We spent 17 days in Venice. We had been told that we would be bored after three—but we enjoyed taking our time exploring the city. Denise (the rental agent) had tried to insist we buy a transit pass for the water buses, but we are such great walkers that we didn’t get around to doing it until we had been there two weeks. You get a very different feel for the city wandering the curving alleyways (and finding a lot of dead ends) than you do from"waterbussing" up and down the Grand Canal. But after two weeks, we felt "at home" in the city, to the point where Dan continued to give "creative helpful advice" (i.e. completely made up stories) to the newcomers such as, "The gondoliers shout ‘Oy’ when they come to a corner from the right. If they are coming from the left, they shout ‘Yo!’" We don’t know how many of these stories get repeated to the folks back home.

I am sure that if any of you have seen Roman Holiday or It Had to be You that you have seen the "Mouths of Truth" that exist from the old Roman days. You are supposed to put your hand in a grotesque’s mouth, and then say your piece, If it is true, nothing will happen. If you lie, the hand gets bitten off.

Since the passes are good for the boats going out to the islands, we decided to go to Torcello to look at an old convent church. The boats really are like buses – they are not set up for tourists. However, I have gotten quite good at maneuvering to the front and scampering in to get the best seats, so we sat outside in the back of the boat. The water view of the islands is amazing – many, many bell-towers and all of them leaning!

Our day in Torcello was almost perfect. We walked along its sole canal to the churchyard. There are several old ruins against a wall, and a stone throne that allegedly was used by Attila the Hun. My mother’s family hails from his neighborhood, and I started channeling my "ancestor."

We explored the old cathedral - wonderful inlaid floors, and an enormous mosaic of the Last Judgment on the back wall. All the perpetrators of the Seven Deadly sins had their own special places in Hell.

Although Dan could have stayed in the church for hours, I was hungry and we walked back along the canal to a restaurant called El Ponte del Diavolo (The Devil’s Bridge). We sat outside in a large garden, and felt as if we were spending the afternoon in an Impressionist painting. The service was relaxed, and the food was wonderful. We spent three hours eating, drinking and visiting with our neighbors – a family from Milan with two boys. The 11 year old is learning English in school, and his mother offered him 10,000 lira ($5) if he would ask us where we were from. We spoke to him first, but he still collected the money!!

We were so full, we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to walk back to the boat. But there was a small, 12^th century church that opened at 3:00, and Dan insisted that we go visit it before we left the island. Mass had just begun when we entered so we joined the congregation – five elderly women from the island and four other tourists. The church was almost magic inside – very spare brickwork and iron sconces – that emphasized the simple shape of the church.

The priest was very elderly, and used a magnifying glass to read the service. Afterwards, he was very enthusiastic when he shook Dan’s hand and asked where we were from. It was a lovely end to the afternoon.

The next day in Venice there was a big boat race. Well, not exactly a race – it was more like a fun run. It is called the Vogalonga, (which means long stroke – you know, like the guys shouting "Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!" to the rowers) and it runs for 25 kilometers around several of the islands. Any type of boat can enter, as long as it is powered by hand. There were several LARGE gondolas – one had over 25 rowers standing up in it with their paddles! There were also canoes, kayaks, and rowboats. The one thing we did NOT see was one of those paddle boats.

The boats were to assemble in the bay at 8:30 AM, and there was supposed to be an "Oars Up" at 9:00 AM to honor the Doge. We got there around 8:20, and watched the myriad boats assembling, listened to the rules and Italian Pop Music on the loud speaker, and relaxed along the quay. There were so many boats (about 1,000) that we knew it would be really cool when the "Oars Up" happened, and were anxiously counting down the minutes. But, as many things, the anticipation was better than the event. At 9:00, the command came, a FEW (not all) of the boats put their oars in the air, and then the canon signaled the beginning of the race.

Throughout the day, as we walked around the city, we would see the boats around the canals. Many people lined the canals drinking and offering encouragement (Clapping, shouting, throwing water) to the participants. I am not sure what time the first boats finished, but the race was officially "over" at 2:00 PM. That is FIVE HOURS of rowing. Too much for me, but many people (over four thousand in those one thousand boats) made it.

One thing about spending such a long time in a small city, the "sites" don’t overwhelm you any more, and you start to notice the odd, little things. Like, the fact that our favorite beer is named "Splügen." And a Bellini at Harry’s bar tastes much better than the kind that comes in a screw top bottle.

We also noticed that people are bold! One tourist approached Dan in St. Mark’s square, complimented him on his sunglasses, and asked to try them on! Then we were lunching at a really nice restaurant near the Opera house (thanks, Lynn!) and were surrounded by people in designer clothes. Most of the folks on the island looked pretty schlumpy, so we knew we were in a better neighborhood. One well-heeled couple ordered dessert, and the couple at the next table started eyeing it. They actually got up and tasted it – using one of their forks and they had never met!!

We did eventually succumb to the charms of hand blown Murano glass. On that last day we decided to get some Venetian Glass lamps for the backyard of our new house in Houston. The metal frames are shaped by hand into "cages" and then sent to Murano where they blow in the glass. They have many shapes and colors, and we opted for the same rosy glass used in the Venice streetlights. (ed note: We had them shipped to Doreen’s very kind and loving, and long suffering mother. djp)

There were plenty of things that we will miss about Venice. The cuttlefish in their own ink, the lack of cars on the streets, the call of "Gondola? Gondola?" as we walk over bridges, and the beautiful view around every corner. It is a magical place, and I am sure that we will return.

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