Here is the start of trip report to Italy from plmn..."My Travels with Mom & Dad"
Nov 18th, 2004, 02:46 AM
#322
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DH has a rough road ahead. Specialist appointment Monday. Looks like Stenosis of the lumbar spine area and herniated discs. Stenosis is is very hereditary and his dad recently had surgery for it.
On top of my DH having problems, my sister has had a serious set back in her own medical situation that I was informed of on my cell phone in my car on the way back from the Dr. Perfect timing
Doesn't look like I will be traveling any where for a looong time. Plenty of time for the collection. I was thinking if I didn't go back to Italy what about Spain and France?
You know something? At one time the thought of going to those countries would have excited me. Now, I'd really just like to get back to Italy
I really need to post some trip info today. It is Lubavitch abduction day!
TODAY, I SWEAR...but don't look for it until after 6PM.
On top of my DH having problems, my sister has had a serious set back in her own medical situation that I was informed of on my cell phone in my car on the way back from the Dr. Perfect timing
Doesn't look like I will be traveling any where for a looong time. Plenty of time for the collection. I was thinking if I didn't go back to Italy what about Spain and France?
You know something? At one time the thought of going to those countries would have excited me. Now, I'd really just like to get back to Italy
I really need to post some trip info today. It is Lubavitch abduction day!
TODAY, I SWEAR...but don't look for it until after 6PM.
Nov 18th, 2004, 01:31 PM
#324
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PLMN - I started to read your thread at work and love it...so far. I keep getting distracted because of work, then have to start from the beginning again. I have printed it out. 81 pages in case anyone is interested. I am sure it's going to be a very amusing read.
Thank you
Thank you
Nov 18th, 2004, 03:43 PM
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Hi PLMN, I just wanted to say firstly that I hope your husband and sister are ok.
I never usually read these trip reports as I find they either bore me senseless (so pedestrian), or they make me so jealous that I turn green with envy. But I am thoroughly enjoying this one. Just the right mix of drama, adventure and comic relief!!
I too have spent time in that little police station at Venice station after my daypack was stolen on the train from Rome. The police that attended to me were very nice and the young policewoman and I had a hoot of a time trying to converse with an Italian/English dictionary. We got it together though!! They didn't find my stuff, but a month after I got home my pre-addressed, though not stamped, postcards which were in the pack all started turning up at the recipient's addresses (some kind soul had found them and stamped them and posted them on for me).
Anyway, keep up the good work, shame it has to finish sometime!!
I never usually read these trip reports as I find they either bore me senseless (so pedestrian), or they make me so jealous that I turn green with envy. But I am thoroughly enjoying this one. Just the right mix of drama, adventure and comic relief!!
I too have spent time in that little police station at Venice station after my daypack was stolen on the train from Rome. The police that attended to me were very nice and the young policewoman and I had a hoot of a time trying to converse with an Italian/English dictionary. We got it together though!! They didn't find my stuff, but a month after I got home my pre-addressed, though not stamped, postcards which were in the pack all started turning up at the recipient's addresses (some kind soul had found them and stamped them and posted them on for me).
Anyway, keep up the good work, shame it has to finish sometime!!
Nov 18th, 2004, 04:07 PM
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I can't figure it out. I have pics of myself with my mother AND father in Piazza San Marco. Yet my notes say that dad and I walked to the Piazza from the B&B so I'm not sure when my mother, father and I were there during our time in Venice. Also, I distinctly remember a stop at a phone card stand to buy more minutes for my phone and my mother decided it might be a good idea to buy a card she could use in the pay phones if need be. Especially since she would be off on her own and not have the use of my cell phone. Oh, well. The story continues:
We walked towards Piazza San Marco. Dad had a copy of an email that a friend had sent with the name of a couple that my dad was supposed to look up. The first names and phone number were listed, but not the name of the shop, only that it was a cameo shop in the Piazza San Marco. Of course the first thing I did was call the phone number. But an answering machine picked up and of course the message was in Italian and I couldn't understand it. My father insisted that we try to find these people although I knew it would be pretty much a miracle if we did locate them because as it turns out THE PIAZZA SAN MARCO AREA IS LOADED WITH SHOPS THAT SELL CAMEOS! There are many types of establishments in this area. Camera shops, money exchanges, restaurants. It seemed like most of these places sold cameos. My dad had me go into what seemed like nearly everyone of them asking the workers if they had ever heard of the people in the email. The majority of the people I spoke to looked at me as if I were crazy, which is exactly what I was starting to feel like, nuts. For a while I was willing to continue searching for the friends of the friends because I felt sorry for my father, he looked like a sad little kid. Eventually though, even my father had had enough of the search and we gave up. I sure wish I had been able to look at the cameos that were for sale in some of these shops. I like cameos, I don't even have a clue what any of them were even going for in price.
