Venice

Arrived about 30 minutes late. Weather is brilliant..nice and sunny and warm. As instructed we took Waterbus 82 and how we managed to miss our stop at the Rialto Bridge I have no idea but miss it we did and we had to get a boat back the way. Not a big deal. Now it's only 3:00 O'clock and we have to wait for our landlord until 5:30. No prizes for guessing what we decided to do. We managed quite nicely to fill in the time sitting in the sun at a canalside restaurant with a bottle of Chianti. At 4 O'clock I called the landlord who apparently was on a train either going to or coming from Milan, and from the quality of the transmission, I would hazard to say he was in a tunnel. As best I understood, we were to kind of just keep doing what we were doing (sitting watching the world go by) and his wife would somehow or other find us by virtue of us sitting at the # 82 waterbus stop.
Needless to say 6:00 o'clock and we're still waiting for Filomena (or Kathia) to appear. Another cell call to the tunnel bound Milan landlord who in turn called his missing wife who it turns out was standing no more than a few feet away from us. So the meeting is consummated and off we go, but only a short distance.. up a close (narrow dark street for the uninitiated), through a medieval door, up a steep smelly staircase and into this big apartment. Furnished in a cross between 50's Walmart and 40's St. Clair & Dufferin, this place isn't the Ritz, but I doubt you could find a better location in the whole of Venice. We have 2 big windows that overlook the Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge, so close in fact, we are no more than 100 yards from the bridge. The place is buzzing and the canal is jammed, with water taxis and buses, gondolas and every other kind of craft.. Once we got settled, we went off for a walk and reached St. Marks Square in less than 15 minutes. Peter...thanks for the recommendation for Harry's Bar. It seemed like quite the place but they asked me to leave...apparently Tilley Shorts and crocks (shoes) are not an acceptable dress code. I've been asked to leave better and worse places so no big deal...probably saved 20 euros by not ordering a couple of drinks.
Anyway supper outdoors again.  For me, a to die for seafood pasta while Una just had a salad. Before you know it it's 11:00 so I got a couple of ice creams and we sat at the window watching the world go by. This really is a most incredible city. The ambiance is wonderful, the architecture amazing and the shops are magnificent. I can tell already that we will not want to leave for Rome, our next stop.

The pics above were taken from our window, so you can appreciate the view we have.

I have still to find a wireless internet cafe but hopefully will tomorrow so I get get up to date on my postings..

Ciao for now.