Out of Venice, on to Umbertide

On the morning of our departure from Venice, we didn't look forward to getting our bags over to pick up our rental car.  With the S. Marcuola stop closed, it was a choice between Ca' D'Oro on the Canal Grande, or Guglie on the Canale di Cannaregio.  They were about the same distance, but the former would call for crossing three bridges, the latter one and the start of another before turning.  I asked at a hotel about getting a porter, and got a card for someone to call.  I was expecting high prices, but this porter, Shadhen, available 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., tel. 333 224 1939, quoted €10 for two bags to Piazzale Roma, which seemed too good to be true.  We got him to come after we had the apartment cleaned as well as possible; there was a bit of a delay for him to find our location, but he got there and we also put our carry-ons on his cart.  It was hard to keep up with him on the walk to Piazzale Roma.  I thought it was fair to give him €30, which made him happy.  Compare that to the vaporetto at €7 per person where technically the bags need a ticket too, and it was very nice not to need to handle our bags.

We were at the Europcar office right around the appointed 11 a.m. time.  There was one agent on duty, and it was taking time to check in the previous customer.   Eventually they got to us, booked with a Kemwel voucher.  With our car type of Fiat Bravo or similar, I was skeptical when the agent said we'd get a Fiat 500 L.  A Fiat 500 evokes one thing for someone with a long history with Italy, not good for a long drive, but this was in fact a roomy enough car for our purposes, and a diesel.  I got my bearings well enough to get turned around and onto the bridge out of Venice, being especially alert to follow the speed limits, since I see many stories of people being caught by the speed cameras there.

We joined the autostrada, and it was overall a smooth ride.  We stopped for lunch at an Autogrill near Bologna.  I had cannelloni that could have been warmer, and Margaret had a nice cold plate of mozzarella, prosciutto, tomatoes, and olives.  We exited the autostrada at Cesena, and yes, the machine at the booth accepted my non-chip credit card.  Then it was a superstrada through the mountains to Umbertide, with some slowdowns and maybe one scary moment with lanes merging to one because of construction.

Arrival in Umbertide has been pretty calm, getting initial food from my longtime friend Angelo's grocery store.  On Saturday we had the farmer's market shortly outside our door, we did a little more shopping, and we've mostly had time to settle in before the arrival of friends expected tomorrow.

Venice, the long start

(Now this is showing out of order because of an edit I tried that didn't work.)

After the early arrival of the flight, we got to baggage claim and Margaret got her bag without my noticing, and bag delivery ended without my seeing my bag until I finally did.  In baggage claim I just saw a Travelex ATM; because of Travelex's reputation of high charges at their in-person exchanges, I was reluctant to use their ATM, although I guess any extra charges would have been disclosed.  Then in the arrivals hall, I didn't see any ATMs; I had Margaret watch the bags while I went to the departures level.  There I made two withdrawals of the machine's maximum of €250; I would have preferred €300, but this would cover the apartment payment and getting around for the day.

I got luggage carts that worked like shopping carts, inserting a coin that would be returned when the cart was chained to others.  We loaded it and took it to the Alilaguna dock, for the airport boat where I'd bought tickets online for a 1-euro discount.  I needed to exchange the voucher for tickets at the office by the dock.  There was a wait a little past the scheduled time to board, having them hold the luggage at the top level, somewhat ordered by destination, while we sat in a ring of seats on the lower level.  We had the nice view to make the approach to the city by boat.

I had planned this because the apartment representative had promised tomeet us and take us to the apartment, implying that it would be ready in time for our early arrival.  On Friday, however, I got an email not to expect it to be ready until 11.30, to allow for cleaning after a previous check-out.  I texted about our boarding, and figured we'd sit at a café until we heard it was ready.  There was no obvious spot right at the Guglie stop; as we were starting to look, we got a text to be at the S. Marcuola vaporetto stop in 20 minutes or so.  I looked for that and reached a few dead ends simply opening to the Canal Grande.  i eventually found the spot, and so that this stop, which would be the one of choice, would be closed from Monday through the week.  My phone rang, and I think Sara, the rep, simply turned the corner to see where the ring was coming from.  She and the man with her led us to our apartment, showing us there and it looked very nice, a studio apartment with a kitchen that was very nice and worked as a separate room, with a counter for eating and computer work.  While it was close to the Strada Nova (going by other names), a main walking thoroughfare, it was on a quiet street.

We were determined to keep active through the day.  We chose restaurants from the Chow Venice book and author Shannon's handwritten updates.  We had a nice opening lunch at Casa Mia, towards the Rialto.

We'd booked a 4 p.m. skip-the-line admission to S. Marco.  We walked there:  in the wide parts of the Strada Nova, the crowds were manageable, but we got to narrow areas where the crowds were heavy.  We got to S. Marco and the crowds, herded through, with the mosaics not illuminated as I'd hoped for Sunday.  We got home, after a stop for a spritz, and had a pizza nearby before collapsing for the night.

We slept soundly and late for Monday, with our first mission to get a SIM card for Margaret's iPad.  The €10 to get a lot of data time had a total cost of €25.  We walked to follow a back canal; after some distance, we went and stopped at a café for drinks and light eating, while we explored the GPS capabilities of the iPad with data.  I was encouraging Margaret to make that her device of choice while in Italy.  We went home, and I started working on this blog.  There was some drama when I first found my change wallet in the inner workings of the sofa bed.  I also wasn't finding the case for my iPhone, and I felt the need to fold the sofa bed up to look for it.  I found the case someplace else, and then it seemed that the sofa wouldn't turn back to a bed; eventually with a firm push I got it back.