Dad and I decided we were getting hungry. We didn't want a large meal because we wanted to save our appetites for that evening. A bit of tension developed over the choice of the place to grab a snack, and some words were exchanged. I did not want to go to a "touristy" place, and normally neither would my father. But remember, his "nose" for searching out and finding quality food is starting to dim. There were many restaurants to choose from, but my fatther wanted a certain kind and I had different ideas.
We walked up and down some streets off of the Piazza area and we saw a little corner food shop/lunch counter that was doing a brisk business. The sandwiches on display looked scrumptious so we decided to give it a try. It was pretty hectic and you had to stand your ground or you would be shoved aside. I purchased a paninni (?) type of sandwich. It was a bread of some type, almost like a pita with thinly sliced meat and cheese. I also purchased some of the fruit soda my father was becomming addicted to. The cost was only a few Euros.
We carried our purchases towards the Piazza San Marco and looked for a place to sit and eat. This was a good excuse for my dad to rest his legs. Just in front of us, up a few steps, there were these wooden looking stands with metal bar thingys laying on top and decided if we moved the bar things aside we could perch there. (It wasn't until much later in the trip, maybe even when we got home that we discovered these were parts of the famous "when it floods board walk!" We thought it was construction equipment.)
(www.worldisround.com/articles/86193/photo9.html)
The sandwich didn't taste as good as I had expected it would. It was dry and the thinly sliced meat was saltier than I would have liked with a VERY smokey flavor. However, this didn't bother me one bit because, hey, I didn't spend much on it and I WAS IN VENICE lounging on construction equipment with my dad.
After chowing down we needed to find the Amex office before we did anything else and it was supposed to be in the same area. It didn't take long to find and we only had to ask about a 1/2 dozen people.
Drat, my daughter needs the puter...by for now...
We walked towards Piazza San Marco. Dad had a copy of an email that a friend had sent with the name of a couple that my dad was supposed to look up. The first names and phone number were listed, but not the name of the shop, only that it was a cameo shop in the Piazza San Marco. Of course the first thing I did was call the phone number. But an answering machine picked up and of course the message was in Italian and I couldn't understand it. My father insisted that we try to find these people although I knew it would be pretty much a miracle if we did locate them because as it turns out THE PIAZZA SAN MARCO AREA IS LOADED WITH SHOPS THAT SELL CAMEOS! There are many types of establishments in this area. Camera shops, money exchanges, restaurants. It seemed like most of these places sold cameos. My dad had me go into what seemed like nearly everyone of them asking the workers if they had ever heard of the people in the email. The majority of the people I spoke to looked at me as if I were crazy, which is exactly what I was starting to feel like, nuts. For a while I was willing to continue searching for the friends of the friends because I felt sorry for my father, he looked like a sad little kid. Eventually though, even my father had had enough of the search and we gave up. I sure wish I had been able to look at the cameos that were for sale in some of these shops. I like cameos, I don't even have a clue what any of them were even going for in price.
Dad and I decided we were getting hungry. We didn't want a large meal because we wanted to save our appetites for that evening. A bit of tension developed over the choice of the place to grab a snack, and some words were exchanged. I did not want to go to a "touristy" place, and normally neither would my father. But remember, his "nose" for searching out and finding quality food is starting to dim. There were many restaurants to choose from, but my fatther wanted a certain kind and I had different ideas.
We walked up and down some streets off of the Piazza area and we saw a little corner food shop/lunch counter that was doing a brisk business. The sandwiches on display looked scrumptious so we decided to give it a try. It was pretty hectic and you had to stand your ground or you would be shoved aside. I purchased a paninni (?) type of sandwich. It was a bread of some type, almost like a pita with thinly sliced meat and cheese. I also purchased some of the fruit soda my father was becomming addicted to. The cost was only a few Euros.
We carried our purchases towards the Piazza San Marco and looked for a place to sit and eat. This was a good excuse for my dad to rest his legs. Just in front of us, up a few steps, there were these wooden looking stands with metal bar thingys laying on top and decided if we moved the bar things aside we could perch there. (It wasn't until much later in the trip, maybe even when we got home that we discovered these were parts of the famous "when it floods board walk!" We thought it was construction equipment.)
