't such a sloth, I'd use it!


http://ljkrakauer.com/tags.htm

marisylvia, using Word is just so you can save every now and then while typing a long post, and you can also enter accented characters. But there's no use doing formatting like bold in Word, since all such formatting will be lost when you paste it into the Fodor's "Your Reply" box.

YvonneT has pointed you to http://ljkrakauer.com/tags.htm, my page on formatting. But I know it's a bit daunting, and really, I can give you the simple stuff in a few lines:

Type <b>text</b>, and you'll get text
Type <i>text</i>, and you'll get text
Type <u>text</u>, and you'll get text
Type <s>text</s>, and you'll get text

Unlike formatting, accented characters WILL copy/paste properly from Word. See this page for how to enter them:

http://ljkrakauer.com/accents.htm

The method in the second part talks about how to enter them in Word, or you can use the method in the first part to enter them directly into the Fodor's text entry box (print it out to have the chart in front of you).

Don't forget to "Preview" your post before hitting "Submit". When using these formatting features, it's easy to make mistakes.

I hope this helps, without being too long.

Larry

Thanks, Larry, for this excellent advice. My Fodor's future depends on you. I'm too tired now to work on the trip report--tomorrow and tomorrow, etc.

Second Week

I’m going to mainly post pictures, with some commentary.

We had enjoyed splendid weather, and returned to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection for more art, lunch, and people watching.
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000591.jpg
Our table at the PG café had a great view of the garden:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000582.jpg
In April, the café is draped in wisteria. That is John at the balcony, where our table was:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000589.jpg
We walked along Fondamenta Venier after leaving the museum, and saw some artful construction:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000592.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000596.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000595.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000597.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000605.jpg
Seaweed wafts on the steps:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000606.jpg

We decided to walk around the area.
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000613.jpg
I like this sign:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000610.jpg
An embrace in the campiello:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000616.jpg
No comment:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000620.jpg
I love the textural contrasts here:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000621.jpg
A burst of color:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000623.jpg
The Madonna watches the walkers on the bridge:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000626.jpg
He reminds me of my 18 year old orange cat; proud but fading:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000624.jpg
We saw a stylish young mother on the Fondamenta Bragadin:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000631.jpg
The forcole workshop:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000636.jpg
An array of tourists:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000640.jpg
This is where I bought my baubles:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000642.jpg

On the vaporetto going home, I spotted some oarsmen:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000649.jpg

This shop on the way to our apartment had always had a blind drawn, but today it was open:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000651.jpg
We would have gone in if we weren’t tired, and had known we wouldn’t see it open again.

One day we went to an exhibition at Ca’ Foscari, the University. It was on Ethiopian Christians, their culture, artifacts, rituals, and buildings. I took a picture of the courtyard:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000663.jpg

Then we wandered around, and saw a huge Murano chandelier in a shop window, looking like a creature in an aquarium:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000662.jpg

A figure lurked nearby:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000667-1.jpg

One day we took our wheeled cart with empty bottles to Dorsoduro, and got them filled with decent house red here for 1 ½ euros:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000666-1.jpg
This place overflows onto the bridge in the evening, when people come for the cicchetti.

When we visited Venice in 2005, we were lucky to find, entirely by accident, the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica. We met some students, and were given a tour by one of the teachers, Patricia Smith, who teaches at Penn but comes here to teach in the summer. It is also where the artists we met on the Fondamenta della Misericordia teach.

This time there was hardly anyone there, so we just looked around.
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The Scuola’s garden abuts a canal, and I saw some oarsmen; they are fast!
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We headed back to Cannaregio.
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000693.jpg
I saw a girl skipping rope, being bugged by her little brother:
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A neighborhood gelateria:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000707.jpg
On the Fondamenta della Misericordia, approaching the bridge to our apartment, across the canal from the restaurant:
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Ristorante Diana, open every day, rain or shine. Our apartment is the one with two balconies, on the end.
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Next to it is the Iguana Mexican restaurant, only open for dinner:
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Here is our view of the restaurant from the apartment:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000714.jpg

Time for a lunch break.

marisyl

In a month's time, you're going to picture-record the greatest compilaton of Venetian scenes by an American!
We're returning to Venice in October...first visit since 1993...but before that we had been there numerous times. Staying near the Fondaments della Misericordia..actually just across the canal near St.Stae vap stop. I'm looking over your communiques very closely..will be referred to many times!
Thank you so much for taking the time!! Truly appreciated.

Stu Tower

Thanks, Stu. I'm lucky that technology has enabled me to do this trip report. Have a wonderful time in October; you should be prepared for changes, of course.

Nelle1--For some reason I overlooked your question about hotels in Venice. I'm sorry, you must think I am rude.

What a great destination to celebrate your anniversary! I'm afraid I don't know anything about hotels in Venice, as we stay in apartments.

We had lunch at La Piscina, which is the restaurant for La Calcina, the hotel on the Zattere which used to be Ruskin's house. The hotel looks lovely, and the location is excellent. It is on the Zattere, but also not far from the Grand Canal. We rented an apartment near there in 2005, near Campo San Vio, and really enjoyed that area.

Have you considered a vacation apartment? There are some beautiful, romantic ones available. You might look at www.venice-rentals.com. We rented the San Vio apartment from them, and they specialize in top of the line apartments.

One thing I like about having a flat is not having to dress up for breakfast. You don't have to cook, really, maybe make a pot of coffee, or maybe the kitchen will have a Nespresso machine. Have some gelato in the freezer and top it with fresh berries which you can get from a fascinating excursion to the Rialto market, and that's all you need. Have a second honeymoon, in other words.

Marisylvia,

I am still enjoying your photos. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us.

I just topped my own Venice Trip Report to note that the 35th running of the vogalonga boat race is coming up in three days, on May 31, 2009:

http://www.vogalonga.com/eng/index_ing.asp

In that trip report, we reported on the problems that arose for us when, on the day we were leaving Venice, the vogalonga closed the Grand Canal.

The Trip Report is at:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/italy-trip-report-venice.cfm

- Larry

Resuming the trip report—Wine Tasting! Acqua Alta! and More…

When we first visited Venice in 2005, we walked across St. Mark’s Square and were so appalled by the throng of tourists that we easily found other things to do than see the Basiclica or the Doge’s Palace. But this time we applied ahead of time for the Senior Museum Card for 10 euros, giving us admission to the famous sites but also Museo Correr, Ca’ Pesaro, Ca’ Rezzonico, and Carlo Goldoni’s house.

