AlessandraZoe

My hip is doing great, sartoric, and my knees are rather pain-free. Thank you for asking. And thank you for the complement.

Your story about your mother-in-law is absolutely chilling.

AlessandraZoe

Report continued:

We returned to the bus stop the way we came, stopping for a quick beer and restroom visit at one of the bus stop cafes before we caught the #36 to the station. We nabbed a #6 and were back to the hotel in no time.

As we were getting showered and changed for dinner, I realized that right out of my window in the distance was the Castle of Miramare. Wow.

We again asked our concierge to make a restaurant reservation for us. The Trieste tour guide had highly recommended a restaurant that was right next door. I can't find the name of it, nor do I want to. When we arrived, I just saw some dirty tablecloths, and I was mentally out of there. It took a primo course before I sold my husband and daughter on the idea of leaving.

We walked down the street in pouring rain and happened upon the <b>Trattoria al Nuovo Antico Pavone</b> http://www.nuovoanticopavone.it/inglese/home.html. Soaked to the skin, we agreed for good or for bad, this would have to be "it" for the night. Once we were inside, my daughter pulled a small list from her purse and started laughing. This place would have been their choice for tonight's dinner had not the tour guide recommended the other one.

The inside was warm and cozy, and so was the service. Although nothing could compare with the meal the night before, this restaurant was offered great seafood, although it was a little pricey.

The decor was elegant, yet there certainly was a family atmosphere: a little boy sat at a table next to us with a toy gun and shot the waiter repeatedly, and everyone from the owner to the staff were amused. The waiter "died" a few times to keep the entertainment going.

Of course, we were rather stunned. Then we realized that since we are coming from a country where little kids accidentally shoot people all the time, we probably had a much darker perspective.

The pouring rain had removed the ITS groupies outside the door except for one stalwart. We did a pre check-out and ordered a taxi so we could be out the door before 6:00 AM. Our FRECCIABIANCA train from Trieste Centrale was at 6:16 AM and would arrive in Venezia Mestre at 7:40 AM.

irishface

Thanks for your TR, AZ. I missed it earlier and am very interested in Trieste. Great report.

Sortoric, your mother's story is appalling. Should make us all grateful to live where we do.

AlessandraZoe

Thanks, irishface.

I have often thought that most of us should be grateful not where about we live as much as the fact that we have not had to be tested with moral decisions that test our personal safety or personal well being.

I think I have performed some acts of kindness but very few of heroics.

As I told my kids often when they would be faced with opportunities to cheat at school, they had a) some brains and b) parents who did not hold them accountable for top grades. If they cheated, there were NO excuses. Simply put, my husband and I would rather they flunk a test than lower their personal standards. "Everyone is doing it" wouldn't cut it at our home.

But that's cheating on a test. What would I do if I faced a choice between the lives of my kids and the lives of people I never knew? What what I do if I faced a choice between the lives of my kids and the lives of people I actually loved?

I don't know.

I am so grateful that those decisions are not ones I have faced.

AlessandraZoe

The next day, our taxi arrived as promised.

We left Trieste Centrale at 6:16 AM on an early Sunday morning, praying that our plans to get the daughter back to Marco Polo airport would work.

Our car on the FRECCIABIANCA was empty, that's for sure, so I was happy I had not purchased first class seating. I had paid only 27 Euros for the three of us, and we were able to spread out over the car with our Kindles for the duration.

I think we pulled into Venezia Mestre before the 7:40 AM scheduled arrival time, but here is where it became a bit dicey.

Knowing we would be in a rush, I had pre-purchased online a Line 15 ATVO "Flyer" bus ticket for my daughter to make her Mestre/Marco Polo connection. Our exit from the station involved running from the train car (pretty far), down a flight of stairs, running through a corridor, running up a flight of stairs, and wending our way to the outside.

No ATVO machine in sight. For that matter, no ATVO bus in sight.

OK. We had missed the 7:45 bus, which we had only an outside chance of getting anyway. She should be able to get the 8:00 AM bus. All we had to do was find the darn machine.

But has happened to us before, once we found that machine, it was broken. We had to wait in line at a ticket window which opened at 8:00 AM.