(www.worldisround.com/articles/86193/photo9.html)
The sandwich didn't taste as good as I had expected it would. It was dry and the thinly sliced meat was saltier than I would have liked with a VERY smokey flavor. However, this didn't bother me one bit because, hey, I didn't spend much on it and I WAS IN VENICE lounging on construction equipment with my dad.
After chowing down we needed to find the Amex office before we did anything else and it was supposed to be in the same area. It didn't take long to find and we only had to ask about a 1/2 dozen people.
Drat, my daughter needs the puter...by for now...
Nov 21st, 2004, 05:34 AM
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Sorry I haven't updated for a while. DH will be seeing specialist tomorrow (Monday.)
Now on with the report:
There was no line to speak of in the Amex office and a very nice English speaking lady helped us pick-up the new temporary Amex card. We told her that the Amex phone rep had told us that we would not be able to have a cash advance off the temporary card and the desk rep said she didn't believe that to be true. She did some checking and found and then said "how much would you like" and just like that dad had cash.
(It did turn out that there were a couple of places that dad tried to use the card and it would not process, but I'm not sure where that was. ADVICE: Don't have your original Amex Card go missing and expect that your new temp card will work in all situations.)
After leaving the Amex office dad and I decided we would make our way to the Jewish Ghetto. We asked at many places for directions but no one was quite sure how to get there. I decided to call Debbie and she said to take the vaparetto to Ca'D???. It was 5 Euros each, which is what all our rides sans luggage were.
When we got off the water bus we found out we still had a little bit of a walk. But it didn't matter because the surroundings were so beautiful and the weather was perfect. Dad really enjoyed the walk becuase he said the streets were wider. We paused by a statue in a little square so that I could call the counselate (sp?) to find out if there was anything we could or should do regarding the theft of dad's social security card and drivers license. They said to call back at 2 PM.
We continued on and we passed bakeries that had cheesecake in the windows! I had been asking at all the restaurants we had been dining at if they had cheesecake and none of them did. I like all styles of the stuff and since we were in Italy I thought I could try some authentic Italian style cheesecake and I hadn't been able to find ANY! One bakery had a sign with the price per slice of only 1.80 Euro and another had a sign showing 2.00 Euro per slice. Also, I think in Italy they call cheesecake, Torte Ricotta. For some stupid reason I didn't go in and buy any. I think I figured that since I had found that the cakes were known in Italy after all, I would be able to have some later. As it turns out I should have bought it while I had the chance because I couldn't find any again on the rest of the trip. I suppose if it were THAT important to me I might have found some, but just casually looking... it was a no go on the cheesecake.
We were pretty sure we were getting close, but just to be sure we asked another person. This person informed us that there was an Old ghetto and a New ghetto and that the New ghetto was the original ghetto and the Old ghetto was the newer ghetto. Yes, somewhat confusing I know and if you need clarification forget it becuase I'm not sure I understood the explanation myself. If some kind Fodorite knows what the Old vs. New Venice Jewish Ghetto explanation is, I'm open to hearing about it. (Ira?)
Up a street, over a bridge and there it was. Lovely, clean, open, bright, and quiet? Still a Jewish holiday. Boy oh boy, flunking out of Hebrew school has really not been to my advantage. As dad and I neared the wooden structure outside one of the buildings a young, I think he said 20 yrs old, Lubavitch man approached us. He was very nice and spoke perfect English, probably because he was from NY and had only been in Italy for a year. The young man invites my father inside the building to take part in the prayer service that is going on. Dad didn't want to go in. The young Lubavitch kept insisting that it would be a good thing for my father and I thought it was a wonderful idea myself. You know, special memory time. In Italy, in a Jewish Ghetto, Jewish holiday, your oldest daughter with you, getting on in years, yadah, yaddah, yaddah. So I insisted, I might have even pulled on my dad's arm. Finally dad consented and was led to prayer.
Since this was more on the Orthodox order of things I was not allowed to go into the area where the men were. But it was a small space, so I could still see my dad. He had been given a Yamukah (sp?) and a prayer shawl to wear. There were possibly as many as 15 men of varied ages in the men area. Some of the younger men were dressed in suits and the older men were dressed more in the style of the orthodox. Maybe 7 of them were on a raised stage type area, they had there arms draped over each others shoulders and were in full prayer chant. A very old white beareded Lubavitch to the right of the stage was trying to keep some semblence of order to the proceedings because in addition to the prayers there was socializing talking going on and the volume in the room would get quite loud.