I knew we needed a tour to go with admission, to avoid the lines but also give us useful information. I chose a Brit company, Venice Walks and Tours (www.tours-venice-italy.com), as the Brits have a long history of ardor for Venice.

We booked our St. Mark’s Square experience for Tuesday April 28.

I saw they also offered a wine tasting with cicchetti experience, which they described as a chance to meet other tourists and mingle with locals at an enoteca. We signed up for Monday evening.

It had been raining—April in Venice—when we’d visited before, also in April and May, we’d been surprised by not only thunderstorms, but a hail storm had made us seek cover in a portico.

We were looking forward to a convivial evening, and walked over to the enoteca near Rialto, splashing along, doing the dance you have to with open umbrellas meeting others in narrow calles.

We went into the designated place, and entered into a room serving pizza. We said we were there for the wine tasting, and were led to the bar and a table for two. There were a few people at the bar—definitely not there for the wine tasting—and us. So much for the convivial evening. But we enjoy each other’s company, and the cicchetti and wine started being served.

We were amused when an old timer entered with his dog, in a creative raincoat:
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000884.jpg

We had noticed a glassed cabinet next to our table with huge wine glasses in it, and John joked about them looking rather daunting. To our surprise, our waiter took two out, and served us the last of five wines, amarone, the king of Italian wines. It was lovely, and we did our best to appreciate it:
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Afterward, heading for the vaporetto, we heard the aqua alta sirens. The stop we went to was closed, and we were directed to the next one nearby. We saw workmen putting down the raised walkways which we’d seen stacked up in many places.
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000895.jpg


A #2 vaporetto pulled up; we needed a #1. We talked to the conductor, saying we were surprised this was happening in April, and he was quite upset about it, saying it shouldn’t be happening now. We waited for a #1.
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000902.jpg

When our boat came, we passed the Rialto Market, and could see the water was invading it. The trip seemed somehow haunted.
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/marisyl_photos/P1000903_2.jpg

Back at the apartment, I looked at the canal as we went to bed, and the water level was almost to overflow.

When we woke up in the morning, I commented to John that the drain plug had been pulled. The water level was much lower. With aqua alta, it’s a matter of high tide plus rain, This was a dramatic example of it.

Larry, I loved your trip report on Venice. Thanks for the link. So you and Margie ate at Trattoria da Silva, too. I appreciate your comments on the way of life in Venice, which is amazing to us, so dependent on cars. Someone we met remarked on how hard people work in Venice. We saw a woman with what looked like a washing machine in a box, taking it up and down a bridge with a dolly.

We. too, had our passes (iMob cards) checked by the vaporetto inspector, which had never happened in 2005.

The Vogalongo--how I'd love to see it some day! The Venetian oarsmen do things their own way, standing up. I was thrilled by a few sightings of them. I'm glad you cleverly responded to the discovery of the Grand Canal closure. Well done.

Thanks for the tip on the wine bar filling up the wine bottles with their house wine for 1.5 Euro! We went to that place about 6 times on our last trip to Venice and never realized that they do that! I'll make a point of "filling up" there the next time. Is it best to go during the early afternoon before the place gets busy?

SCFoodie, I'd say mid-afternoon is good, because they also serve chicchetti for lunch. It's a great place to go for a Venice-style experience around 6:30 or so, with everyone out on the fondamenta and the bridge, all ages socializing.

It was what I'd thought we'd find at the wine tasting, which cost 25 euros each. I'd say do it yourself at Al Bottebon.

We also had gone to a wine store on one of the side streets of Strada Nove, hoping to find a refill closer to home. We were given a haughty response when we asked about house wine refills. Harrumph!

hi marisylvia,

for future reference, if you are on the east [san marco] side of the Rialto bridge and venture beyond the public toilets at the rear of the campo san bartolomeo, there is a nice little wine shop that sells wine by the [water] bottle, including a very decent prosecco.

incidentally, it's "cicheti", which is pronouced as you have written it. a little knowledge [mine] is a dangerous thing!

regards, ann

Thanks, Ann. I hope there is a next time; we made our reservations for the apartment and plane in February 2008, when our nest egg was larger. Retirement looms for John...

But this information is worthwhile for other Venice visitors. Filling a water bottle sounds great, especially if it's with prosecco!

Actually, it's cicchetti. I wasn't going to say anything, since I figured it was just a typo. Pronounced "chee-KEH-tee".

This opening allows me to go off on a small language rant. "ch" in Italian is ALWAYS pronounced like a K, no exceptions. Which brings up the common American mispronunciation that drives my Italian teacher crazy: bruschetta is pronounced "brouss-KEH-ta", not "brou-SHEH-ta".

It's curious that the rules of Italian vs. English sometimes produce a complete reversal of the c/ch sounds. In Italian, a soft "c" is pronounced like an English "ch", while an Italian "ch" is always pronounced like an English hard "c" (that is, like a "k").

The word cicchetti is plural, like almost all Italian words ending in "i" (although there are some Greek-based exceptions, like tesi, meaning "thesis"). Thus, spaghetti, gnocchi, and biscotti are all plural, for instance.

The derivations:

spago (string), plus the diminutive ending etto yields spaghetto, meaning "little string". You usually have a bunch of them together, hence the plural, spaghetti.

The past participle of the Italian verb cuocere (to cook) is irregular, cotto. Add the Latin prefix "bis" (twice), and you get biscotto, which means "twice cooked". You cook it once to make the bread, and then again to make it crispy, turning it into a biscuit. The plural is biscotti. By the way, "biscuit" in English comes from the French biscuit, which in a similar way means "twice cooked" in French.

A student in my Italian class once said to our native Italian teacher, "While gnocchi is technically a plural, you would never use its singular version (gnocco)." The teacher looked skeptical, and replied, "What if you dropped one on the floor?"

Another common American mispronunciation: grigio (as in pinot grigio). It's pronounced "GREE-joe" in Italian, not "GREE-jee-oh". The rule is that an unstressed "i" after a "c" or a "g" and in front of another vowel is silent. That's why ciao is "chow" and not "chee-ow". The "i" just serves to soften the "c".

