Our second week in Italy took us to the magical city of Venice, truly one of the most amazing cities in the world… a city built on the water, filled with art and architecture. We had a beautiful apartment in a 16th century palazetto and learned to find out way around the narrow canals, bridges, streets and passageways of Venice. We especially enjoyed our visits to St. Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace and a day trip to the Northern Lagoon islands of Burano and Torcello. Charley and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary with a concert featuring our beloved Four Seasons, written by Venice’s most noted composer—Antonio Vivaldi.
Saturday, April 30
We woke up early our last morning in Domaso… even Kelly was up by seven. We finished our final bit of packing and somehow managed to fit everything into two big duffel bags, two medium rolling suitcases (replacing the third big bag that we left in Provence), three backpacks and the computer bag. Somewhere buried in our luggage are 12 packages of ramen noodle soup, a variety of spices, our pepper grinder and supply of peppercorns, my olivewood herbes de Provence grinder, aluminum foil and plastic wrap, and a few other kitchen items. Kelly found a place for Charley’s jar of peanut butter, but I had to leave behind what remained of our big bottle of olive oil from Provence. The bags were incredibly heavy, especially my pack. Kelly and I are wearing our hiking boots to avoid having to fit them into our suitcases. And I have my jacket hanging off the back of my pack. We will definitely need to do another “purge” in Venice.
Gio came down to the apartment a few minutes after nine to return our security deposit and say goodbye. He’s been a very good host. We left him with a small pile of clothes to give to a needy family (including Kelly’s well-worn sneakers), two boxes of food, and a couple of books. We took Gio’s photo with Kelly out in the flower garden by the pretty swimming pool and hugged him goodbye.
Our morning route took us all the way down the west side of the lake to Como, a road we’ve now taken several times. It was another very hazy day and we could barely see the mountains and the other side of the lake. There were lots of cyclists out today, frustrating Charley as he tried to find the right moment to pass them. The motorcyclists then passed us… whizzing by at dangerous speeds. We drove through Gravedona and Dongo, Menaggio, and then Lenno. In Tremezzo we passed right by the Villa Carlotta where we’d been just yesterday, glimpsing the pretty azaleas and rhododendrons on the hillside and the little stone dwarfs at the far end. Just outside of Como—at Cernobbio—we swung away from the lake, passing right by the big mall where we had gone to the Spizzico restaurant with the two grandparents and Noami. At this point we took a motorway south toward the Malpensa airport, located almost an hour outside the big city of Milan.
Charley had called twice to confirm our appointment with the Renault representative to return our leased car. The man didn’t speak very good English, but he told Charley he would meet us at Gate 16 of Terminal 1. Charley had said we’d be there at 11:45 am, but we got there much more quickly than we expected and arrived at the airport about 11. We circled the airport to find a temporary place to park for a short time, then I went in the busy airport to use the restroom. We circled again and pulled up to the curb just outside Gate 16 around 11:30. We piled our luggage on the curb and Kelly and I stood watch while Charley went in to use the restroom. I’m particularly nervous about protecting our computer bag.
The Renault man arrived right at 11:45 am, and we turned over the station wagon that’s been our car since our trip to Barcelona over two months ago. We’ll be without a car for the next two weeks—in Venice and Rome—and will get another leased Renault for two months when we leave Rome. The man was very friendly and personally led us into the airport and then downstairs to show us where to catch the bus to the central train station in Milan. The bus was very economical—5 euro each for a 50 minute trip. We were able to store most of our luggage in the big luggage compartment underneath the bus, so even that was easy. Kelly and I read most of the trip—we’re both reading John Grisham. She finished The Testament and I finished The Summons.
We didn’t see much of Milan, and what we saw didn’t impress us much. We didn’t get to see the big Duomo, which is the main thing we would have wanted to see in Milan—that and Leonardo DaVinci’s The Last Supper. We had two hours until our Eurostar train to Venice, so we found a bench where we could see the departures board and settled in for a long wait. Kelly and I brought back panini sandwiches while Charley watched the luggage and later brought back ice cream. Every time we got up, someone took our spot on the bench… a couple of them rather unsavory looking people.
Finally our train’s platform was posted and we hauled our luggage out onto the platform. When the train pulled in, we found our car and managed to get the luggage on the train and the heavy pieces in the luggage compartment. It was all relatively easy except for my aching back and shoulders. I’ve been having problems with my left shoulder for some reason. My backpack was way too heavy today, and I definitely need to do something different for next week’s trip to Rome.
The train trip to Venice was about two and a half hours. We read, had a snack, and watched the scenery. Our route took us across Italy, heading a bit further south, all the way to the Adriatic Sea. It was exciting when we finally saw the water and crossed the bridge over to Venice. The train arrived at the Santa Lucia Station; we went out the station and down some steps, coming to a big plaza overlooking the Grand Canal. It was extremely busy place with tourists coming, going and just waiting.
