We breakfasted again at the hotel, then packed for the required 10:00 checkout - seems early! We took our luggage to the hotel storage room and parted ways with Christian, who wanted to go to Santa Croce. We walked in intermittent rain to the market for apples and a kaki, then strolled the streets in the area. We had explained Specloos to Christian, and we checked a couple of small grocers for the spread to give him a treat, but there was none in the stores - Nutella, yes; Specloos, no. We returned around 11:30 to the hotel lobby where we spent the next hour out of the rain and on our computers. How nice to have my own computer again!
At 12:30 Christian came back and we left for the station. On the way out the door we snapped this photo of our hotel - right next to a Disney store! Then we stopped for calzones to go and Christian picked up a large canolli. We were almost to the station when I failed to lift my foot high enough at a curb and I fell, striking my head and one knee on the pavement, then rolling over onto my derrière, supported by the backpack. The guys came back and helped me up and I wasn’t too bad off - I seemed to have sprained my left pinkie finger as well, and I was rather damp, but I knew I would survive. I discovered later that I also scratched my glasses a bit. We got to the station with about 20 minutes to spare, so Christian ran out to go to an ATM for some cash, leaving me in charge of his backpack. Christian didn’t get back to the station until six or seven minutes before our scheduled departure, and we couldn’t even see our track from where we stood, as we had to walk down Track 5 a ways to reach Track 4. We set a brisk pace and made it with a few minutes to spare. The first leg of our trip was only five minutes, and the guys just stood in the vestibule of the train but I saw down, took off my backpack and caught my breath a bit. Then we detrained, caught our train for Venice and were able to settle in. The sky was overcast all the way from Florence to Venice, and as a result the fall colors suffered from a graying which left them drab. Christian and I shared the kaki on the train, which turns out to be a Japanese persimmon - not bad tasting, and the three of us ate the apples we bought in the market. We talked and slept and laughed all the way to Venice Mestre station where Christian and we parted ways.
Our train proceeded on to the island of Venice and we detrained. Our first stop was the tourist information office, where we bought a map and a tour guide for 2.50 euros. This was the first time we had been expected to purchase a city map at a tourist office - they are usually given out free of charge. It turned out to be quite nice, however, breaking the city into manageable portions. When we exited the station, it was quite cool with a steady drip, and the rain continued all the way to our hotel. I wore a water-resistant jacket with a hood which had stood me in good stead for the past 10 years, but this day, with the constant drip, the rain got onto my glasses to the point where they were too wet for me to read the map. I remembered my 1 Euro hat in my backpack, so Roger pulled it out and I put it on, then pulled the hood up over it, keeping my glasses rain-free. Score another one for the Euro Store! We made most of the trek okay, except that Roger had to contend with the suitcase over a total of eight bridges, which was a pain. Each bridge has 10-12 steps up, and usually the same number back down, but not always! We were able to follow the directions and the map to our hotel until we got close, but we got almost there and couldn’t find the hotel. We dropped into a bakery to buy some meringues and information, showing the clerk our hotel address and asking where the hotel was located. The gentleman gave us directions, but we were puzzled because we had already been there. Indeed, we had found the building number (5394), but there were five doors labeled with letters A through E, and we couldn’t see a sign of our particular hotel on any of them. We returned and began to search the doors more carefully, finally arriving at a gate which, in very small letters, indicated the name of the hotel. Finally! We rang the bell and asked if this was Ca Ricci, a voice said yes, did we have a reservation? I said yes, and we were buzzed in. The clerk met us halfway down and helped Roger get the suitcase up the last of two flights of stairs. He did not verify our name, but took us straight to our room. He asked us to please bring our passports to breakfast in the morning for copying, gave us instructions and the key, suggested a place to eat at our request, and left. We were soaked from the rain. My water-resistant rain jacket had leaked through in several places, soaking my suede jacket, and the zipper on the suitcase did the same thing. Our shoes were wet and we were so glad to be in our hotel. We relaxed and dried out a while, then set out for supper. We had decided to eat at the restaurant he suggested, La Colonna, but when we got there it was closed. It was next door to the bakery where we had just sought directions. On the other side of the bakery was a small café, so we dropped in there for dinner. We both started with bowls of pasta, then I had a tasty fish and onion dish while Roger had three beef-and-potato patties - he described them as akin to tuna croquettes, but with beef instead of tuna. They were pretty good as well. We returned to the hotel, showered and fell into bed. We find that we are not enamored of Italian bath towels. We are accustomed to Turkish towels, and the Italian ones are flat linen, some of which have a waffle weave. We found that they did not absorb as well as Turkish towels, and we miss the heaviness of the latter as well, the way they fall about the body and warm one up after a shower. We were, however, very appreciative of the showers in the hotels. Every evening at home we mourn the lack of a shower and are giddy with delight when we can actually take a good hot shower.
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