Sorry. Give me an inch, and I'll take a mile.

Larry

If you're going to give a lecture, then be sure to pronounce cicchetti as chee-KEHT-tee, breaking the syllables between the double Ts.

Similarly bruschetta is brews-KEHT-tah, cotto is COHT-toh, spaghetti is spa-GEHT-tee, panna is PAHN-nah . . .

ellenem, thanks. That's a great way to think about the Italian double consonants. The books usually just say to hold them longer.

The different ways of thinking about it make sense for different consonants. A "T" can sort of be "doubled" by leaving an instant between the closure and the break of what would otherwise just be a tap of the tongue. An "N", on the other hand, can just be dragged out - it's not exactly doubled.

The trouble with all this is that no matter what the books say, in practice I find I can't really tell by listening if a consonant is double or not. The Italians seem to pronounce them long or short just depending on how they feel, what they want to emphasize, or how it fits the musicality of the sentence.

I agree, and go round the bend about "bruschetta". There is some stupid brand of frozen pizza named "Freschetta", and in the ads they say fre-SHE-ta.

And how about poor Terry Schiavo--the indignity of her condition was compounded by the mispronunciation of her name by all the reporters. Shame!

God, I just looked back and saw I'd written "chi" instead of "ci", when I was talking about cicchetti. Trust me, I know the difference.

I always imagined a conference between representatives of the "Freschetta" company and their ad agency, with the ad agency people saying, "Trust me, people will pronounce it fre-SHEH-tah no matter what you do."

Sort of like that legendary conference in which the ad agency proposed the slogan, "With a name like Smucker's it's got to be good." To that, the Smucker family immediately replied, "What's the matter with Smucker's?"

In sandwich shops, I just quietly ask for a panino. Generally, nobody even notices.

ellenem, the more I think about it, the more I like your way of thinking about the double consonants. I've never seen this way of looking at it. I've been studying Italian for a dozen years (only at the once-a-week level), and the text we use ("Prego") never used this method (perhaps because it's designed for use in a class that has a teacher who can pronounce things for you). Dictionaries that show pronunciation don't generally break words up into syllables, except to show the tonic accent.

But as I pronounce your examples:

bruschetta as brews-KEHT-tah
cotto as COHT-toh
spaghetti as spa-GEHT-tee
panna as PAHN-nah

the placing of the first of the double consonants at the end of the previous syllable seems to always produce an accurate rendition. And this is the case whether the doubled consonant is a stop, like "T", or a continuant, like "N". It does this by holding the consonant for the duration of the brief gap that the reader inserts between the syllables.

So thanks for writing.

Larry

marisylvia, I am feeling quite inspired by your report. My mind is racing with thoughts of the possibility of returning to magnificent Venice! This time DH & I would stay 2 wks.in an apt. We have never done an apt. so I have a question, and please tell me if I'm being too nosy....do you have any idea what you might have spent on food per week? Did you eat out once a day? I'm trying to put together some kind of budget for a 2 wk. trip. Again, I'm enjoying your report immensely....your photos are creative and tell the story so well of bella Venezia.

Years ago an Italian friend explained syllable breaks very simply for me: With only one consonant, break the syllable after the vowel; with two consonants, break between the consonants.

By the way, our discussion of syllables began when I asked the Italian word for "tassel"--

nappa (NAHP-pah) is a tassel

napa (NAH-pah) might refer to the same cabbage we know.

I'm not sure if there are other examples that might cause the same confusion.

marisylvia - did you take empty wine bottles or water bottles to the wine bar to fill up?

RSTravellers, We spent nine weeks in Venice last Christmas, and this is what I wrote about food costs:
I know I keep banging on about food, but one does have to eat three times a day, approx. I’d expected fresh food to be expensive (I’m not sure why I expected this, but there you go). So I thought a list of things would be good.
Wine – you can buy drinkable wine for 4 Euro a bottle, and it will be better than Australian generic wine – Jacob’s Creek, for example. Spirits – vodka, Baileys, etc – are about Euro 10.00 a bottle.
Meat – Red meat is expensive. Good quality minced beef plus pork is Euro 9.90 a kilo. It makes good ragu for spag Bol, and is good value.
Here’s an interesting one – chicken livers are about Euro 6.90 a kilo, indicating that they are not treated as awful offal, as they are in Aus.
Chicken breast fillet – say Euro 7.00 a kilo, which is about AUD 14.00 – almost the same as in Melbourne.
Bread – Euro 3.20 per kilo, and it is sold by weight.
Mussels – about 3.00 a kilo, but more exotic crustacea cost more – and are worth every cent. Razor clams are excellent, 12.00 a kilo, and are live.
Can’t comment on eel.
Tripe costs more than chicken – what we Aussies see as un-saleable, Venetians see as special.
Glass of wine and a little roll, a panini, about 4.50, taken at the bar.
Vegetables are about the same as in Melbourne, except for exotics. Potatoes and carrots – two Euro a kilo, tomatoes 3.50, radiccio 3.90, parsley thrown in for free. All in all, we find that we are spending not much more on food than we would in Melbourne.
Coffee and croissant – costs Euro 2.10, taken at the bar at our local. Expect to pay 3.40 if you want to have a table. But just a coffee at the Bar Americano at San Marco will set you back 2.00. It all depends on location – or maybe they think that Americans are loaded. If you want a coffee to go, drink it at the bar quickly, unless you come from an adjacent shop or gondola, in which case take cup, saucer and all.

Eating out is not a killer. We ate well last night – a shared entree, plus two main courses (we both had the pork shank) plus a shared dessert and bottle of wine – 65 Euro, including service, bread, tablecloth. The same meal in Melbourne would cost AUD 120, so it seems good value. A five Euro tip seemed completely justified.

We're planning a return visit in 18 months, and budgeting 120 Euro per day for everything, except for rental. That will cover the costs amply.

Going briefly back to our discussion of double consonants in Italian: ellenem gave some example of word pairs that are distinguished only by a double consonant, and wondered if there are a lot of those. Indeed, there are. This web page gives a bunch:

http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa082703a.htm

There are also web sites where you can hear the pronunciations, which is the best way to understand how they sound. Here's an example:

http://www.geocities.com/f_pollett/i-1-4.htm

Gosh, Peter_S_Aus, thanks so much for taking the time to post all the good info.! It does give me a much better idea as to the cost of food. We would want to frequent the fresh food markets often for fruits & veg. DH would love the mussels and clams, but I'm with you Aussies when it comes to tripe. I'm steering clear of that "delicacy", and I use the term loosely. I assume cheese, prosciutto, and baked goods are also a good value. This is probably a silly question, but I've never grocery shopped in Italy....are dairy products readily available? As far as eating out, we have learned sharing is definitely the way to go. Thanks again, Peter, and, marisylvia, I would really appreciate your input on this subject.

