Dave and Brian's Excellent Adventures

Feb 26th - Rosemary's back from the tour -

Ciao! I got back from Milan today and David picked me up at the bus stop. I was SO glad to see him! He got to me to our condo and then had to go back to work. It will be a long rest of the day for them. They might not be back till midnight.

I am not good at typing on laptops as it is, but I am on Brian's now, with a smaller keyboard so I will apologize now for any mispellings and sentences that may not make sense. I may not go back to correct them.

So, let's go back to 3 days ago, when our tour arrived in Venice - WOW!! We were dropped off at some docks and we boarded water taxies. These boats have very low roofs but 3 of us sat on the back bench where there was like a sun roof open. We stood up, marveling at all the sights - churchs and colored buildings and beautiful lamp posts and gondolas, etc, etc - we felt like we were standing through a sunroof of a limo! I felt so lucky to have that opportunity to see so much and take so many photos (which I'll see when I can download them on to David's computer tomorrow) which I couldn't have if I had sat under the wooden roof. Everything is taken by boats - including caskets - I saw one covered in flowers on a gondola that was heading to the island that has their cemetery on it. (yes, I took a photo of it - now, you know you would have too!). The other thing I was excited about as we entered Venice was that Venice has a Mardi Gras and we were arriving on the next to the most festive day of it! (that was Thursday...the biggest day will be this coming Tuesday). After getting off the boat, we walked through small streets, and over bridges that were arched shaped, that had boats and gondolas going under them - there were lots of people in the streets...some wearing masks (I had seen some of these masks in Florence and wanted to buy one then but decided to hold out till I got to Venice.) We got to our hotel -- the entrance was in front of 1 of those arches bridges. We had a little free time to get lunch before our next tour, so I went with the 2 ladies I've mentioned before and a Mom and her 2 daughters (who are 24 & 29) - they can "smell" good food and pastries and hot chocolate shops a mile away! They'll buy 5 or 6 different pastries at once and share them, to see which ones they like best. We had a delicious lunch, which we ate while walking. I wanted to sit down but they wanted to keep moving, so I did too. Those 5 ladies are a LOT of fun. Then, we went with a local guide to a large square and into a town hall. While were in the square, and supposed to be paying attention to the guide, we were all distracted by people that were starting to enter the square, in costumes. Some costumes were very elaborate, so of course we had to take photos. The people would stop and pose. Some had their own photographers with them and did some elaborate poses. I felt bad for the guide but I think we all were getting a bit "guided toured" out, especially with the Carnivale atmosphere around us. After the tour was over, the two daughters I told you about earlier bought bird seed and we all took turns holding food and letting pigeons come onto our hands, arms, head, etc. It was such fun. We went to a shop and I got the best hot chocolate I've had so far - they've all been different. Some have actually been almost as thick as chocolate pudding. This one was light with gobs of real whipped cream (panna) on top. We got our way back through the crowds to our hotel - we had decided to go out to dinner and then back to the square to attend a free concert that was for the carnivale. I was feeling frazzled and thought I'd get to rest but the others said "we are leaving in 10 mins!" We had to bundle up as it was getting really cold out. So, after hemming and hawing, I decided I'd never have this opportunity again, and I didn't want to go alone, so I went with them. Someone else had scoped out a neat restaurant with great, yet inexpensive food so that's where we had dinner. We got our orders in just before hoards of other people came in. After eating and looking in shops (there are lots of neat shops) we went to the square. They were playing piped in music and showing photos from a projector onto the very tall clock tower that is there. At 9pm the tension was mounting and the musicians came on stage - trumpets and a tuba.....a tuba?? The music started slow and after some songs it got more upbeat (no singing, just instruments). Those that understood the significance were boogying on down, but we didn't get it - we tried to boogie anyways. As the crowd became more intense and the pushing and shoving started we linked arms and formed a circle... we became the "G-5" and held our ground. We weren't supposed to "break the circle" but I let an insistant woman get through and then others followed and I almost got whisked away with them, but I held on and got back in the circle. We had our own fun time. We all agreed that every single song sounded the same. Another, larger band came on and they played the same song the first group did!! - or so it souned to us. If someone next to us was doing something strange (which happened alot) we'd move our circle, in mass, away from them. Well, I am beat and can't write anymore. I'll try to write more soon.
Ciao, ciao and Love, Mom/Rosemary

posted by DaveandBrian @ 11:16 AM