Meanwhile, my husband and I were weighing options. We were pretty sure the 8:00 AM bus was late. We thought that if for some reason, she would have to get the 8:15 bus, her getting on the flight might be a problem. So as I was getting the bus ticket, my husband kept an eye out both for the bus and for a taxi, neither of which were showing up.

If we were worried, my daughter wasn't one bit. At 8:00 AM, less than a few miles from an airport, one could think that a 10:50 AM flight is a no-brainer. In her mind, she had managed to nab an upgrade to Business Class and she was only doing carry-on. She was visualizing her check-in at the start of the trip in Atlanta.

Here is a reality check:
At Marco Polo, there would be the pre-ticket desk security check, the official passport/ticket check at the Delta window, and the security line.

Plus I remembered mass confusion when we flew back in 2009; she simply did not remember that.

Finally, a taxi appeared near the station, and my husband, being willing to waste the daughter's 6 Euro bus ticket in exchange for a confirmed ride, flagged it down before two other waiting parties even saw it.

It was a wise decision. The 35-Euro taxi ride (included all of us plus our luggage) took under 15 minutes, and we were dropped slightly closer to getting upstairs to the Delta check-in area than she would have been if she had taken the bus.

Yep, it was the confusion I remembered. There was no clear roped-off area in what seemed to be just a mass of people in a Delta area, so my husband searched for some Delta person while my daughter and I staked out two different positions in what we thought were lines. He was successful in finding a Delta associate, and she led our daughter to the middle of the maze to what was a totally hidden Priority line.

We had now spent 20 minutes since our arrival at the airport. Her wait in the Priority Line was over an hour.

Luckily, because my husband and I were still hanging around, we could take her place in line when she needed a restroom.

My husband and I also used this time to eyeball the line next door at US Airways. We would be taking an hour later flight in two days, and we were thus able to get a good idea of when the lines would "heat up" over there.

One good thing to note: US Airways's corner position allows them to rope off a bit more efficiently.

Once our daughter got to the Delta ticket window, things moved swiftly. The priority line through the airport's gate security was fast. She texted us once she got to the other side, and we felt free to leave.

Onwards to our last days in Venice.

AlessandraZoe

I was moving up to "big bucks" category for our last nights in Venice: the <b>Hotel Londra Palace</b> www.londrapalace.com. Situated next to St Mark's with a fabulous view of the lagoon and the island of San Giorgio, we'd have a no-work time of touring Venice.

So given the higher cost per night and the ease of getting around, what should we do?

Hmm. I stood in front of the bus transport machine at the airport and thought and thought.

Most recommendations for those staying at the Londra were either to get a water taxi straight to the hotel OR to get it from the Piazzale Roma. I knew the Londra desk had recommended for the return to pick up a water taxi straight from their desk to the airport on the way back.

I looked at my husband and said, "I think I want cheaper options. I'll waste a RT bus; I just don't see the need to blow our entire food budget on a water taxi in from here."

He nodded.

So once again, we boarded the Piazzale Rome bus. By the time we got there, we had agreed upon a plan. It would be too early to check in anyway, why not just canal it down to St. Marks.

I ran up to the ticket window and bought 48-hour passes. That way, if we wanted to "canel it back" we would be set.

The morning was just perfect. There was only one problem: we boarded the vaporetto in the wrong direction. So instead of "canaling it" we were "lagooning it". No matter: everything was pretty and we had little to do anyway.

We were able to get off practically in front of our hotel. Check in was as we expected: they would have to hold our luggage until the rooms were ready. We took this time to quiz the staff about the best way to return to Marco Polo. Everyone thought that water taxi the morning of would be our best bet, simply because they felt it would be a shame to waste the money we were already paying for for breakfast.

We said we'd come back to our decision a bit later.

uhoh_busted

Very much enjoying your report. I think Trieste just made it to my sooner-than-later list.

AlessandraZoe

We headed away from St. Marks to get a cappuccino and pastry, and we'd check out our maps to get some sort of game plan.

I told my husband that there were certain things I loved in Venice: Peggy Guggenheim's house, the San Giorgio Maggiore Church, the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (aka "i Frari"), and the Santa Maria della Salute.

I felt on our following day we should do St. Mark's Basilica at opening, and then work our way up the canal for most of what I loved. For right now, I felt we should just take advantage of our location and head straight for the San Giorgio Maggiore.