Interesting comment re dairy products. We bought all sorts, and the range is huge - much bigger than in Aus. I think you would find less "fat free" cheese than in the USA or Aus, as the Italians think that cheese is meant to have a high fat content.

Bread is excellent, real "staff of life" stuff, and fresh pasta is common and excellent. Meat and poultry is sold differently. In Aus, we are used to buying say a tray of chicken drumsticks, or thigh fillets, and in Venice, you are more likely to find the whole fowl. So buy the fowl, and make chicken stock for rissotto. There are rabbit, game birds, duck, and even horse (which we did not try).

I wrote a rather long sort of trip report with considerable useless info - you'd find it if you click on my name. I should have titled it "Two Australians blunder around Venice".

For what it's worth, here's where we stayed. http://realvenicevacationflats.com/ We had the second floor apartment, so you can visualise me sitting in the little alcove beside the unused fireplace writing about our time in Venice. The apartment worked well. It's not particularly luxurious, but we liked the location and the kitchen was well equiped - even better equipped when we left, because we bought a few bits and pieces that stayed when we left. If you chose to stay there, a piece of advice. Take a decent kitchen knife or two - that was the only thing lacking in the kitchen.

Very interesting

hi, RST,

although we were only in venice for a week, we ate in quite a lot as we had our [quite large] kids with us. mainly we bought breakfast type stuff, cornetti [croissants] bread, [our owner recommended one the other side of the rialto though we preferred one our side of the bridge] milk, eggs, but for easter sunday, we bought some lamb, potatoes [the seller asked if they were to roast or boil to make sure we got the right ones] and asparagus, plus fruit of course. all lovely, and great fun buying it. they are used to tourists pointing, and are very patient, all things considered.

a useful phrase to know is "un etto" meaning 100 grs or about 4ozs. so "due etti" will get you 1/2 lb of cheese, or prosciutto. "un mezzo kilo" will get you about a lb of apples [mele] or tomatoes [pomodori] and "un kilo" will get you a lot of potatoes!!

regards, ann

Hi RST,

John and I ate all our breakfasts and dinners in the apartement, except for the wine tasting evening. I saw Peter's informative post, which you should find helpful.

John and I do not eat meat or fowl, but enjoyed the excellent seafood in Venice at lunchtime. We would alternate between pizza lunches, a huge pie for 6 to 16 euros, generally around 10 or so, big enough to split, which is often done. We would get a half liter of wine for 3-5 euros, and a bottle of mineral water for 2-3 euros. We would splurge maybe twice a week at a fancier restaurant, really splurge--maybe 150 euros, as we weren't spending on any other eating out, and it was worth it. There are some fine restaurants in Venice.

Our biggest food expenditure was strawberries for our cereal, we went to the food stalls in Cannaregio, and they were 4-6 euros for a basket. Fresh asparagus was in season, and it was a bit pricey, but worth it, comparable to what you'd pay here.

I did really simple dinners, mainly a big salad (we had to buy a big enough bowl for this, which we took home with us) and pasta. We found great butter lettuces, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes at the markets, not very expenive. I found good frozen ravioli at Billa, but then enjoyed some of the great dried truffle, porcini, spinach or red pepper fettucini available at speciality shops, which I would serve with garlic sauteed in either butter or good olive oil, with freshly grated parmesano reggiano. I also found frozen minestrone soup at Billa, and added canned beans and seasonings for a great soup. Also at Billa are small bottles of olive oil with truffles and other seasonings, very reasonable compared to here, which worked well to drizzle lightly on the cooked pasta.

I agree with everyone about the breads, too. And I bought some lovely butter, too, which lasted a long time in the fridge.

I also agree about the knives if you're renting an apartment. Bring your own in your checked bag.

I found that food in Venice markets was comparable in price to what we pay here. If you rent an apartment, you can definitely have a reasonably priced vacation in Venice. Plan ahead, too, on things like the Museum Card, which you can order online. We also got the iMob vaporetto card, which really saved us a lot for the month. We walked a lot, but found the vaporetto such fun.

We paid 2,800 euros for a month in our apartment, and I'd recommend it (I gave the link at the start of the trip report) if you don't mind sleeping on a really hard mattress. I have a Dux bed at home, and I am used to a supportive (not soft) mattress. The location is great, and it is a good size, plus we enjoyed the view of the Fondamenta. We saw Yvonne T.'s apartment too, and her rent was less than ours. No view, but comfortable, and with a workable kitchen. I'm sure she'd give you the link for it if you ask.

SCFoodie, we didn't think to bring a water bottle; it would be great for prosecco, as someone recommended. We drank the prefectly good tap water at the apartment. The guy at the enoteca is adept at putting the cork back in your wine bottle. House wine in Venice is always a good deal at restaurants, too.

I hope this information will help you to take your trip to this amazing, fascinating, enchanting place, like nowhere else in the world. Good luck!

marisylvia - thanks again for the info on the house wine / bottles. We are booked for a week in Venice in November and that particular wine bar is only a few minutes walk from where we are staying. And I agree about the house wine in the cafes/restaurants. We always ordered it and found it yummy and inexpensive. I am so looking forward to enjoying it again!

I am loving your trip report and photos!

Peter, annhig, & marisylvia, thank you, thank you for all the great info.! You gave me exactly what I was looking for and, annhig thanks for the phrases....always very good to know for first-time market shoppers. The asparagus sounds wonderful...one of my favorite foods. Peter, your apt. appears quite acceptable, but I'm also drawn to yours, marisylvia. I love the 2 balconies overlooking the canals. And, marisylvia thank you for such helpful details. I've been anxious to learn what routine you & John had as far as food preparation and making food purchases. I'm also a fan of fruit & cereal. I would have to buy those strawberries no matter what the cost! Well, I probably couldn't pass up the asparagus either for that matter. Hmmm, frozen minestrone...didn't imagine that, but definitely appealing. I can tell the two of you ate well during your month in Venice. I'm officially very psyched for a return trip and I appreciate your good wishes.

