The morning train stopped at what seemed like a dock on a wide river. We didn't sleep well last night on the couchette. Mine sloped towards the left and the French man above me was snoring. However, I was grateful to have mostly slept through the long journey through southern France and saved a night's hotel stay. We stepped out of the train, groggy, but my eyes were once again wide opened with amazement. To watch on TV vs. seeing Venice in person is completely incomparable. Mansions, theatres, museums, houses seemed to float on this winding body of water. It's old, some are even moldy, but so very beautiful.
We hopped on a boat-bus down the Grand Canal and checked into our hotel, a pensione just shy of the Rialto Bridge. Right outside, the mercato has just started, stands of fruits, vegetables, meats and loud chatters (as opposed to from the quieter mutters in France) of Italian rose gaily around me.
The loads of tourists that poured in from neighboring cities and cruise ships got the better of us, especially Quoc. It was thoroughly much too crowded. We skipped the Doge's Palace tour and didn't spend too much time in St. Mark's Square but opted instead to walk the back streets and find eateries, i.e., more gelato for me. We had squid ink pasta for the first time here, and discovered that Venice is more expensive than the parts of France where we've passed. The air-conditioned pensione proved to be more of a refuge than previously imagined.
After dinner, when most of the tourists have left, we took another stroll through the markets near the Rialto Bridge, where I bought a hand made leather journal, pondered about the Venetian glass but decided we couldn't travel very well with it. Around our hotel, a Venetian jazz band was playing - American and Italian songs alike, in front of a waterfront restaurant. People were dancing, licking gelato, drinking wine in the moonlight. We picked a spot near the water and joined in, pretended that we were locals. It was thoroughly romantic. I asked my husband what he thought about Venice now. "Well... you can't ignore all the water." I think he likes it, finally.
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