At one point I caught a glimpse of my dad speaking with another man about dad's age and the man was dressed casually like my father. I over heard this man speaking to my father in English so I figure he must have been pulled in also.
There were chairs for the women set up inside the building just outside of the mens area. There were also tables laden with food and drinks. All kinds of Jewish foods that reminded me of the delights my father's mother would cook in the old days. I joined the ladies for a while in this area then walked outside and sat in a chair under the wood covering. I'm not sure if the wood covering was actually a Sukkoth or a special wood structure to cover the front of the building. There were two very young ladies sitting out here and I spoke with them for a little while. They were from New York and were traveling to various countries for vacation. They too were Jewish and soaking in some of the holiday celebrations.
Eventually my father made his getaway. He didn't seem too worse for wear and I told him I thought it was pretty neat that he took part. He said he was able to recall some of his knowledge of Hebrew from when he was a young boy so that he could say some of the prayers. To tell you the truth, I strongly believe that the only reason he went in was to please me.
(I found out later in the trip some very interesting information regarding my father's views on religion. ADVICE: If anyone can take a trip with their parents or children for an extended period of time, do it. Even if it at times it is tiresome, annoying, and full of angst...there will be moments that will more than make up for those times. You will more than likely find clarity regarding at least one issue, if not more.)
TO BE CONTINUED
Now on with the report:
There was no line to speak of in the Amex office and a very nice English speaking lady helped us pick-up the new temporary Amex card. We told her that the Amex phone rep had told us that we would not be able to have a cash advance off the temporary card and the desk rep said she didn't believe that to be true. She did some checking and found and then said "how much would you like" and just like that dad had cash.
(It did turn out that there were a couple of places that dad tried to use the card and it would not process, but I'm not sure where that was. ADVICE: Don't have your original Amex Card go missing and expect that your new temp card will work in all situations.)
After leaving the Amex office dad and I decided we would make our way to the Jewish Ghetto. We asked at many places for directions but no one was quite sure how to get there. I decided to call Debbie and she said to take the vaparetto to Ca'D???. It was 5 Euros each, which is what all our rides sans luggage were.
When we got off the water bus we found out we still had a little bit of a walk. But it didn't matter because the surroundings were so beautiful and the weather was perfect. Dad really enjoyed the walk becuase he said the streets were wider. We paused by a statue in a little square so that I could call the counselate (sp?) to find out if there was anything we could or should do regarding the theft of dad's social security card and drivers license. They said to call back at 2 PM.
We continued on and we passed bakeries that had cheesecake in the windows! I had been asking at all the restaurants we had been dining at if they had cheesecake and none of them did. I like all styles of the stuff and since we were in Italy I thought I could try some authentic Italian style cheesecake and I hadn't been able to find ANY! One bakery had a sign with the price per slice of only 1.80 Euro and another had a sign showing 2.00 Euro per slice. Also, I think in Italy they call cheesecake, Torte Ricotta. For some stupid reason I didn't go in and buy any. I think I figured that since I had found that the cakes were known in Italy after all, I would be able to have some later. As it turns out I should have bought it while I had the chance because I couldn't find any again on the rest of the trip. I suppose if it were THAT important to me I might have found some, but just casually looking... it was a no go on the cheesecake.
We were pretty sure we were getting close, but just to be sure we asked another person. This person informed us that there was an Old ghetto and a New ghetto and that the New ghetto was the original ghetto and the Old ghetto was the newer ghetto. Yes, somewhat confusing I know and if you need clarification forget it becuase I'm not sure I understood the explanation myself. If some kind Fodorite knows what the Old vs. New Venice Jewish Ghetto explanation is, I'm open to hearing about it. (Ira?)
Up a street, over a bridge and there it was. Lovely, clean, open, bright, and quiet? Still a Jewish holiday. Boy oh boy, flunking out of Hebrew school has really not been to my advantage. As dad and I neared the wooden structure outside one of the buildings a young, I think he said 20 yrs old, Lubavitch man approached us. He was very nice and spoke perfect English, probably because he was from NY and had only been in Italy for a year. The young man invites my father inside the building to take part in the prayer service that is going on. Dad didn't want to go in. The young Lubavitch kept insisting that it would be a good thing for my father and I thought it was a wonderful idea myself. You know, special memory time. In Italy, in a Jewish Ghetto, Jewish holiday, your oldest daughter with you, getting on in years, yadah, yaddah, yaddah. So I insisted, I might have even pulled on my dad's arm. Finally dad consented and was led to prayer.