Hi SCFoodie and RSTravelers,

I'm glad the information was helpful. Isn't this a great community?

SCF, you must be near the Accademia. We stayed near there the first trip, and love the area. Good for you.

RST, I think Casa Allegra is a good deal overall. Renato, our host, lives in Rome, but his sister, Allegra (it had been her apartment) lives in Venice, and is available for emergencies. Renato is very responsive by email. He is an art photographer, well known, and is the son of an Irish painter who settled in Venice. His father's paintings are in the apartment. Renato is very proud of the apartment; I think you can tell from his description on the website. I mention his parentage because his English is excellent, probably better than most Americans'.

We enjoyed the French doors with balconies, but I'll warn you that it's hard for two people to enjoy the view at the same time, as they are rather narrow windows, and there is absolutely no way you can put a chair on the balcony--it's really a window with a railing across. We appreciated having the small second bedroom to put our our suitcases, and there's a metal bookshelf which was helpful, too. The clothes storage in the main bedroom was more than adequate for hanging and putting clothes in drawers. There is an ethernet DSL connection on a table in the living room. There's a TV there too, I tried to turn it on once and got no picture, but I didn't really care. I liked the eat in kitchen; the gas stove is very good. The fridge is small, no freezer. I tried to use the oven once, to make a stuffed pepper recipe Yvonne T. sent me, and I turned on the broiler instead of the oven (!!!). John noticed something was burning, and they were actually OK, a little singed on top, but I'm glad I'd put them on a lower shelf. I found the oven setting difficult to understand, even after finding the manual. It's not in Fahrenheit, that's for sure.

We loved the location. As I mentioned, the Billa is nearby, but so is the Cannaregio market, and the Rialto market, the creme de la creme, isn't far, either. There's a traghetto, great fun and only a half euro to cross, at S. Marcuolo.

If you stay at Casa Allegra, you'll have me to thank for the spiffy wheeled cart in the apartment. I think such a cart is a necessity in Venice, even more than other European cities. We also left an attractive caffe press, as we like "regular" coffee rather than espresso with breakfast, and enjoy espresso at lunch.

Speaking of cereal, when we're in Europe we enjoy Nestle's Fitness flakes. They are whole wheat, and available throughout Europe.

As for the strawberries and asparagus, those were in season when we were there, also the small artichokes. We have found that you can get very good produce in Venice. You'll have fun in the Billa market, especially if you follow the advice about labeling your produce. I also suggest bringing your own bags or have the wheeled cart. You do your own bagging, and it goes very fast. You'll be asked in Italian if you need a borsa (bag) or have a Billa card, and it's nice that they'll understand if you say "No".

Oh my, if only we could return soon!

We have used our empty 21-inch roller suitcases as wheeled shopping carts for groceries.

In addition to a good knife, we also bring a small ice cube tray.

Excellent report, marisylvia!

Hi Swisshiker,

Thanks for the compliment.

I know what you mean about the ice cube tray. We've had to buy them in various European apartments. In Casa Allegra, however, there was no ice making possibility. Fridge only.

marisylvia - if you click on my name/profile you'll see that the photo is of me standing in front of the wine bar you've been writing about.

Thanks again for your reply, marisylvia. You're the best! You always give such good info with very helpful details. I'm quite enthused about your apt. I've been on the website at least 3 times. It does look like a good value especially compared to other 2 bedroom apts. I've checked out. I definitely like the location and as far as the "balconies", it's apples or oranges, window or balcony....if I'm in Venice and I can stand looking out over canals, I'm a happy camper. The wheeled cart would be nice to have since I was wondering if one should bring their own bags....and DH would be thankful for the caffe press. I'm with you, who cares about TV....I mean it's VENICE after all. I can just picture us shopping in the markets. I would love it. I'm even envisioning purchasing some fresh flowers for the apt. I've always wanted to buy some, but maybe there won't be a practical container in the apt.

I had to chuckle at your little goof-up with the oven...what the heck, some singe never hurt anyone. I'm sure it is very common to have some difficulties when renting an apt. in another country. I've heard stories about struggles with foreign washers/dryers.

Very interesting to have some history on Renato. And, his father's artwork is in the apt....how special. It is always so nice to know a little background on a place where we might stay. I'm wishing for you & John to return to Venice. If not soon, then maybe later. I'm determined to return, hopefully next year. A dream of mine is to take adult DS sometime and show him "my" Venice.

swisshiker, thanks for the ice cube tray tip. I hadn't thought of that so good to know.

I've been away for quite a while. There was a lot to catch up on. I'd like to enter the Italian pronunciation debate, especially with regard to the double consonants. Can anybody pronounce 'cappuccino' so that the double consonants are clear? Thirty years ago my wife and I were in Sorrento. We didn't have a map and we were looking for Piazza Tasso (named after their famous poet), one of the main squares in Sorrento. We asked several people who looked like natives, but they all looked blankly at us. Eventually we asked one chap, "Dov'é Piazza Tasso?" He thought for a few moments, then he beamed, "Ah! Piazza Tas-so" and gave us directions. We had been saying "Ta-so" (with a sibilant 's', but only one)! I can't stand it when people pronounce 'machismo' as if it were an Italian word. 'Bruschetta' (already mentioned by Justretired) is another. And what about the way most people pronounce 'lingerie' - as if it were 'longerée'. Three chefs on a UK cookery programme pronounced 'tagliatelle' as 'tag-lee-a-tell-ay'. And yet nobody has a problem with 'Puglia' or 'lasagne' (not quite the same thing, I know), do they? Two words that can be confused are 'anno' (year) and 'ano' (look it up). If you want to ask how old somebody is you say, "Quanti anni hai?" (Literally, 'how many years do you have?') Do not ask, "Quanti ani hai?"!
I'm enjoying the trip report and the photos.

I haven't done photo sharing before, so I don't know if it has worked. I've put 5 photos into a Google web album, and made them 'public'. This is the address: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/grabagrannie/Venice200909#
I'd be grateful if anyone would try to see them, and let me know if it has worked. I'll post some more, on a new posting of my own, if it has. I took about 400 decent photos, so it may take some time.

