Andrew+Bethany= :) the Life of the A&B Brown Family: Venezia

September 19, 2014--Daddy's Travel Log

We arose this morning to rain, our first of the trip. Andy reminded us this is why Geneva is so green and that we had just been spoiled to date. A&B took us to the Geneva Airport through the Kiss and Fly lane (Swiss for drop off lane). Easy Jet is Europe’s version of the early Jet Blue. You pay for everything a-la-carte and it took some getting used to from an expectations standpoint. We had a bag that was 4 kilos over and had to pay like 40 Euro extra, then found out we could have packed some weight in the small bag which they let us add to our checked baggage for free. Go figure. The flight was only 10 minutes late and soon we were on our way to Venice. Upon arriving, we grabbed our luggage and the #5 bus to the island. It was a local and stopped wherever it could along the way. Upon arrival at the bus terminal, we were met by Andrea (a nice man with delicate tendencies) who showed us the way to our apartment. The Jury was out on expectations. We were paying $140 for a two bedroom apartment where two hotel rooms would have run us $600 easy. We had a nice surprise, however. The walk was short to Calle del Amai where the apartment was located. The only bad news was it was on the 4^th floor, 5^th floor if you count them what is known as the right way, and there was no elevator. Fortunately, Andrea put his back into it and we made the climb in one trip. The apartment was clean and as advertised, complete with kitchen, dining/ living area, bathroom and two bedrooms. Andrea explained to us 10 times that we only used the key to get into the apartment, not to exit, and to close the door quietly as to not rouse the neighbors. This is Italy and he’s worried about noise? How about the singing drunks staggering down the alley that night at 1 am??

About the time we got settled, the call came from Bethany that their flight had been delayed and that they would be arriving after 6 pm instead of 2 pm. As the night wore on, we received three other calls with news of later delays, but more on that later.

Tammy and I decided to head to San Marcos Square, a mere 45 minute walk if you made no wrong turns (impossible in Venice) and saw many fun shops and flea markets along the way as we crossed bridges, strolled down narrow alley ways and hit a dead end or two. San Marcos was bustling and to Tammy’s disappointment, we could not find any bird seed salesmen. She was hoping I would lay down on the ground again, cover myself with bird seed and have the pigeons reenact The Birds all over yours truly. Blessings came from heaven and I was spared. We headed back to the apartment and ate pizza and spaghetti at a corner restaurant where a mime was working the passersby while a Russian family was working the owner of the restaurant over their food bill. A bunch of thugs and the wife was leading the way.

We received another call from B&A that the flight was even later so we went out for a dinner we were to spend with them and ate next to a bunch of Brits and Americans who were going on one of the cruise boats tomorrow. A group of 10 all ordered steak and mushrooms. A cow must have given its life earlier that day. I had sea bass which turned out to be the whole fish, head and all. No avoiding bones when it comes like that. Tammy wisely ordered the ravioli. Since B&A were going to be way late, we decided to take the water bus down the canal and sight see. The ride, however, was quite slow and we soon began to worry we would not get back in time to meet the happy couple so we hopped off and anxiously awaited the water bus going the other direction. Just then the phone rang and Bethany was calling to tell us they had just arrived AT THE BUS STATION!. What happened to texting us as soon as the plane landed. Unfortunately, we were 40 minutes out so they had to wait while we cheered on the boat driver to paddle faster. We were soon united at the Bus station and Bethany’s anxiety level dropped back down to normal.

To bed to bed was the call and we headed to the apartment for a good night’s sleep. We would only have a few hours before heading to the airport/ cruise ship.

September 20, 2014

We got up this morning to find NO HOT WATER!!! Only in Venice. As it turns out, you had to turn the “on demand” hot water heater on. Unfortunately, we did not discover this until we were all headed out the door. We had a good laugh. We had a nice leisure breakfast at a little cafe with yummy pastries and freshly squeezed juices. So good!

Breakfast Cafe

We decided to walk around for 1.5 hours before having to leave and found the local food market which was incredibly active and complete. Everything from fresh produce to every kind of fish one could want. We visited all kinds of other shops too, before grabbing the water bus back to the apartment. As luck would have it, Andrea was just leaving the apartment and encouraged us to vamoose because the next guests were about to arrive. We grabbed our stuff, gave our goodbye hugs to the kids and hopped on the #5 back to Marco Polo Airport. What a great trip with them.