Since this was more on the Orthodox order of things I was not allowed to go into the area where the men were. But it was a small space, so I could still see my dad. He had been given a Yamukah (sp?) and a prayer shawl to wear. There were possibly as many as 15 men of varied ages in the men area. Some of the younger men were dressed in suits and the older men were dressed more in the style of the orthodox. Maybe 7 of them were on a raised stage type area, they had there arms draped over each others shoulders and were in full prayer chant. A very old white beareded Lubavitch to the right of the stage was trying to keep some semblence of order to the proceedings because in addition to the prayers there was socializing talking going on and the volume in the room would get quite loud.
At one point I caught a glimpse of my dad speaking with another man about dad's age and the man was dressed casually like my father. I over heard this man speaking to my father in English so I figure he must have been pulled in also.
There were chairs for the women set up inside the building just outside of the mens area. There were also tables laden with food and drinks. All kinds of Jewish foods that reminded me of the delights my father's mother would cook in the old days. I joined the ladies for a while in this area then walked outside and sat in a chair under the wood covering. I'm not sure if the wood covering was actually a Sukkoth or a special wood structure to cover the front of the building. There were two very young ladies sitting out here and I spoke with them for a little while. They were from New York and were traveling to various countries for vacation. They too were Jewish and soaking in some of the holiday celebrations.
Eventually my father made his getaway. He didn't seem too worse for wear and I told him I thought it was pretty neat that he took part. He said he was able to recall some of his knowledge of Hebrew from when he was a young boy so that he could say some of the prayers. To tell you the truth, I strongly believe that the only reason he went in was to please me.
(I found out later in the trip some very interesting information regarding my father's views on religion. ADVICE: If anyone can take a trip with their parents or children for an extended period of time, do it. Even if it at times it is tiresome, annoying, and full of angst...there will be moments that will more than make up for those times. You will more than likely find clarity regarding at least one issue, if not more.)
TO BE CONTINUED
Nov 21st, 2004, 09:43 AM
#334
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Hi Phoebe,
Good to see you posting again.
For information on why the Ghetto Nuovo (New) is older than the Ghetto Vecchio(old) see
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/...ice_ghetto.htm
Good to see you posting again.
For information on why the Ghetto Nuovo (New) is older than the Ghetto Vecchio(old) see
http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/...ice_ghetto.htm
Nov 21st, 2004, 11:06 AM
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I usually don't open really, really long threads - they usually evolve into petty arguments or two-way discussions of something or other.
But I was curious about this one because it just kept growing and growing, so I finally opened it -- and and hour later BOY am I glad I did!
terrific report, terrific trip and TERRIFIC descriptions of the joys/perils of traveling w/ parents.
LOVING it - can't wait for more (as long as Fodors stays on-line long enough to read it)
Hope everything works out well for your husband and sister -- good luck.
But I was curious about this one because it just kept growing and growing, so I finally opened it -- and and hour later BOY am I glad I did!
terrific report, terrific trip and TERRIFIC descriptions of the joys/perils of traveling w/ parents.
LOVING it - can't wait for more (as long as Fodors stays on-line long enough to read it)
Hope everything works out well for your husband and sister -- good luck.
Nov 21st, 2004, 02:46 PM
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I was happy to see you posting again. Sure hope everything goes well with your husband tomorrow. Sorry to hear your sister is having medical issues as well.
I think you should change your nick to Job!
I think you should change your nick to Job!
Nov 23rd, 2004, 02:56 AM
#339
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Thank you everyone for the good thoughts for my DH. Saw the specialist yesterday. Light duty for 3 MORE weeks, therapy 3 days a week for three weeks, and return to see Dr. in 3 weeks. Dr. thinks he will be able to get DH back to regular duty for at least a few more years.
In other news, I posted that Fodors said we can use our own postings how we see fit.
( http://fodors.com/forums/pgMessages....=0&start=0 )
And as to the continuation of my trip report, new installment to come soon
Happy and safe Thanksgiving to all!!!!
In other news, I posted that Fodors said we can use our own postings how we see fit.
( http://fodors.com/forums/pgMessages....=0&start=0 )
And as to the continuation of my trip report, new installment to come soon
Happy and safe Thanksgiving to all!!!!
Nov 23rd, 2004, 09:54 AM
#340
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Hi PLMN, just saw your post regarding your husbands condition.
I sure hope that you can take a big breath now and maybe relax a bit after Thanskgiving. You sure have had your hands full.
A Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
I sure hope that you can take a big breath now and maybe relax a bit after Thanskgiving. You sure have had your hands full.
A Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