I got the year wrong (2008, not 2009) so I tried to change the titel of the album. When that didn't work. I made a new album: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/grabagrannie/200809Venice#

You might have to right-click, then 'open link in new window'.

Bert4545, very nice photos....always great to see my favorite city....love the lion.

marisylvia, Where are you? You are missed. I hope you're coming back with more fun stories of your month in Venice...no pressure, though, but we're waiting.

Hi, Bert4545. I had no problem seeing your photos. I like that lion.

You can certainly right click, and choose "open link in new window" or "open link in new tab" - that works.

Techie stuff: Or you can just left-click, but then what will happen depends on your browser and your browser settings, because Fodor's uses a [target="_new"] attribute in the hyperlink to picasa. In my case, it opens each time in a new tab, because I use the Mozilla Firefox browser, with the setting

tools >> options >> tabs >> "New pages should be opened in"

set to "a new tab".

But if I use Internet Explorer and I left click, your pictures open in the same window, replacing the Fodor's thread (you can always click "back").

But in any event, it works, and I can see the pictures. Play around to find what it does in your own setup.

Larry

Hi, Bert4545

Yes, I could see the photos easily with just a left click on the link. And, thank you for the view down "my" Calle Groppi. I had an apartment there, and met marisylvia and her husband .. lovely people they are!!

Wow! What a coincidence about Calle Groppi! The reason I was there was that I like to find places that are used in films (and photos in books that are not explicitly labelled to tell you where they are). Calle Groppi was featured in "Italian for Beginners". It is where a male and female character, having fallen in love, find a discarded folding bed, and decide to make "use" of it. In the film, the sign that says "Sotoportego Groppi" either was painted over, or was not there at the time the film was made, so it was not so easy to find.
Thanks for the compliment, Justretired. And for the tekkie stuff. Do you want to know where the lion is, or do you know? You would only be human in wanting to know! [There is a clue in that sentence.]

Here's something I just received from a Venetian friend of mine:
Cicchetto in Italian mainly means a nip [e.g. of brandy - bert4545] or a telling-off. Also the drop of fuel you would push in the carburator pressing the small button in the old motorbike engines, and that button itself.
Venetian is "cicheto" and means our typical pub-snacks. Something small, anyway.
So annhig was right, if we are using Venetian (Go, Ann!). Of course, Justretired was right too, in Italian.
Here's what my friend had to say about 'parecio':
"Parecio" means "set up" in Venetian language and yes it represents the furnitures and ornaments of a gondola (or any other Venetian boat). The seats, pillows, horses, arm holders, carpets ASO. In Italian it would be told "mobili e addobbi" or "" in nautical slang.
I don't know what he meant to put between the last pair of inverted commas.

Well, Bert4545, I didn't see any of the action as described above, in "my" calle. Maybe I was not looking at the right time?? I'll just have to rent that movie now. And, please, where is that winsome lion?

Yvonne T, the film was in Danish with subtitles - but I guess you would know that with a few clicks on Google. Only the last 10 minutes are in Venice, but it's worth waiting for. It has three or four love stories running concurrently. I think it's a really sweet film. There's a beautiful young Italian woman in it. This Danish guy (very shy) falls in love with her, and she with him. There is a lovely scene on the Fondamenta della Misericordia (if my memory is correct). He proposes to her, she says I'll have to think about it and walks around the corner. She comes back instantly and says 'Yes'. (I hope that doesn't spoil it for you.) I'll wait a while about the lion, if you don't mind - someone might get it from the clue - or you can email me (click on my 'name') and I'll tell you.

I've posted a new album on Google:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/grabagrannie/BertSVenice#
There are captions with most of them.

Hey, Yvonne, you're a lovely one yourself!

Thanks, RST--I thought there wasn't any more interest in my trip report. I don't want to be a bore! I also might take a break and do a trip report on my visit to Berlin in March, then perhaps return refreshed to Venice. I think Berlin is a fascinating place, not visually stunning like Venice, but I got some good pictures, and had a thought provoking as well as enjoyable visit.

I loved your photos, Bert. You raise an interesting point about having people in your pictures. It's obvious I'm a people watcher, and love to snap pictures which I think show people whose image makes a comment on what's going on. I have tried to be aware of privacy, and hope I haven't been invasive. If I see a young guy slouching by a doorway, looking as if he's the essence of coolness, I'm interested and amused, and want to share that. If I see a woman with neon magenta hair, I think she's making a statement with it. I was pleased to find people on a bridge which to me showed tourists "doing their thing", taking pictures, sitting on a step looking at a map, etc.

I'd like to get comments on this issue....

I haven't usually worried about pictures of people in public places, as long as I'm not selling them for money (the pictures, not the people).

It also doesn't seem to bother Fodor's poster kerouac. See his photos of tourists (and a pickpocket is also included) at:

http://tinyurl.com/qo9v8a

A Fodor's thread with a long discussion of these photos can be found at:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/how-to-look-like-a-tourist-in-paris.cfm

Larry

Thanks for the links, Larry. Funny pictures! And I signed up at Any Port in a Storm, too.

Larry, I couldn't find the pickpocket one. Can you point it out somehow?
My wife hates the way I'll wait 5 or 10 minutes to get a shot of something with no people in the way. Sometimes it seems as though someone has it in for me, as one person exits stage right, someone else enters stage left. I know I'm never going to get a shot of St Mark's with nobody in the way, but, as long as they are small enough, that's OK. But the worst thing (for me) is to get someone wearing red in the picture. You know how red is an 'advancing' colour? With someone in red in your picture, your eye goes straight to that person. I just generally do not take pictures of people - they move about so much. Unless they are doing something unusual or interesting - which is usually over by the time the camera has come to life - I don't take photographs of people. I mean, would you fill your photograph album with photos of tourists as taken by kerouac? Just occasionally I've been so wrong to eliminate people. In Naples museum, I waited for a clear shot of the colossal statue of Hercules. When I got the print back, I realised a few random people would have given an idea of just how colossal the statue was.
There are 51 photos now.

The pickpocket is the guy alone in a photo, with an orange polo shirt and a sweatshirt wrapped around his waist. He's identified towards the bottom of kerouac's thread.