We hopped a vaporetto over to San Giorgio and were soon attending service at the church. Little did I know that we'd be walking into a major culture clash.

A question on this board recently talked about an anti-Asian feel in Europe.

Well, there are many reasons for it, just as I have always agreed that there are many reasons for anti-American feelings:
--Americans tend to be loud in a lot of places where other people are silent
--Our countrymen have often have dressed inappropriately
--Our countrymen have often voiced in loud voices their opinions of the locals with apparent disregard for the fact that the locals speak pretty darn good English
--We are known far and wide for this phrase: "Doesn't anyone speak English here???"
--American marketing culture has displaced local businesses
--American mass media culture has displaced local culture

Ergo: People in glass houses should not throw stones.

So given my "do not judge lest one be judged" viewpoint, I naturally would question if there is something beyond mere irritation for this anti-Asian feeling.

Something that everyone, even the most culturally blind tourist, has noted is that Chinese glass has replaced Murano glass in Venetian shops.

But who made that decision to sell that stuff? Did Venice shopkeepers sell out their own?

Well, we heard loudly and clearly that within Venice, the locals are upset about "Asian Mafia". As two different locals explained to us with quite a bit of passion, they had originally thought their enemy was Naples/Sicily Mafia, which not only markedly has increased graft in Venetian government but also underwrites all the Somalian sales guys on every darn bridge.

They are far more concerned, though, right now with Asian businesses and business takeovers that are multiplying so fast that there's no way to keep up with it.

Undocumented workers are pouring into Italy to supply these illegal businesses, and that influx displaces total earning positions in a city that needs local tax dollars to underwrite its very expensive infrastructure.

In their minds, Venice is already plagued with being one of the entry points for East European sex slaves; these local Venetians feel they have been equally targeted as an entry point for Asian worker slaves.

I cannot attest to most of the above, although there certainly are more and more international articles on this fact (Google "Venice Chinese Mafia" for an initial sampling).

But I can agree that on the tourist front, there are more and more and more Asian independent (as opposed to group tours), who because they have never had any type of religious background, are wont to take flash photographs and shout loudly at religious sites.

Up to now, though, we certainly had not seen anyone take pictures IN THE MIDDLE OF CHURCH SERVICES.

I think taking wedding pictures in the middle of a Catholic mass at the end of the center aisle probably crosses most cultural lines of WHAT NOT TO DO.

Yes, it happened at the San Geogio Maggiore church (bride with professional photographer).

Yes, we were stunned.

On a positive note, at least she did not stand next to the priest at the altar.

AlessandraZoe

Thank you so much, uhoh.

Back to slogging away at this report...

Leaving politics behind, we left the church. The tower was closed for renovations, so we just headed past the sailing boats for the cafe I remembered from 2009.

Yep it was there, and it was still as uncrowded and nice as I remembered. We ordered cappuccinos, enjoyed the view and made our next series of plans:
--get to our room
--head up to Peggy Guggenheim's
--have lunch

We walked back to the vaporetto stop and headed for our hotel. We now saw that we only had to look for the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II to find our hotel from any viewpoint.

AlessandraZoe

Our room was small but nicely appointed, super clean, and was facing the lagoon. We were high enough up that we heard the din off the crowds below but not the specifics, which tends to work out.

Vaporetto passes in hand, we hopped the Line 2 to Accademia and found our way to "Peggy's".

My husband's reaction to her place matched the impression my youngest and I had in 2009. Strange (and tragic) bird that Peggy was, she had snagged an ideal locale on the canal along with a place in art history. A lot of rich people have collected art; very few collected so much really good art.

As we headed back to Accademia, I told my husband that I had a favorite stopping place under the bridge--mediocre pizza, perfect "drop". There would be a line, I predicted, but we could get in fast. He was drooping and agreed to deal with any crowds at <b> the Accademia Foscarini</b>.

Sure enough, there were no seats. The head waiter said, "20 minutes." I said we'd be downing beers in the bar, would wait at its doorway and could run at the slightest signal. He laughed and said, "You could probably be seated in 10 minutes."

And in 10 minutes, we had a table by the canal's edge.

