We made plans to meet the Caldwells this morning at 8:30 am at the base of the campanile in St. Marks square. Valentyna had breakfast laid out for us, bread, jams, milk, tea, toast. We quickly ate, then popped out the door to the bus stop to catch the first ride into Venice. When we got to Piazza Roma, we purchased two day passes (30 euros each) for the vaporetta boats, the “buses” on water that ply the grand canal and other areas of the city. We jumped on a Line 1 boat. This boat takes 45 minutes to cruise the grand canal, stopping at each stop along the way. It was the 7:45 am boat, so we hoped to make St. Marks at 8:30 am. The boat was full, but not crowded. We assumed that most of the people on board were people that worked in the shops of the city. It was amazing to see how much boat traffic there was on the grand canal. Barges, taxis, buses like ours, individuals in personal boats, garbage boats and more.
We stepped of the boat at the St. Mark’s stop at 8:28 am, and by the time we walked across the square we were a few minutes late, but found the Caldwell’s sitting at the base of the campanile.
We discussed options of what to see and do for a few minutes, then walked around a bit, exploring the area. Eventually, we all put on Rick Steves’ audio tour of the square and spent the next hour or so learning the history and some of the interesting elements of the buildings and people that surround the square.
In preparation for the wedding and to reduce the luggage load, Pat had mailed their wedding clothes to the wedding site. Sally had put her shoes and dress in as well. The package never made it to its destination. With tracking number in hand, part of our activities of the day were to find what had happened to the box. There are a number of postal office scattered through Venice, one located just of Saint Mark’s square. After our audio tour, we thought we should explore solving the mystery of the missing box.
We took a number in the post office and soon Pat and Bill were meeting with a clerk, getting help. It was found the box had been stopped in customs, was sitting in Milan and they were given a phone number to call. My cellular connection was still not working, so we decided we would walk to the restaurant we had eaten at last night to use their connection. The wifi in Bill and Pats flat had quit working this morning. But, before we wandered the streets from St. Mark’s to the restaurant near the Rialto Bridge, we decided to do a walk through of St. Mark’s Basilica.
The line was about 150 yards long, probably about an hour of waiting, but Sally had read that you can skip the line using a little trick from Rick Steves. If you have a pack that needs to be checked (because they are not allowed inside), rather than standing in line, go to the pack check room in a building detached from the church about 150’ away, check your pack, then with the ticket you get from them to retrieve your pack, go to the entrance of the church, show the ticket and they let you in immediately. What the heck, let’s try it. I checked my pack and got a ticket, but one ticket for four people seemed a little much, so Sally checked her big Rick Steves Italy guidebook and got a second ticket for the Caldwell's. She is so smart! We walked to the head of the long snake of a line and were instantly admitted. Nice! We walked the interior of the church, following along in the river of people and exited 15 minutes later. We picked up pack and book at the check station and headed, in a wandering and unhurried path toward the Rialto Bridge. Along the way we saw a Kabab shop and stopped in for a quick and cheap lunch. We ate our food on the steps of a bridge over an adjacent canal, right next to a garbage boat that was collecting bins of garbage from workers on shore. The aroma really added to our lunch experience.
Eventually, we made it to the Rialto Bridge and found last night’s restaurant. Standing in the shady lane next to the restaurant, we attached our phone to their wifi and tried to call the number we were given. It appeared to be an incomplete number, not enough digits, and we could not get through. Since we now knew the package was in customs in Milan, we searched the web for the Milan customs office to get an address or a phone number. Nothing. We were about to give up and continue our exploration of Venice when a though occurred to me (I am still recovering from this event), “search for the customs office in Italy in Italian rather than English!” Using Google translate we found the Italian for Customs Office and searched. Bingo! The address and phone number we sought we now had. We tried the phone, but since it was now 12:30 pm, they were most likely at lunch. We mapped the location of the office on Google Maps. Bill and Pat are headed to Cinque Terre tomorrow and plan to swing out of their way to Milan to get the box.
With the “mystery of the missing box” problem advanced as far as possible in Venice, we continued our wandering toward Piazza Roma. Along the way we passed another Post Office and decided that maybe they could give us the correct phone number to call. We repeated the procedure of just a few hours ago. This time a manager like person came out from the back and explained in broken English that the package was in Milan and we would have to go there to get it. Nothing new, but a good confirmation.
On our way again to Piazza Roma, wandering, shopping and just enjoying the city. Once in Piazza Roma, we boarded the route one vaporette and cruised the Grand Canal with Bill and Pat, listening to Rick Steve’s audio tour as we did. Once again, his tour put the place into context and made the canal more than a waterway with a bunch of buildings on its shores.
We exited the boat one stop past St. Marks Square and headed for Bill and Pat’s apartment to cool off, take a rest and regroup. Pat and I worked out details on how to us Google Maps for their drive across Northern Italy, Bill took a quick nap and Sally kept us all company.
Refreshed, we headed out again, this time to walk down the waterfront of the Lagoon away from St. Marks. We soon found ourselves in a beautiful park far away from the crushing crowds. On the way back we took another route, found a great restaurant for dinner and enjoyed the coming evening.
After dinner we walked back towards St. Marks. To avoid the late night bus ride, Sally and I parted company with our good friends about 9:00am and caught a boat for Piazza Roma and the bus home. We were back in Mestre and our room by about 10:15 pm. We rested a few minutes, caught up on Facebook and did a little blogging, then went comatose in bed. What a great day!!
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