Oh, I see! There's no way to identify him then. I mean, there isn't a photo of him actually in the act. It seems a bit unfair of kerouac to ask us to see if we can identify him, and I cannot for the life of me see how bixaorellana could have identified him correctly (but we don't know if she was right). I hadn't read the thread - I expected to see a photo of someone with his hand in someone's bag or pocket. The only one like that is a couple holding hands, and the woman has one hand in her partner's back pocket.

Argh!! Bert4545, Hotmail has decided I've sent enough mail for the next 24 hours; I'm "cut off!" So, I'll just have to wait for someone clever to identify that lion. Life is so tough.
Yvonne

bookmarking

Oh, man, have any of you stumbled across this site re: Venice?? http://www.museumplanet.com/location.php/venice

And, it's all due to Bert4545 and his tantalising clue.
It's another square bottom night coming up!!

Yvonne

YvonneT - That's a great website! Thank you for posting it.

marisylvia, I for one have been still very interested in your trip report. It has been a fun and enlightening read. As a matter of fact, I'll have to admit I've been checking everyday(sometimes twice a day)to see if you have added anymore. You write a good report and I enjoyed hearing of your adventures for a month in Venice. You are definitely not a bore! I can understand, though, if you might want to take a break. DH and I have been to Germany, but not Berlin so that could be an informative TR also.

I feel many times people add something to photos and like you, I love people watching. You never know what you will see, but I often hesitate to take the photos due to a fear of being "caught" and looked upon with distaste. I guess I need to either be more sneaky, or just use the zoom-in feature regularly. I have looked at our photos after the fact and thought on occasion a person or two would have added interest to the situation. I encourage you along the way to keep taking those shots of unique people.

WOW! I discovered this exciting thread yesterday afternoon and couldn't stop reading! I finally made myself go to bed last night after reading a portion of it and was right back at it this morning. I have now just come to the end. The discussions and references were wonderful. I'm excited to have finished the storyline and also sad that I have reached the end. You tell your story so well Marisylvia! The details and the photos. Plus all of the participants volunteering great info. I was never sure about going to Venice before, but I sure am now. And the concern about apts is gone too after your great testimonies. This was just great!!! Thanks all.

I do have a question. Is there a way to tag or bookmark people on here so that when they start a new thread, you are notified of it? {I want to read Marisylvia's thread on Berlin when she does it!} I just became a member on Saturday, June 6th, so I haven't done much exploring of the site yet. {Too busy reading this great storyline!}

Gary

No way to tag a person. Now that you have this thread in you profile list of threads to which you have responded, you can find it more easily and click on Marisylvia's screen name. You'll get her profile page and see all her trip reports.

Thank you ellenem!

Hi Yvonne, thanks for the great link. I clicked on San Marziale, our "church next door".

RST, thanks for the encouragement on the photos. Venice is so interesting to photograph, but great photographers have already been there, so I like to get shots of people reacting or interacting or socializing, as I think they add life to the setting. I find I can be sneaky with my little camera, using its screen without looking at it. Sometimes I can tell people know what I'm doing, but hey, so what. When I do the scene near San Polo, no one is aware of me sitting at a table. I asked the shopkeepers if I could take their picture, and having their image to look at now brings back happy memories, just as wearing my Murano jewelry does.

Distantshores, thanks so much for your compliments. Your interest inspires me to continue with the trip report. I'd felt interest had fizzled, and I didn't want to talk to an empty room.

It's wonderful being able to share one's travel experiences, and getting a positive response. It certainly enhances what I've experienced to feel others are on my wavelength.

<<Venetian is "cicheto" and means our typical pub-snacks. Something small, anyway.
So annhig was right, if we are using Venetian (Go, Ann!). Of course, Justretired was right too, in Italian.>>

thanks Bert - that's music to my ears. seriously, I was fascinated by the differing names on maps and street signs - you're lucky if you find them spelt the same way twice. in the UK we are far more standardised now, but years ago that wasn't the case, as in the well-known old story about Shakespear having spell his name 5 different ways. i like the way that the venitians maintain their culture by these idiosyncracies of spelling, and food. "cichetti" sounds just so much more appetising than "sandwiches", and a "sottoportege" is much more romantic than a doorway.

though thinking about it, down here in cornwall we have "opes" [meaning narrow streets] and in Truro there is a "squeeze-guts alley" which is pretty graphic.

regards, ann

The Venetians don't seem to go in for double consonants as much as the Italians do, Ann. So they have Vechio (not Vecchio). 'Sottoportico' is Italian, but in Venice it's a 'sotoportego'. [You seem to have mixed up the two words.] Cicheti are much more than just sandwiches, though sandwiches may be cicheti (I suppose). But I'd've thought 'panini' would be more or less the same as sandwiches. You do see the word 'sandwichs' (sic). It's 'Fondamenta del Gaffaro' at one end, 'Fondamenta del Gafaro' at the other. There are only six known examples of Shakespeare's signature (and some say that some of these would have actually been written by a clerk). All six spellings are different (allegedly), though they are indicipherable to me. There are over 20 different spellings of his name in literary and non-literary sources, though several of these are obviously (IMO) abbreviations.

Bert, i bow to your superior knowledge, and better spelling.

on which subject, I foam at the mouth at "panini's", which is what we see here a lot now.

or "pizza's" in Aus. The apostrophe rides rampant!

Annhig, is your lack of capital letters a sign that you are exploring your inner james joyce?

Marisylvia, I check daily for your updates. My interest has not fizzled!

My interest and enthusiasm is still very much alive also!....even with the major hijacking of your thread. Don't get discouraged, as there are those of us out there who really enjoyed your Venice report and look forward to more.

no, peter, it's a sign that I'm a lazy ..

regards, ann

bfrac and RST, thanks so much for the encouragement. I have thought there was waning interest in the trip report, which stalled my impetus to work on it.

I have been distracted recently. Tomorrow I'm having a birthday party for John, and then I have to get my act together for my return to Germany on 6/17. I'm dithering about things like whether to put my laptop in my bigger bag and not check it or put it in the smaller wheeled briefcase and check the bigger bag. I'll be taking trains in Germany, and it's a hassle to haul two bags up the train steps, but it's also a pain to haul a bigger bag through the airport, and have to deal with the liquids baloney. I won't know until Wednesday morning, I think. Arrghhhh!

Happy Birthday to John and best wishes for a good day!

