We spent the bulk of our first day in Venice acclimating Jess' parents to the local customs. Walking the canals, riding the vaporetto (the public boat transportation) gelato and annoying Europeans.
By local customs, I should clarify, I mean people standing in your ass. If you have read the old blogs you know exactly what I am talking about, or if you have been here, you have experienced it yourself. Each time you step out on to the streets in Italy your anal virginity is at risk. As we stood behind Jess and Chris one time, a woman walked right past us and stood on top of Glenn. Then another couple moved and stood right between us and them. Mind you the boat was pretty operand there shouldn't have been an issue. But there was. Glen and I tried coughing really loudly and breathing on top of them but we were not successful.
Tuesday morning we woke up and had breakfast which wasn't too bad. Some croissants, a roll and some muesli, coffee and OJ. Chris and Glenn woke up late because "the alarm didn't go off", despite Jess setting it for them - on her watch.
We headed out and on to the vaporetto to get to San Marco Plaza - the main square with the basilica, Doge's Palace and the clock tower.
During our first time in Venice, we didn't get a chance to do the secret itineraries tour at the Doge's Palace and since my buddy Mitch suggested it we decided to book it. The Doge was like the Prince of Venice. He was elected by senators who were amongst the noble families of the city. There was also a Council of Ten who acted as advisors and who had their own police and spies all throughout the city and Europe. We got to see the secret prison area as well as a bunch of the administrative areas. We saw where Casanova was imprisoned and subsequently escaped from. Venice was conquered by Napoleon, and he removed the Doge and that was the end of the reign of the Doges.
We then went to see the two churches Santa Maria di Salute and San Giorgio Maggiore, both separate stops on the vaporetto. They were pretty cool. We went back to hang out and relax and nap. I'm not sure what everyone else did, but I napped. We then got reservations to the veg friendly place Jess wanted to go to and went geocaching in the interim.
We were able to find two caches, one near the fish market (which glenn was unsuccessful at finding) which was near our place and the other fairly close to the restaurant.
Veg place had really good food, their specialty had to do with pumpkin. I got some pumpkin flan which was really good and then had rabbit for dinner. Tasty rabbit. Glenn hates all of the waitresses, he says they all make it seem like you are annoying them. Afterwards we walked to get rice gelato for Jess. She was really excited and wanted to get it since we were there. It was far from our place. It was supposed to be open to 2 am so we peed at some restaurant near there and when we got to the place the chick was really nasty and said, "Closed, closed, closed" and slammed the gate down in front of us. After a long walk back to our place, they skyped with Emme.
The following morning as Jess and I headed down to breakfast, we knocked on her parents' door. No answer. We figure they must be downstairs already. We get there, they are not. About 10 after 8 Jess heads up and knocks on their door and wakes them up. This time Chris claims the alarm on Jess' phone didn't go off...
We got to San Marco and got on line for the basilica while Jess examined where to go to get the tickets for our tour of the second most famous clock tower in the world. We got in to the basilica for about 5 min, got to the spot for the clock tower tour which was pretty interesting but hot as hell. The keeper of the clock and his family used to live in the tower. You'd think they would have kept all of that stuff there it would have been much more interesting. The guide kept talking about how handsome the two moors who rang the bell were.
They were called moors not because they look like moors but because of the dark metal used who make them. Who knew they would be uncircumcised? They also boast that they had the first digital clock, which was really one of the big wheels from the end spin on the Price is Right.
Walked back took pics of Il Gobodo, which is this statue i am obsessed with.
When you were put on trial and found guilty of stealing, they used to make you run from the Doge's Palace to this statue and people in the streets could beat you and throw stuff at you. We got our stuff and got on to the vaporetto for some last minute anal before getting our rental car. I think I am going to copy "Jess peed while we were there" so I can paste it after everything I say. It will be much easier that way, or better, for the reader, just assume it and save me the trouble, thanks.
Now, the ride to La Spezia...not too bad as far as rides go. I won the bet of how much the tolls would be: I said 23 euro, it was 27. The prize? Pay for the tolls - good thing my anal virginity was gone from the previous two days. Got food, discussed the difference between that's some old shit!, old, shitty, that shit is old!
Finding parking in La Spezia, was not fun or funny. The parking area or garage by the train station was closed because it was under construction. Jess and Chris went to pee and got picked up the local Black Hand a bunch of guys outside of some bar. They of course ask about the parking and where could they park for two days for free, they say, right over there. They run back to us to get the car and as I write this, our car is probably being stripped and put on blocks by the Black Hand.
Prior to that we couldn't communicate with Ugo, the father of owner of the apartment we are going to. Ugo, is a mumbling old guy. We dont know what the hell is going on because he doesn't communicate so great in English. He knows which train we will be on and says to wait for him at the station. The phone is dying. But Chris says she plugged it in last night. Luckily we get to Riomaggiore. We meet Ugo at the station and he walks us to the apartment, which is in itself kinda interesting. We see a quick sunset and get dinner - there's a cat waking in and out of the restaurant. I get some local dish, soup with shrimp and prawns, it was pretty good. Somewhere during the dinner, Chris admits that she pulled the phone out before it was finished charging but still doesn't understand why it didn't charge.
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