The pizza was not great. The beers were cold, our umbrella shaded us from the sun, and we did people watching for an hour.

Life is good.

We had been up since 5:15 a.m. by now, and we just could not take in anything daunting. I threw out this idea:

"I have never been to Lido. It's not far. We could vaporetto it out there, and just wend our way back at will. We have no dinner reservations for tonight."

Done.

AlessandraZoe

We enjoyed our vaporetto ride to Lido, mainly because we were able to inch our way up to the front seats after a few stops. The day was wonderful.

Our goal was to walk to the beach on Lido, checking out hotels and restaurants as we strolled. We were impressed. I told my husband that there's a constant battle on this board as to whether or not one could stay on Lido and actually experience Venice at its best.

My new opinion: If I had little kids, I'd certainly choose to stay on Lido during the summer when the vaporetto lines run a bit more frequently. We saw so many people enjoying the island on bicycles, and there was such a relaxed feel to the place as opposed to the pressed crowding in Venice.

The beach was quite nice.

After a couple of beer stops, we headed back to our vaporetto stop and returned to San Marco.

We were still in the mood for walking, and so we decided to explore the end in which I'd never been: Arsenale and Castello. From the vaporettos, had seen the lovely park down this way, and everything seemed quieter.

On our stroll, we passed the Naval Museum. I wish we had had time to visit it. I remember being fascinated about the history of Venice when I came there in 2009, especially since the city's role was never emphasized in school world history classes. We had spent hours on other nationalities, studying explorers like Vasco da Gama, Balboa, etc, but were never told that in 1410, Venice had a navy of 3,300 ships. I know no one ever told me that for quite some time, this lagoon's civilization controlled the seas.

Once we reached the Castello area, we ended up walking the length of Via Garibaldi. A few hundred feet in, my husband starting laughing. "These are real locals. I was beginning to wonder!" And it was true. I don't know if we saw any tourists in this area beyond those who were renting apartments. We did see students who looked as those they were living abroad.

The wide street was full of shops and cafes, but not the glitzy kind. It was Sunday night, and everyone was out. Little kids were running across the street playing ball, chased by their family dogs who were barking excitedly. Groups of friends were seated around outdoor TVs, shouting each time their team scored.

Eventually we went a bit too far, trying to loop around the back end of the canal at the end of the street, running into dead end after dead end, and were faced with the fact we'd just have to return the way we came.

At this point, we were dragging, but I wanted to check out a restaurant our food tour guide had recommended: <b>Osteria Oliva Nera</b> http://www.osteria-olivanera.com/en/.

I sent my husband back to the room to take his turn at the shower, and I found my way to the restaurant. There was a line-up in the street waiting to get in. The place is actually in two separate buildings a few feet apart, and the owner Isabella is constantly moving between them. I do not know how in the world she spotted me amid all the people outside, but she quickly found an 8:00 reservation for me for the next night.

I returned to the hotel to shower--and to prepare my husband for our next Venetian experience.

thursdaysd

Ah, good to know about the Castello area. I'm going back to Venice in November (when I expect it to be much quieter - last time Dorsoduro was dead at night) and I might look for somewhere to stay there.

AlessandraZoe

We had been eating high on the hog for almost two weeks now, and I figured tonight was the night to spend nothing. I had read about a take-out place, <b>Alfredo's Fresh Pasta to Go</b> https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alfre...91517640883533 on Trip Advisor, and thought, why the heck not?

On our way there, I had my husband check out the two locations for our two reservations for the next night. He looked at the menus and the atmospheres and said, "We'll think about this tomorrow."

Onward to <b>Alfredo's</b>.

This hole-in-the-wall take-out place was in an alley lined with waiting customers. Somehow, we were able to place our order inside within 5 minutes, though. And our wait outside was pleasant. The concept and the <b>owner**</b> had drawn an eclectic crowd. We all were downing beers from the cooler as we stood outside, and everyone was exchanging stories about where they had come from or where they were going.

We grabbed two more beers when our orders were up in 15 minutes and searched for a place to sit. Taking a couple corner turns, we found a quiet spot by a small canal bridge. We sat on the stairs alongside to watch all the gondola action. Two college girls also found steps nearby, and they and I had great fun rating the relative "hotness" of the various gondaliers passing by to my husband, who would respond with, "No, I thought he was an '8', myself."

