There and Back(pack) Again:

Chapter 1: How do you make a Venetian blind?*

Our first stop on the Grand Tour was Venice. The train ride through the Swiss Alps was simply gorgeous, and filled with colrful characters, such as the 20-something girl sitting across from us who kept smelling her armpits. Or the woman who was bawling on her cell phone, and another woman behind us who, by the sounds she was making, was well on her way to reaching heights of ecstasy that the rest of us can only dream of. Anyway... this city was my pick, since I just spent the last semester studying its history. So, I think I got a lot more out of it than Elizabeth did. I think for her the novelty of the canals and the many winding alley-like streets that rarely displayed names (and if they did, they changed after a block) wore off rather quickly.

It is amazing to look back and see how naive we were that first day, and then compare it to our worldly wisdom by the end. On the advice of Liz's friend Patty, who was a tremendous asset to the planning of this trip, we did not book any hostels in advance. We wanted to be flexible, be spontaneous, and change our plans on a whim. We quickly discovered that would not be the case. As we arrived at our first hostel, the receptionist informed us that they were booked, and that most hostels book days in advance. Good to know. Luckily, she gave us the name of a "budget hotel/hostel." So we checked it out. It didn't look too bad, really. The kind, little old lady welcomed us, and insisted on showing us the dormitory setup before we took it. And by "dormitory" I mean "attic." Imagine an attic. Imagine clotheslines with sheets for walls, separating the tiny beds from each other. Bingo. We quickly got used to Spartan settings.

Since we arrived in the late afternoon, by the time we got checked in, it was already early evening, so most of the museums and sights had closed. So, we took one of the water-buses, or "vaporetti" down the Grand Canal and checked out the Piazza de San Marco, the Doge's Palace, the whole shebang. Sure, we couldn't go inside because they were closed, but it was still really cool just to walk around, check out the amazing architecture, and enjoy gelatto. Sweet, sweet gelatto. After that, we found ourselves near the Museo d'Arte Erotica. Not something you might normally go to with your sister, but then again, mine is hardly a normal family. I actually rather enjoyed the museum. It had a great deal of history to it, and was quite well done. Done with that, we picked up a pizza and a 4 Euro bottle of chianti and headed back to the "hotel" where we spent the rest of the evening drinking and planning the rest of our trip.

In the morning, we took another one of the vaporetti down to Venice's Galleria del Accademia. Yes, my sister and I are big museum junkies, so this trip included plenty of those. Some of the notables in this museum included Titian and Veronese. Good guys. Sadly, that was all the time we had booked for that day if we wanted to spend the afternoon in Ferrara and be in Florence by early evening. Thus, with a small lump in my throat (I think it was the loaf of bread I just wolfed down) I said farewell to "La Serenissima," Venice.


*You poke him in the eye!