Hello everyone,
I've been spending these last two weeks dodging the thousands of tourists that have overrun the city. In the big tourist areas - the Rialto and the main drag from the train station to San Marco, it's a little better in the morning. By 4 pm it's a zoo. (When I was in class, I had mentioned something was "a zoo". I had to explain to those foreigners what I meant!) I have found several nice quiet places to go to to sit, sun, and people-watch, tho.
Went to Murano and visited the church every guide book said I should - very impressive. Also went to their large glass museum. Wandered a lot, and after not finding a place to eat that I liked and was in my budget, I went to the busy bar/gelateria by the Colonna vaporetto stop that we went to last year.
It's been very cool here in the evenings these last several weeks. I've even had to close windows because of the winds. We've also had lots of cloudy, rainy days. Yesterday it started warming back up, and it now is beginning to feel like August should.
I had planned on bringing mail addresses for those who don't have email, but I couldn't find them. When Beverly called, I had her give them to me. I - dummy me again - cut myself twice in one day with my Swiss Army knife, and when I got out my box of Band-aids, the addresses were in the box. Another "dummy me", I knocked one of the curtain rods off the wall. So had to tell Christina. The walls are about 10 feet high, so I couldn't put it back up. She didn't understand my English and was worried, so she had an English-speaking friend call me.
The other day she and her friend came by to see what needed to be done. Her friend wanted to rent the apt after I leave, and needed to see if her clavichord (like a piano) would fit. It won't. But I found out something very interesting......The mosiac tile floors in the apartment are 400 years old!! Female monks used to live there and before alterations there were 3 complete rooms. The bedroom has a mosiac pattern in the middle of the room, that is covered by the bed, that I found by accident.
This past week I've been to the Biennale, the Guggenheim museum, the Scuola Grande San Teodoro to see an exhibition there, the Museum of Natural History, Ca' Pesaro Modern Art (up to the 60's) Museum, and a light show at Chiesa San Stae.
Every year August 15 is a holiday of some sort but it's not in any guide book. The meat man didn't open, and my church had a 9:30 service. so it must celebrate something or one religious. The Billa grocery store was open, so that's where I went Monday.
Yesterday I went to Chioggia and to their street market. It extends the whole length of the main drag, beyond the biggest church and over the bridge. I saw several tempting things but didn't buy anything but lunch and gelato. Missed the boat back and had to hang around for 55 minutes - the boat runs hourly. Chioggia is a day trip - it took 2 hours and 15 minutes from my apt, each way. But it's a painless trip. Vaporetto # 1 to Lido, land bus # 11 the length of Lido, then the bus gets on a ferry, then it travels the length of the skinny island of Pelestrina. We get off the bus and get on a passenger ferry to Chioggia.
That's it for now. Talk to you later.
Love, Mom, Grandma, Lynanne
I've been spending these last two weeks dodging the thousands of tourists that have overrun the city. In the big tourist areas - the Rialto and the main drag from the train station to San Marco, it's a little better in the morning. By 4 pm it's a zoo. (When I was in class, I had mentioned something was "a zoo". I had to explain to those foreigners what I meant!) I have found several nice quiet places to go to to sit, sun, and people-watch, tho.
Went to Murano and visited the church every guide book said I should - very impressive. Also went to their large glass museum. Wandered a lot, and after not finding a place to eat that I liked and was in my budget, I went to the busy bar/gelateria by the Colonna vaporetto stop that we went to last year.
It's been very cool here in the evenings these last several weeks. I've even had to close windows because of the winds. We've also had lots of cloudy, rainy days. Yesterday it started warming back up, and it now is beginning to feel like August should.
I had planned on bringing mail addresses for those who don't have email, but I couldn't find them. When Beverly called, I had her give them to me. I - dummy me again - cut myself twice in one day with my Swiss Army knife, and when I got out my box of Band-aids, the addresses were in the box. Another "dummy me", I knocked one of the curtain rods off the wall. So had to tell Christina. The walls are about 10 feet high, so I couldn't put it back up. She didn't understand my English and was worried, so she had an English-speaking friend call me.
The other day she and her friend came by to see what needed to be done. Her friend wanted to rent the apt after I leave, and needed to see if her clavichord (like a piano) would fit. It won't. But I found out something very interesting......The mosiac tile floors in the apartment are 400 years old!! Female monks used to live there and before alterations there were 3 complete rooms. The bedroom has a mosiac pattern in the middle of the room, that is covered by the bed, that I found by accident.
This past week I've been to the Biennale, the Guggenheim museum, the Scuola Grande San Teodoro to see an exhibition there, the Museum of Natural History, Ca' Pesaro Modern Art (up to the 60's) Museum, and a light show at Chiesa San Stae.
Every year August 15 is a holiday of some sort but it's not in any guide book. The meat man didn't open, and my church had a 9:30 service. so it must celebrate something or one religious. The Billa grocery store was open, so that's where I went Monday.
Yesterday I went to Chioggia and to their street market. It extends the whole length of the main drag, beyond the biggest church and over the bridge. I saw several tempting things but didn't buy anything but lunch and gelato. Missed the boat back and had to hang around for 55 minutes - the boat runs hourly. Chioggia is a day trip - it took 2 hours and 15 minutes from my apt, each way. But it's a painless trip. Vaporetto # 1 to Lido, land bus # 11 the length of Lido, then the bus gets on a ferry, then it travels the length of the skinny island of Pelestrina. We get off the bus and get on a passenger ferry to Chioggia.
That's it for now. Talk to you later.
Love, Mom, Grandma, Lynanne
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