Yes, we were greatly missing our 20-something daughters, who would have been laughing just as hard with Dad.

Our impression of our meal? Well, the pasta wasn't that great. The sauces were salty. But my husband said he'd go back just to be around the owner for five minutes again. <b>Alfredo</b> just exuded kindness.

**I am so very sorry to report that when I double-checked to see if the hyperlink to the restaurant's Facebook page was still working, I saw a notice that Alfredo had died in the middle of August, just two weeks after we met him.

Five minutes with this guy, and we felt we had known him all our lives. What a loss.

The family is renaming the place so as not to use his good name for their own commercial purposes:
<b>Dal Moro's Fresh Pasta To Go</b>
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dal-M...39710582728299

AlessandraZoe

thursdaysd,

We're on the same wavelength. My husband said he'd stay down that way should we come back again.

I think, though, that my enjoyment of it had something to do with the summer night. The street is quite wide for Venice, and so all the people out enjoying it, filling it, made it great.

I don't know how I would like it in November when the locals would have moved inside. There are probably some photos online of it at a different time of year. Here's a photo I found from Dec 2010 which certainly could be offputting:

http://www.unive.it/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=82277&image=9

AlessandraZoe

After finding a place to dispose of our take-out trash (which not everyone bothered to do, I must report) we wandered back to St. Mark's Square, enjoying the dueling orchestras and loving watching the kids pretend to ballroom dance.

My husband had a gelato, and we returned to our hotel. Before turning in, we opened both sets of curtains so the lagoon view would be both our goodnight sight and our morning awakening.

TDudette

Just found this but have to stop at Castello di Spessa (GORGEOUS!). Love your writing style and am enjoying this TR very much.

AlessandraZoe

Thank you very much, TDudette. I'm so hoping I finish this report in my lifetime. I only have one day and a morning in Venice to go, but we fit so much within those hours that this report will have a bit more to go, that's for sure.

AlessandraZoe

We woke up to an overcast day, and a peek out the window confirmed drizzle.

Our plan was to get to St. Mark's at opening. We first had a nice breakfast downstairs, and if you recall, the concierge had told us to get a water taxi back to Marco Polo airport because we would not want to miss their wonderful breakfast, which opens at 7 a.m.

Well, the breakfast was good, but it was not THAT good. My husband looked at the offerings and said, "I am becoming less and less inclined to worry about a water taxi."

Still, we had a predicament. The convenient vaporetto stop outside our hotel went the roundabout way to Piazzale Roma. With my recovering hip and knees, I'd have to go over two bridges--two rather big sets of steps--and then walk quite a bit to get to the vaporetto that would get us to Piazzale Roma quickly.

So we'd probably be taking the "slow bus" route, Line 1. Hmm, we'd think about that later.

The line to get into St. Mark's was around 100 feet long at 20 minutes before opening. Well, I knew to drop our backpacks at a side door of an adjacent church, which would allow us to skip to the front of the line once we showed our check ticket.

Except we couldn't find the place where we could skip.

No matter. The rain had stopped, the line moved quickly, and we were IN. Of course, as we entered, I saw the skip spot.

OK. Here's the deal for St. Mark's newbies:
You can pay online for a place in line. Worth it? Not if you are there are the start of the day. Admission is free, darn it. You are going to have to see other things that day and you can start here.

You must pay separately to see any of the following at the junctures where one finds them:
--The Treasury
--The Altar
--The Second Floor Museum (the original horses, the view over the Square, etc

Again, as a veteran, I could tell my husband that the Treasury was no Topkapi but I felt the Altar area and the top floor were certainly worth it.

I had equipped my husband and myself with earbuds, a St Mark's map, and mp3 files of Rick Steve's St Mark's tour. What surprised me this time was a far different behavior on the part of the crowd compared to that in 2009.

Many of the more respectful group tour leaders had equipped their groups with earphones to allow the leaders to speak softly into microphones. Others could care less--they shouted to their clients at will. I witnessed again people who relentlessly took flash photography, even after being corrected by church officials. And I saw other people using the same mp3 program we were doing, only they had put their phones or iPads on speaker.

