Venice

I left Bern and took a train through the snow-covered Alps to Milan. That was probably the best train ride of the whole trip. There were lots of snow-covered mountains and little towns. There were also lots of short tunnels, which made taking pictures of the mountains frustrating at times because as you got higher up and the views got better, you went through tunnels more often and lost sight of the mountains. I was in Milan for 20 minutes, and then took a really crowded train to Venice. As the train approaches Venice, it goes on a long narrow bridge, shared by a highway that connects one of Venice’s islands with the mainland. I expected Venice to be more like Copenhagen or Amsterdam – a coastal town with a few canals. It’s unlike anything I have ever seen before, it’s actually a bunch of islands fairly far out in the Adriatic Sea. It’s a city without cars too. Boats and footbridges are the only way to get from island to island. Lido, Nina’s island, does have cars and fewer canals than the city, and the island that has the train station and the shipping port also has cars. The only way to get to Nina’s island is by boat from downtown Venice, or ferry (which carries cars), or by flying into the little airstrip. I had only decided to go to Italy about a week earlier. I figured that I had time and plenty of days left on my Eurail pass and wasn’t sick of traveling yet, so why not see Italy.

Nina picked me up at the train station and we walked to her dad’s office to say hi and drop off my big pack. She showed me around the city. I tried to pay attention so that I could learn my way around, but it was dark by then and I was so excited to talk with Nina that everything was a blur. She showed me some of the city’s important buildings, the big stores and her school. Luckily I was able to see all of that again the next day and take it all in better.

It was foggy and freezing cold. Nina said it had snowed in Venice the week before. After walking around we got on a boat to Lido. We took one of the public boats that connect the major islands and go down the Grand Canal that cuts through downtown Venice. The boats are pretty big and don’t fit down the many smaller canals. It had to take a different, slower route to Lido because of the fog. I was really tired and cold when I finally got to Nina’s house. A hot shower really helped. I didn’t really fit in the shower (low ceiling), or the bed (a few inches to short) but I slept really well. Mario and Francesca were home – they couldn’t believe that they were meeting another Brummitt. Nina and I both couldn’t believe it either, it was really cool to be there.

When Andrea got home we went to a Pizzeria that was just across the canal outside Nina’s house. The restaurant had salads, lasagna and pasta but everyone there just got their own pizza, and they had a wide variety. I had a pizza with mushrooms, green olives, some green leafy vegetable and salami. Toppings such as tuna, spinach, eggs and anchovies seemed common. And the mozzarella isn’t shredded, instead pizzas are made with big chunks of mozzarella cheese. Fosca had a basketball game on another island. She got back late so she met us at the restaurant later on and scarfed down all of the uneaten pizza. Nina gave me a book about Venice, and I gave her and her family some Swiss chocolate and cookies. At home I had the whole basement to myself – it’s a huge basement with a kitchen and a few bedrooms that they only use in the summer.

The next day Nina left for school before I got up and I left with the parents to take a boat downtown. It was a Saturday so the three kids had a school until 1 pm. The parents left for the mountains for the weekend. I walked around all morning and saw the San Marco Basilica, Piazza di San Marco, the Royal Palace, the fish market, the Rialto Market, got lost, walked into a few dead ends and took lots of pictures.

I picked Nina up when she got out of school and we went to one of her favorite restaurants. We both had pasta with seafood and a coffee. Then we walked around Venice for hours. I saw some things for the third time, but she showed me a little of new places that I never would have seen otherwise. It was great to be led around Venice by a Venetian – I never walked into any dead ends with Nina. We were going to go to the top of the tower in Piazza di San Marco but it was closed for renovation, so she showed me another old tower that was really cool but costs 3 euros and isn’t very tall so we didn’t go up. She also showed me the Jewish quarter (the word “ghetto” originated in Venice from the Italian word “gettati” (dumped) because the Jews were forced to live in the area were scrap metal and cannons were dumped before being smelted – according to Nina’s book about Venice). I also saw the hospital and its fleet of ambulance boats. Nina pointed out the little island that holds the city’s cemetery and the island of Murano, which is well known for its colorful blown glass, the theatre, some churches and the port.

That night the kids ate at home. We watched movies and I showed them a bunch of my pictures. Nina and I walked to a disco nearby for a friend's 18th birthday party so I met a lot of her friends and had mini pizzas, chips, and birthday cake.