Back in Venice!

Well, what a difference a season makes.  When I was here in February, the weather was much cooler and the streets were filled people in all sorts of historical and fantasy costumes.  Now, it is much warmer (hot and humid today) and the costumes have been replaced with tourists in every manner of summer wear, including some very tacky shredded cutoffs (some of which were cut off a bit too much!).  Not sure why other people have to ensure seeing girls' asses hanging out of their shorts and why is it that the ones who do that have such unattractive butts?  Gosh, I sound like a grumpy old lady, don't I?  I do remember years and years ago when I was in my 30s being spat at by an old lady in Hungary when I was wearing silk walking shorts.  Times have sure changed.  Okay, enough about that.

I arrived here Monday afternoon and settled into my hotel which is about halfway between the Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco.  The perfect location, however, couldn't balance out the teeny tiny room I got.  Thankfully, they moved me and I now have a bigger one.  I was tired that evening so I decided to make it simple and just go to a restaurant that I ate at a couple of times in February.  I was delighted when the maitre d' recognized me from February and immediately brought me a glass of Prosecco after I sat down.  It was sort of a "Cheers" moment ("where everybody knows your name" if you remember the theme song from the TV show).

The following day (Tuesday), I sorted out a SIM card which, for 1 Euro a day for 30 days is sure going to beat paying $12 a day with Telus for basically the same service.  It is the first time I have done this and I think it is going to work.  Whew!  After that, I splurged (really, really splurged) and went to Piazza San Marco for lunch at Florian's.  I won't tell you how much it cost but, after losing a close friend a week ago, my credo has become making sure I savour each and every day and make sure I do things that bring me pleasure and create wonderful memories.  No regrets!  So, I sat listening to the orchestra play, among other selections, all the tunes from My Fair Lady and enjoyed my little ham and egg sandwich and glasses of Prosecco and freshly squeezed orange juice.  Suffice it to say that this lunch was more expensive than my dinner the previous evening.  However, hearing the bells of the Basilica ringing at noon and watching all the people made for a very enjoyable 2 hours.  Besides, once I am on the ship in a few days, meals are included as is wine!  It will average out.

After a rest at the hotel (catching up on my sleep, after a particularly noisy night), I returned to Florian's just after 7 to meet up with John and Pedro. They just happened to be in Venice at the same time as me.  What a wonderful surprise!  

Later, we had dinner at a restaurant called Il Teatro next to La Fenice.  It was lovely and the bonus was that I had only about a 5 minute walk back to my hotel.  What a great start to my vacation!  Tomorrow (Wednesday) I am doing a "wine and cicchetti" tour midday.  That should be fun!  If it is, the next blog will be about that.