The lack of courtesy and respect got to me, and my husband knew I was about to say something to the guy who "flashed" right next to me with his speaker on high.

"Don't. The people who run this place are going to have to find a way to deal with this. It can't be your job."

He was right. But the behavior IS disheartening. The lack of courtesy to others and an unwillingness to acknowledge the value of silence mystifies me.

Anyway, my husband was impressed that the Rick Steves' things had worked out so darn well. We both like professional tour guides, but one of our problems is that we feel trapped by the tour guide's interests. Having an impersonal mp3 file meant that we could skip anything we wanted without hurting some person's feelings.

Anyway, we enjoyed looking at the Altar area a lot, and I myself was looking forward to seeing the original horses again upstairs. I absolutely adore them. As I told my husband, these original brass sculptures gave me the same chills that The David used to do in Florence.

One problem: I had forgotten how steep those stairs are. There are certain angles one has to respect after a hip replacement, and I was eyeballing the incline to make sure I would not "de-socket" myself in the process. So I looked a bit strange as I maneuvered my way up in a rather unorthodox manner.

It was worth it. My husband loved the horses as much as I did, and he loved taking in the view of St. Mark's Square from above.

AlessandraZoe

We did not proceed to see the Doge's Palace, or the tower, or the Museo Correr. My youngest and I had visited these in 2009, plus we had toured the Gallerie dell’Accademia and the Ca’ Rezzonico. I knew these would take a lot of time and energy, and my husband and I agreed that we would just take our time and enjoy things until we stopped enjoying them!

In retrospect, I think I should have revisited Ca' Rezzonico because this palatial house is itself a work of art. It would have fit in beautifully, and I don't think it would have put my husband into "art coma".

Instead, we visited three of my favorite churches: the <b>Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute</b>, the <b>Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari</b> and <b>the Santa Maria dei Miracoli</b>.

Hopping onto a vaporetto, we got off at the Salute stop, entered ,<b>Santa Maria della Salute</b>, and sat down to take it in. Although the drizzle had stopped, the day was still overcast, and I wish my husband had seen this octagonal church dedicated to the Virgin when there was a bit more sun brightening up the interior.

No matter--he really liked it because of its "clean" interior. Yes, the building is in the Baroque style, but the building materials harmonize in shades of gray. It's hard to believe that architect Longhena designed it when he was only 26 years old.

Tintoretto's "Marriage at Cana" looked perfect in its setting, and this church is a perfect way to appreciate Titian, whose various works can be found on the ceiling, the alterpiece, and in the nave.

We had hoped we'd find a stop for a cappuccino nearby, but that was wishful thinking on our part. Instead, we headed for our next "church stop", the the <b>Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari</b>

AlessandraZoe

Getting off at the St. Toma stop, I used my <b>MapsWithMe</b>(aka "<b>Maps.Me</b>" http://maps.me/en/home ) app, which works offline, to find our way to the church.

My daughter and I had gotten lost in this area with a regular map, so this was the perfect opportunity to see if that app was any better than holding out paper.

It worked very, very well. Because one can zoom in, a lot of the little alleys that don't show up on other maps can be seen on the Maps.Me app. Not every hotel or restaurant is marked on it, but enough are that one can get the gist of where one is. Plus the day before, I was able to put "pins" on exact addresses, even if our restaurants were not in the app's database.

We stopped for a quick cappucino near the church before starting in. We then saddled up the mp3 files, floor plan map, and earbuds. Rick Steves would again be our tour guide.

I was so happy that my husband enjoyed the <b> Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari</b> as much as my daughter and I had. As visited as it is by tourists and as decorated as it is by such gorgeous works of art, it somehow manages to keep its "churchy" feel. This place has an amazing Titian, "Assumption of the Virgin", and even a Donatello "John the Baptist" and many more interesting paintings and sculptures.

As it was nearing lunch time, we knew we had to do one cancellation for our evening meal quickly. We decided to cancel the <b>Osteria Oliva Nera</b> (which meant we were opting for the uber expensive <b>Il Ridotto</b. We called the restaurant and apologized for cancelling on the same day. Isabella's response was, "No worries! I can fill the table easily with walk-ins tonight. It's so helpful when people at least bother to let me know."

So we still felt guilty, but a teeny less guilty.