marisylvia

My husband and I have rented an apartment in Cannareggio, near Ca' d'Oro, for a month, from April 10-May 9. Of course, we are looking forward to all the wonders of exploring this fascinating place, but would like to meet other travelers, too.
We are in our 60s, love all the arts, and live in the San Francisco Bay Area. John is a software engineer in Silicon Valley, who is also writing a novel, and I am a retired editor.
We enjoy visiting Europe using the "slow travel" approach, finding an apartment and getting a sense of life as it is lived, rather than passing through with a checklist of Must Sees.
This will be our second visit to Venice. Other favorite destinations are Paris, Berlin, London, New York, Philadelphia and Barcelona.
We love Donna Leon's Venice novels, although they show the darkest side of the ancient city.

gomiki

Unfortunately, I won't be in Venice but wanted to say it sounds wonderful! I love Venice. I'm sure you will have a wonderful time and hope you report on the "slow travel" from Venice.

JulieVikmanis

I'll ditto Gomiki's remarks. We'll be there, but unfortunately after you leave--arriving May 26. Got a fantastic price on a flight (467 pp with one stop) and we just couldn't resist. Gomiki posted a similar e-mail for a get together in Paris and that's how we met her and several others there. I hope your post draws similar interest and that others who are in Venice during your stay respond. We'd love to see pictures of a Venice GTG. Enjoy your stay.

marisylvia

Thanks to both of you; sorry you won't be in Venice when we are.
Gomiki, I really should get my act together to do a Trip Report.
Julie, I can see why you couldn't resist the airfare.
I had booked the apartment over a year ago, when our portfolio was in better shape, but hey, you have to enjoy life as much as possible and not worry too much. At least the rate of exchange with the Euro is better...and Venice is priceless.
We met and made a good friend in Paris a few years ago. These travel sites have so much to offer.

sunny101

Hi, Marisylvia.

It would be fun to try to get together and meet with you.

We will be arriving in Venice on May 7 in the afternoon, traveling from Spain. We are myself, a retired systems analyst living in SF, and an almost-sister, newly retired who lives in Chicago. We have rented an apt on the border of San Polo and Santa Croce, and will be staying until May 14.

Our itineraries don't have much of an overlap, but perhaps it would be fun to meet at that phase of your trip.

If you wish, you can email me at [email protected].

Ciao. Sunny

marisylvia

Hi Sunny,

I just sent you an email, and hope you get it. My mail server said the address wasn't correct? But I don't see a message saying it didn't go through.

John and I would like to get together on May 8, if that would work out for you. You'll have just arrived and we'll be sadly preparing to leave. Maybe we could meet for lunch?

Ciao, Marion

sunny101

Sounds great. I did get your e-mail, so I'll follow up with you.

Sunny

Peter_S_Aus

You’ll love having a month there. Once you have scampered round the big attractions, San Marco, Doge’s Palace, Guggenheim, then you unwind and start to discover the small sights that live with you forever. The whole visit becomes timeless, and you’ll be able to leave the map and guidebook in the apartment when you go out. The staff at your local bar will get to know you, and be surprised that you are still there after a week. The check out people at the supermarket become more tolerant as you fumble for change, the fish market at the Rialto becomes a favourite haunt.

We spent nine weeks there over Christmas, me writing something like a trip report which you’d find on Fodors, and which become a 30,000 word ramble around Venice and the inside of my head. My wife was ensconced at the easel with her watercolours, and it was the most satisfying period we have ever spent together.

“Venice” by Jan Morris is the best guide book you could have (although I had some pleasure with an 1898 Baedeker guide book).

I see that you are a retired editor. Sharpen a fresh goose quill and let’s hear how you find the whole experience.

Cheers

Peter

gomiki

Wow! Peter, that sounds wonderful. I will be looking up your trip report.

Julie, what a buy! I have Venice envy. I was there at the beginning of May. The wisteria was draped over the canals and it was magical. We arrived in a thunder and lightning storm which made it even more exciting.

marisylvia

Peter, I did read your excellent trip report, and it helped me enter my Venice of the Mind, which has been a part of me since our 2 1/2 weeks there in 2005. I agree that Jan Morris's "Venice" is marvelous. I also recommend Mary McCarthy's "Venice Observed", for her somewhat jaundiced but always astute commentary, beautifully and wittily written, of course. Getting much darker, horrific actually, is Ian McEwan's "The Kindness of Strangers"; not to be read before one's first visit.

I hope the jewelry maker from over the mountains who sells in the Campo Santa Margherita will be there. I bought some silver and glass pieces from him which I treasure, and they were amazingly inexpensive. I also hope to see the One Man Band, a chunky, grizzled little man who we saw twice, once right after a sudden downpour in Campo San Vidal, and another time in front of the Accademia.

We walked without stopping across the Piazza San Marco, always packed with tourists, and went on to the Museo Storico Navale and the Giardini Pubblici. St. Mark's attracts tourists like filings to a magnet, and I'm glad, because it leaves the rest of Venice to those of us who want to get lost in the winding streets and alleys.

Gomiki, we were also there at the end of April, beginning of May. That's why we're going at the end of this week. Yes, the wisteria cascaded over walls, and the asparagus, tied with a vine instead of a rubber band, was the best we'd ever tasted. As for the weather, that is part of Venice's allure, if you don't mind being surprised. We would leave the apartment seeing sunny skies, only to have them darken almost instantaneously. Once we had to take cover from a sudden hailstorm, and we got soaked a few times. So what? We didn't melt.

Thanks for encouraging the trip report, Peter. I need to do several, actually, if looking back is allowed. I'm thinking of our visits to Barcelona and Paris as well as Venice, and I just returned from a solo trip to Germany, visiting Berlin with a side trip (business) to Essen.