Gambo: Venice
Jul 1, 2009, 4:52 PM | Updated: Jan 14, 2011, 4:21 pm
It’s 10:12 am here (1:12 in the morning phoenix time) and I just said goodbye to my cousin Francesco and his wife Emma.
The most amazing part of this vacation for my family is meeting our family from Italy. In Rome I spent a wonderful day with Alessia and her husband Mimo. And last night Francesco arrived from Milan and he and his wife spent the night with us. We went to dinner, walked Venice, had some gelato (did I mention that Italian’s eat gelato every day?) and then stayed up for a couple of hours talking. Now my Italian is just enough to get by and his English is not very good but he had a translator on his phone so anytime we didn’t know what the other was saying we just typed it into his phone and it translated in words what we were trying to say. He had to work this afternoon so this morning he got up and they took the water taxi back.
I will have some pictures of my family and the trip when I get back put up on the Web site. Before Francesco came, we took a gondola ride through Venice. This place is amazing — it really is. It has survived against all odds being built on mud banks. There is no real land, just buildings, walkways and water. Everything comes in and out by boat. I even saw the Fed Ex boat through my window dropping off items Tuesday. I would say the food is better in Rome and Florence but the scenery here is remarkable. St. Mark’s square is a site to see. There is a tradition of masks in Venice so everywhere you go there are people selling masks.
Just like Rome and Florence there is only one American channel on the television, CNN, and I am kinda tired of hearing about Michael Jackson.
The dollar doesn’t go very far here and food prices are high. It’s about $1.50 American for each Euro so a dinner for $100 euro will come out to $150 on my American Express card.
I have been curious to find out what happens to people in Venice when they die — where do they bury the bodies?
My trip to Italy is coming to an end — this is my last full day, tomorrow we will be back in the states. That’s it for now.
Ciao Arizona….
Gambo
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