We awake today to another bright, sunny, hot and humid summer day. The further we walk from our hotel, the more people we see, like us, walking in and out of the many maze-like corridors and up and down the many stairs that comprise the bridges that go over the canals of the city. It’s a wonderland. I think to myself that it would take me a year to get a sense of the layout of the city.
We find a nice place for pizza and pasta at lunchtime and begin to see the sights. There are many basilicas that Shawn finds for us to explore. Also, our hotel has a beautiful, private garden that extends all the way back to the lagoon. There are little stairways and secret pathways woven throughout the garden, as well as beautiful plants and spectacular green hydrangeas. There are statues and benches and little below ground dungeon-type rooms to discover. We take a million pictures, it seems.
We see the the Basilica dei Santi Guovanni e Paola, Ponte de Rialto, the most written about bridge that extends over the Grand Canal, and the Grand Canal itself.
We go on to the Palazzo de Cantarini del Bovoli, a beautiful historical building with a large, circular staircase and then on to the Teatro La Fenice, where we decide to see a performance tomorrow evening.
Our last stop of the evening is Basilica de San Marcos, situated in the Piazza San Marco Ristorante Quadre. We share tapas and drink wine and listen to the live music playing outside the restaurant we have chosen. We witness a wedding proposal, as well as a bird making a surprise landing on a lady’s head! She is walking by us and eating gelato on a cone. He lands on her dark, long hair hard and fast, most likely to get a bite of her treat, but takes off just as quickly when she screams! I feel so bad for her! Her male companion was walking ahead of her and missed the whole thing!
We learn about roses in Venice. Let me explain.
Earlier today, we watched a gentleman carrying a bunch of roses hand one to a lady. The man then said something to the lady’s male companion. The companion then took the rose from the lady and angrily gave it back to the man who handed it to her. I wasn’t sure what happened but guessed that it must be that the rose is not a gift. Several times throughout the day, I was offered a rose by various men throughout the city and declined as politely as I could. While in the plaza, we witnessed this same interaction, over and over, that is, women refusing the roses. Twice we saw women accept the rose and twice, after the gentlemen had words with their companions the roses were given back. Once, a young lady was presented a rose, which she happily accepted. Her mother was walking behind her and gestured to her, “No, no, no!” She took the rose from her bewildered daughter and hastily gave it back to the man.
We learned that this is a common scam, not just in Venice, but throughout Italy. The rose is given as a gift, but one or two Euros is then requested. If the Euros are not presented as expected, the giver becomes angry. That’s when we noticed the roses being given back. I was thankful I had seen the one exchange before the first rose was handed to me!
A second lesson of today is that though tips are not expected but are appreciated throughout the countries we have visited, here more than any other place, if one does tip, the recipient asks us for euros, versus adding it to the check after a meal. Many tell us they cannot put a tip on the check. In addition, there are many tickets that cannot be purchased with a credit card.
Lastly, we learned how the city was built on soft ground and why it is currently considered to be sinking. There is no swimming in the canals due to safety. The boat traffic is constant and also, the water is not safe to be in as the city would have to be raised half a meter in order to have sewage pipes. New buildings do have updated systems and septic tanks but still, much wastewater ends up in the canals and unfortunately, it is flushed out to the sea.