Venice

I didn't expect much. I don't know why, but I was expecting the least from Venice. We had chosen our itinerary carefully and I definitely wanted to see Venice, but I didn't expect to love it.

I had heard it was smelly and dirty. Ok, so I knew what to expect. Well, at least I thought I did.

We landed around 9:30 a.m. Brian had prepared notebooks for the trip which included all of our research, mostly his. Anyway, we were planning on buying a 72 hour vaporetti (think water bus)pass. We got our luggage at the airport, well Helen got our luggage. We were trying to keep Brian from using his newly-surgically-enhanced back. I was standing on one side and Helen on the other and the next thing I knew she was trying to wheel all of our bags.

Brian directed us to a stand in the airport which sold the vaporetti tickets. We got ours and got on the bus, which took us to the vaporetti area. Wheeling our luggage up to the water, we wanted to make sure we were taking the right vaporetti. First warning of Italy, there isn't alot of written information regarding their transit systems, from the vaporettis to the Trenitalia (the trains).

Helen and I stood by our luggage while Brian decided to go up to the overly crowded stand to see if he could find information about the vaporettis.

All of us were cautious on the trip, we had heard of too many stories of people trying to distract you to take off with your luggage, handbags, etc.

Brian had his backpack on and was standing in a crowd. He said there was some guy behind him that stood very close, so he kept looking back. Often.

It had been several minutes and I turned around to see if Brian was emerging from the crowd. Then I look up and I see, not Brian. But someone who looks exactly like my Indian nephew, Saumil. There's a huge crowd and I'm thinking, "Weird, that guy looks just like Saumil." Then I see his big grin. It WAS Saumil.

Saumil became part of my family when he was getting him MBA at Purdue several years ago. Helen had contacted him because of an issue she had for work and Saumil had written a book on Viruses. Over the years, he became her "son" and ergo, my nephew. Helen and Brian had gone off to India when he married and since then he and Brian have traveled all over the world. Saumil makes a visit to his Indiana home every so often.

At one point in our trip planning, Saumil and his wife talked about joining us. Unfortunately it had not worked out. He had kept up with our itinerary. He was at a conference in Amsterdam and was heading to Dubai, but had two nights that coincided with our time in Venice.

He hadn't told any of us. He had called the lady who owned our flat to get the address in case he didn't find us before that. He did. His plane flew in at another airport 20 minutes before ours. He figured he just might catch us at the vaporetti.

So Brian was standing in line and watching the people behind him when he gets a big slap on his back. He turned around and was shocked that Saumil was there.

It was the start of a perfect trip. Here's a pic of me and my two nephews enjoying Venice.

So, I hadn't expected to love Venice. But that is exactly what I did. It was wonderful.

We had been told to expect jet lag and to take a nap for 3 hours. Well, with Saumil's surprise, there was no way that was going to happen. Maybe Saumil is the cure for jetlag.

We took everything to the flat, which was right on a canal where we could watch gondola after gondola go right past our windows.

This is one of the first pictures I took from our window.

We started out immediately seeing all the sights. All I can say is that I was overwhelmed. Venice had such charm. The narrow pathways and numerous canal bridges. You can completely get lost and yet not be lost.

And, as I've made it more than clear, I hate to shop. But along all the streets were small, intimate shops where everything looked like it was asking to be taken home. I was fascinated. I really really wanted to buy an authentic Venetian mask, but I did not want to pay the shipping cost and I knew I would have to carry it over the next 16 days and not damage it.

The next morning we were awoken by the serenading of an accordian player taking a ride with some tourist on a gondola. I wanna have that kind of "alarm clock" every morning.

Saumil has friends all over the world and the next morning he had arranged for two of Italian friends to provide us some tours. This is me, Saumil, Andrea, Danieli, Helen and Brian in Murano.

Murano is an island off of Venice that is world-known for it's glass. It was such a quaint gorgeous place. And it was fun having Italian escorts as we made our way through the town.

In short, Venice was nothing like I expected. It was not dirty or smelly. It was wonderfully enchanting. St. Mark's Basilica was the highlight. Well, except for being surprised before we even set foot in Venice.