Fitzy's Web Site: Travel

VENICE
Italy

February 11th, 1999

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Welcome to Italy.

Here is part XIV of our European Holiday Flash Pages.
We meandered through Bolzano, Verona, Padova and stayed in Venice.

Greetings Trendsetters & Taxdodgers! ;-)

Either you all are dead or you like the different look to the web site. As you have probably seen by the first page, we are concentrating on our time spent in Venice. I have received a lot of comments saying we spent a lot of time in Europe. In fact we spent only 16 days there last September and it takes a while to scan all the images and put them is some kind of order and call it a web page.

It took Ruth 3 to 4 days to get over her Singapore sickness. She was running a temperature of 103f (39c) for a couple of days before her antibiotics kicked in. Even though her skin felt really hot, she had goosebumps on her legs and her hands were freezing to the touch.

Ruth's business seems to keep growing and growing. She had a big month in both of her Boise and Nampa stores which is very encouraging. It has taken a lot of trial and error to find out what sells and what sits. You wouldn't think 13 miles would make that much difference, but it seems that tastes change in that short distance. The town of Nampa is a small rural (read working class) but it appears that they purchase a lot more higher dollar items that the store in Boise. I can't work it out, but I ain't complaining. Ruth has put a lot of effort in to making her business a success over the last couple of years, so not only am I proud of her, I'm happy to see that she is having fun with it as well.

You wouldn't think it would be hard to give money away here in Boise. But it seems to us that unless you want to build a new house, forget about getting any other work done. We have contacted eight different companies that specialize in building, two came straight out and said that shed's are not their things, which we respect. One guy came out three weeks ago and said he had some plans from previous projects and would bring them around to us within a week. I'm glad we didn't hold or breaths as we haven't seen hide nor hair of him even after leaving half a dozen messages. That leaves the final five contractors. They all set up a time to meet us and look at the site, yep, you guessed it, they don't show up. Talk about frustrating. I'm getting to the point of saying forget it and going out and buying a new crew cab diesel ute (a pick-up for you septics out there).

Work has been pretty hectic for the pair of us lately. I don't want to bore you to tears with details but needless to say, we're looking forward to taking a couple of weeks and driving throughout the north eastern states and Canada in May. I'm starting to enjoy this Tommy Tourist shit now that we don't plan each day with military timing and precision. The only schedule we've set ourselves is to head in any direction from Brimfield (near Boston) with only two stipulations. One is to see Niagara Falls and other one is to be in Brimfield to fly back to Boise

I had better do something useful or Attila the Honey will have my guts for garters. Keep in touch.

Stay Happy little Vegemites ;-)
Ruth & Fitzy

I wonder if crossing the border into Italy will clear up the weather for us.	Hey, sunshine finally. Most of the roads around Italy are dotted with these estates and castles. A lot of them have their own olive groves and vineyards.
Hey we're OK, we're only doing 95 in a 100 zone. That's 95 mph in a 100 kph zone. What the heck, it was only 35 mph (55 kph) over the limit.	The local tourist office fount this hotel for us just outside of Venice for about a fifth the price of staying in Venice. We were even able to afford the bus fare in to Venice proper.
The guy at the local tourist office, could speak fluent Italian, German, Spanish, English and Dutch. Amazingly he didn't want to do anything else.	From where the bus drops you off in Venice harbor, you take a "Waterbus" to the main attraction of Piazza San Marcos. We got there early enough to miss a lot of the crowds.
Even the Waterbus drivers show their Italian driving heritage. They would literally smash the boat into the dock to slow it down before allowing passengers on and off the boat.	Using the Waterbus is probably the best way to get around Venice. It gives you time to take in the local sights and sounds.
Unbeknown to us, we arrived in Venice on the day of the major historical Regatta Storica which dates back to when Venice was first settled.	One of the many waterfront homes that line each side of every canal in Venice.
We found out that buildings in Venice are sinking into the water of around 10mm per year.	What would Venice be if you didn't run into a Gondola?
You can just see a couple of Waterbuses in front of us.	This is a great shot of one side of the building sinking faster than the other side.
The tall structure is the bell tower of St. Mark, every visitor heads for it when in Venice. As the base of the tower is Piazza San Marco	This is a little island across from Piazza San Marco
Even at 9 o'clock in the morning we had to queue for half an hour to climb the bell tower.	When Ruth visited a couple of years earlier, she had to climb a spiral staircase to the top. Modernization has seen an express elevator installed.
On a clear day, you can see for miles.	Over looking the Piazza San Marco.
Looking West towards the mainland......	......North towards the ocean......
......South back along the island......	......and East to one of the many small islands that dot the Italian coastline.
Oh....yeah....here's the bell. Loud bastard, especially when you're standing under it when it rings!	The Basilica of St. Mark the Evangelist, the cathedral church of the city and seat of the Patriarch of Venice since 1807
Ground level in the Piazza San Marco.	It must be a European thing, the streets seemed to be getting smaller and smaller.
A lot of the pedestrian bridges were that low, the Gondola operators had to wiggle the Gondola's up and down to get past the foot bridge.	Fitzy's trying to order a sandwich.
The Basilica of St. Mark the Evangelist is a really impressive, eye-opening structure with intricate details that this photo does not do justice to.	We found the Gondola "taxi" rank.
By about lunchtime the Piazza San Marco had water seeping into it due to the square be lower than the high tide watermark.	It was back onto a Waterbus to escape the bloody pigeons that are way too friendly.
Look, another Gondola with more Japanese tourists.	We got off the Waterbus and found a spot to watch the Regatta Storica.
We were told the regatta started in about an hour after lunch.	3 hours later, the regatta started.
It looked as if everyone in Italy turned up anything that could float for this event.	People dressed up in period costume and bring out replica's of the original boats. This is the parade part of the day's events.
The second part of the days festival, was to hold races around the waterway's.	The louder the crowd was, the more chance the people on the boats would raise their paddles to acknowledge the crowd.
All in all it was a pretty good, fun day out.	These are the people who didn't float to the event. Wall to wall crowds in every direction.