VENICE, ITALY – Venice is a wonderful place to visit. There is so much to do. I feel so lucky to be here on an extended stay (35 days). If you have flown here for just 3 to 5 days you will be leaving having never recovered from jet lag! Since I have been afforded the luxury of a leisurely visit, I will share a few “tips” for visiting Venice:Be prepared for cooler temperatures. We arrived May 4. The heat had been turned off April 30. This was not just in our apartment or even just in our own apartment building, but throughout Lido. The heat cannot be turned back on! So, on the first night in Lido, I took out three extra blankets from the wardrobe in my bedroom and slept under them for several nights. Then, when the weekend came, the outside temperature shot up to 81 degrees during the day. I put one blanket back in the wardrobe. A few days later I put the second blanket back in the wardrobe. Nine days after our arrival I returned the third blanket to the wardrobe.
When walking in the heart of Venice, Venetians know never to walk on the marble walkways. I tried to avoid stepping on the metal slabs reinforcing some of the bridges which can be slick if they’re wet and/or your shoes are smooth on the bottoms. But the marble is even worse regarding slickness
La Danza di Chiavi—The Dance of the Keys
When Anne and I first arrived at our apartment we each received a set of three keys. The first couple of nights only four of the six would work. Then five out of six worked. We made a replacement key at the hardware store and then a second replacement key, neither of which would work. We had to be sure that we were always together whenever we returned to the apartment so that between the two of us, we’d have enough keys to let ourselves in. Almost an entire week went by before we each had a set of three working keys. As it turned out, all six of our original keys did actually work—once we learned the secrets. First there is the key to the outside gate, then the key to the building, then the key to the apartment door itself. And each key has its own quirks in every lock. We must have spent 15 or 20 minutes on our first full day here teaching each other how many clicks to turn the key clockwise to open and then counter-clockwise to lock just on the door to the apartment. Every homecoming was an experience. Thus the “Dance of the Keys” every single time. By the seventh day, we’d taught ourselves all the tricks and clicks.
Find out from the apartment owners exactly what to do should you accidentally trip a breaker or press the wrong electrical switch. This is best not done until after you’ve recovered from a sleepless night on an airplane while you’re still experiencing jet lag. We’d inadvertently turned the wrong switches off and on and were without hot water at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night. We called the owner who lives an hour and a half away in Padua. He promised to come the next morning at 10. We called him back 10 minutes later with a new theory as to what may have happened and within seconds we realized that we’d turned something off that we hadn’t even known was on. Problem solved instantaneously.
Practice using your Italian, even if it’s only a few words. I received the highest compliment from a shopkeeper when I’d misinterpreted the price of an item and apologized (mi dispiace) and asked to please (per favore) exchange it for the correct one – a smaller size (piccolo) speaking all in Italian. When we’d completed the transaction she said to me (in Italian) that my Italian was perfetto (perfect) for an American. I was truly taken by surprise. I thanked her (grazie mille) and she gave me a big hug when I left the store. This occurred on only the fifth day into a 35-day stay. After the first couple of days in town, I noticed that I had stopped carrying around my Rick Steves’ Italian book every day and just enjoyed “winging it” as far as studying the language is concerned. And every day, I find that I’ve added a few more words to my vocabulary;
If you want to attend Mass at St. Mark’s Basilica at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, don’t wait in the big long line at the main entrance. Continue past that long line around to a small door on the left side of the building and say to the gentlemen standing there “vorrei la messa” (I wish the mass) and just walk right in.
Do not carry a bottle of Bellini home from the supermercato (grocery store) on a humid day and then try to open it right away; it acts like soda or champagne and bubbles up all over the place;
Recycle your rinsed-out bottles (glass or plastic) and take them to the special wine shop that will fill them with prosecco for a much cheaper price than you’d pay in the grocery store or liquour store. A 2L bottle cost us only 2.30 euros to refill; more economical than a supermarket bottle for 2.99 euros and up. Bet Rick Steves doesn’t know about that! This evening I’m going past the shop to refill a rinsed out plastic coke bottle and a rinsed out glass Kaiser Wasser (acqua minerale naturale) bottle.
I recommend bringing a collapsible plastic water bottle with you and refilling it every time you head out the door for the day. This is the greatest little thing for quenching your thirst on those long days of walking around in the humidity seeing all the sights. I bought my first one in the Dollar Store several years ago (but it was shaped like an elephant which was fine during an Election Year, but not so much for touring around Venice). This time, I found them at Michael’s craft store for $2.99. I had gone to five different stores this time around before finally finding them at Michael’s. They were in the children’s section. I rinse mine out every night, fill it not quite to the top, and place it in the freezer until the next morning. Perfetto;
I bought a small wireless keyboard that connects with my Smartphone via Bluetooth and it has been a lifesaver. As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in a small cafe/bar called Ristorante Roxy Bar on the Gran Viale in Lido, Venezia utilizing the free wi-fi here while enjoying a bottle of mineral water. It allows me to type really quickly instead of struggling with the teeny phone keyboard or having to pay at the Internet cafe and going crazy trying to decipher the Italian keyboard!
Watch for updates to this article, as time goes by!