I don't take a laptop when we travel, but it still turns out to be a hassle....just figuring out everything to take,(I still wind up w/ too much),what goes in the carry-on, what should be in the checked bag, then there's my purse, etc. And, you are so right, marisylvia it IS a pain to lug a big bag through the airport, and we quickly learned to cut down on the bags when doing trains. That was a hard learned lesson when we took trains for the first time in Switzerland. So, I do sympathize. Just know that it will all work out eventually and you will be on your way. Are you going alone to Germany? Have a nice trip, eat some gulasch suppe & apfel strudel for me, and safe travels.

No waning here, just raining.

Love your report! I know it's Venice, but 2800 Euros is a lot of money and we would expect everything to work well including the tv!

Hello, "marisylvia"

If you're reading this, please contact me by e-mail. I'm worried, because I haven't heard from you for awhile.

Casa Allegra no longer meets the standards described above.
Casa Allegra is a two-bedroom flat in Venice, described by the owners, Allegra and Renato Groome as “very clean” and their web pictures portray a well-furnished and impressive unit. The reality does not match their descriptions. We arrived in June 2010 to find the front sections of the building under construction, wrapped in protective covering with construction walls surrounding the entrance with workers in dust masks. We had to essentially “run a gauntlet” every time we entered or left the building. The actual entrances to each flat and the ventilation shaft to the bath and toilet rooms were not shrouded or protected in any manner. While the public was protected from the dust and construction noise, it was all focused inward toward the units in the building. Needless to say, it was not pleasant to cope with construction noise, dust and debris during our week at Casa Allegra. We were never notified in advance of this condition, nor given an option to rebook.
Secondly, the interior walls in every room have some unfinished or exposed portions around the doors or windows, such that small particles of material flake off when the doors or windows are opened or closed. The two bedrooms each have large areas, several square meters in each room, where the paint AND plaster are peeling and falling down, especially when they are touched by a person or suitcase. Some of these fallen pieces are 3-5 inches long. After two days, we found paint and plaster particles falling into our suitcases. The wide gaps in the flooring trap some particles (from the construction, from the exposed materials, from the paint and plaster) and then they get on your feet and are tracked all over and into the beds. It was like camping outdoors, but with potentially toxic building materials around us!
Thirdly, the shower stall has black mould and mildew, which I specifically inquired about, and was assured there was no mold and that everything was “very clean”. It was not clean by anyone’s standards.
The actions by the owners in this case are fraudulent and dishonest and they are unwilling to acknowledge any shortcomings or deficiencies. I recommend that you do not consider staying in Casa Allegra until these defects are repaired.

hi sugarloafer,

sorry to read that you had such a negative experience. did you book direct or through an agency? did you pay the entire hire-charge in advance, or pay some when you got there? Was there anyone there for you to complain to?

I just revisited this trip report because a good friend is leaving for Venice and I thought she'd enjoy the very interesting and amusing comments from others as well as the report. I'm sorry I abandoned the project. I got distracted and basically out of kilter and lost the momentum I'd had. I need to find a better way to post photos. I want to do a trip report on Germany, but I've had other activities to deal with in the interim.
Sugarloafer, I'm so sorry you had such an awful experience at Casa Allegra! I know what you mean about some of the wood being odd; someone went overboard with knotty pine there. It was clean and in good repair when we were there. There was work being done in the adjoining campiello, where they were replacing pipes, but nothing was happening which affected us. It's such a horror story to be in away from home, stuck in a situation like that. I'd found Renato very responsive to emails, but I was disappointed that I had to buy the caffe presse; however, he did shell out for the wheeled cart.
I feel I owe an apology to all who encouraged me so on this report. I think I'm feeling a bit low about it because John has been able to take only a week off this year due to work demands. He is working with a team on deadlines, and there is no one else who he can ask to fill in for him. We also have to plan for when he retires, whenever that is, and that will affect our ability to travel. We'll have to protect our nest egg--that is today's reality of IRA and 401k instead of pension.
However, I have no complaints in that I already live in an area with plenty to see and do, with a splendid climate. I have no right to cry in my beer, or vino, or Sapphire martini.
Sorry to be such a copout--I'll give it another try, maybe Germany, which was a revelation. I also have to put in some time on trying to get DVDs made of my talented 15 year old granddaughter, who takes classes at Berkeley Repertory Company's Youth Theater. She gave a knockout performance as Judas in "Jesus Christ, Superstar". I have to work on it in iMovie, which takes a lot of tweaking. I could kick myself, as I had to change cards in the middle of one of the most fraught scenes with Judas, Jesus and Mary Magdelene. Sorry for the digression, but I feel I have friends on this site who I left hanging, and I want to explain what I've been up to.

marisylvia: I've just re-read your report and am glad it came back up, because I never did explain the "Taconictraveler" name.

First: I live near the Taconic Parkway, which goes straight up the middle of Putnam and Dutchess and Columbia Counties in the Hudson Valley.

There once were the Taghanic Indians, and there is a park up in Columbia County by that name.

I use that handle, as I also write amateur travel articles for various local weeklies - Usually my column is "Taconic Traveler" but sometimes "Going My Way," and also "Travel Texts." I've mostly stopped doing that, although I have a huge collection of those articles which can be found at "shequine.com/travel." Some are sort of old, but they have dates, so you can take them for what they are worth.

Your report was well worth reading twice!!

Yay! Good to see you back in print, marisylvia. Sounds like life has been keeping you well and truly occupied.

How proud you must be of your granddaughter; imagine playing Judas at that age! Or any age, for that matter.

I was back to Venice for 5 weeks earlier this year, and stayed at the same apartment. Had COLD weather (below zero, and snow .. made my tropical blood sit up and take notice.) And, I'm going back next March. I'll say hello to the lads who were at La Fondamenta .. they've moved to La Diana.

Ciao, bella.

Thanks for the explanation, Taconictraveler. And thanks for the good words about my trip report. I realize I had some momentum going which got interrupted, and I never went back. I'm not sure when we'll return to Europe. Just a bit of sadness there, although the memories are to be treasured.

Hi Yvonne,

I'm sure snow didn't slow you down at all. It must have been beautiful. Your apartment was a good deal, I can see why you returned to it. It's such a great location. If we ever return to Venice, based on Sugarloafer's comments, I think we'll look for another apartment. I felt terrible reading about her experience there, it was so different from ours. I realized Renato could be quirky, but they should never have rented it in that condition.