But then Margaret wondered where the iPad was; had she used it since the café?  She used the Find feature on her phone,and found the iPad showing at the café.  We went back there, it was closed, but we saw the man behind the window who gave it back, what a relief.  Going out for coffee became close to dinner time; we were exploring some options of what to do and decided to go back to Fondamenta degli Ormesini where we'd been twice, and eat at Al Timon.  It was crowded, and we first had a selection of cicchetti; then the waiter suggested we might like the steak, which was priced by weight and huge, quite a full meal.

So those are the basics of these first two days, finding Venice great for its uniqueness, finding some crowds but also areas to get away.

Out on our anniversary and more

Wednesday was our first anniversary, and we woke up late.  From recent SlowTrav discussions, we'd decided that we'd like to go to Burano for lunch at the Gatto Nero.  This was the result of recent mentions on SlowTrav, where it was also made clear that we needed to reserve.  I was worried because when I went to their Web site on arrival, the first date for online reservations was Thursday, there was no answer on their closing day Monday, but on Tuesday I made a reservation by phone without a problem.

On Wednesday, we went to the Guglie stop to take one vaporetto to Fondamenta Nove, where we caught the other line to Burano.  It was a long ride, and we got to Gatto Nero just past our reserved time of 1.  We sat outside, even with a slight chill, and Margaret was impressed when they brought us prosecco, thinking they were marking our anniversary, but in fact they were bringing it even to people who were looking at the menu, although it may have been established that they were waiting to be seated.  The restaurant had a sign up that they were full for the day, but they could still get people in with a wait.  We shared a risotto, Margaret had sole, and I had grilled scampi.  They comped us our dessert and coffee.  It was a great way to celebrate a year of marriage, an I can't completely  come to an understanding of it, but it's a wonderful thing.  We just had a little time to walk around Burano with its multiple colors and great shops, before we made our way home.  

On Thursday, we had a booking for the Secret Itineraries tour of the Doges Palace.  With it starting at 9.55, I figured that, after a quick online check at 9 we could get to the vaporetto.  Well, a few things went wrong:  the S. Marcuola stop closing, meaning we needed to go to to Ca' D'Oro, where we got just as  a run of our line was leaving.  I also hadn't looked at the schedules:  even if they wouldn't be followed exactly, I would know how long the run to S. Marco would take.  When we boarded the next one, there were so many stops and we got in late.  We asked at the palace ticket office about getting in, even rebooking with a later tour; they said it waan't possible, but then a guard led us to join the tour in progress, much appreciated, in being taken through the small rooms with interesting stories.  

Margaret wasn't feeling the best, and asked to leave before joining the regular palace visit.  I made a pretty quick visit of the grandiose rooms with great artwork, and the crossing of the Bridge of Sighs, before exiting and having trouble finding her, before I eventually did.  We then had a look at the Museo Correr, with a lunch at their cafe overlooking the Piazza, before Margaret was ready to go home.

After a rest, we had an afternoon walk including the Jewish Ghetto, very interesting.  Our dinner (reserved) was at Da Alberto, another of Shannon's top recommendations.  It was a popular place with excellent pasta and fish options:  I followed Shannon's advice to favor the specials.

We've been so busy that I haven't been blogging in detail, and it's hard to put final thoughts together about Venice as we leave:  it is a special city, with tourist crowds, but I saw much of it as a living city and a great place.

Getting around Venice

On Tuesday, I was ready to start the validity of the 72-hour vaporetto passes we bought online.  The initial plan was to convert them at the ticket machines at the San Marcuola stop, but I saw when we arrived to check into the apartment that the stop would be closed for the week, so we went to the Ca' D'Oro stop.  The instructions on the voucher said that we could input a code into the ticket machine and get our passes, but I was not seeing any such option:  it was either pay for the tickets, or wave a pass in front of the machine to extend the pass.  We went to the nearby tobacco shop, where they advised us to go to the staffed ticket office at Rialto.  There we were able to convert the passes, and it gets to be questionable what the advantage of the online purchase was.  

The first stop I had in mind was the Accademia.  We got there and had a nice visit of the great collection of Venetian-focused art, with a higher admission price than usual because of show of Carlo Saraceni.  It's impressive to visit grand structures that can't be supplied by land motor vehicles.

A walk afterwards took us to the Zattere, and from Shannon's guide we determined that it would be good to have a light lunch at Cantinone Già Schiavi.  There was a nice assortment of cicchetti, which we had to eat standing.  We found a place to get off our feet, sitting at a café on Campo S. Barnaba.  It wasn't too long to get to the next sight I had in mind, the Frari Basilica, an impressive structure, using it for the first of the three Chorus churches on our museum passes.  Seeing that the Scuola Grande di S. Rocco was nearby, we went there, the climb to the upper floor being rewarded with great artwork.

We got the vaporetto back to Ca' D'Oro and home, and it was close to time to cross the canal again for dinner:  at one of our breaks, I called to reserve at another of Shannon's favorites, La Zucca.  They could get us in at a shared inside table at 7.  Now with the passes, we made the trip one stop to San Stae, and found that.  It's at a nice intersection of small calli and canals.  It was hard to choose from their many dishes, mostly meat-based, many with pumpkin.  We both had tagliatelle with duck sauce and chicken tandoori, an innovative selection.

So, saying that for today; tomorrow's our anniversary.