The rain was coming down steadily when we set out after breakfast today to visit the Doges Palace in San Marco Square. When we got to the palace, there was a very long line of tourists, with umbrellas, waiting in pouring rain to get into this, the most popular tourist attraction in Venice. Fortunately, thanks to the advice of Rick Steves in his book, we had bought a “Museum Plus” ticket yesterday that not only provided us admission to the Doge's Palace, but also allowed us to avoid this long line in the driving rain. We really felt like we were “Somebody” as we walked past all those soggy people right up to the front of the line and waltzed right in! The Doges, while they had no real power, were the figure-heads of the Venenitan government for about 400years while Venice was the seat of power in Europe. Each room in the Doge's Palace was more magnificent than the one before, until we got to the dungeons. We didn't even want to think about what had taken place there centuries ago. We were hoping the rain would be done by the time we finished touring the palace, but it was still coming down in torrents, so we finally gave up and headed back toward our hotel, Al Piava, where the owner was kind enough to loan us a second umbrella, since ours is too small for two people. A stop for lunch at a quaint little ristorante next to our hotel for pizza bought us a little more “dry” time, but eventually, we had to just head out into the rain for the walk to the vaporetti (water bus) station where we caught a boat to the train station.
The train trip to Copenhagen 2 ½ weeks ago had made us paranoid about not having reservations, so since that time we had made sure we had reservations, but as it turned out we didn't need them. When we came from Munich to Italy this past Saturday, we had not made reservations and we didn't need them as the train was almost empty. So for today's trip from Venice to Florence, we didn't bother with reservations either, hoping that especially mid-week, the train would not be busy. So we boarded the beautiful Eurostar train and we were right—the train was not especially full. We sat down and made ourselves comfortable, with about 20 minutes to spare before the train left the station. Two men came along, and we were sitting in their seats, so we just moved across the aisle and settled in. We went through several stops on the train before the conductor came along and asked for our tickets. Bev showed him our Eurorail pass and he asked to see our reservations. She told him we didn't have any, and in a less-than-friendly tone, he told us we needed reservations for this train, and hadn't we read the instructions that came with our Eurorail pass. (Can't say that we had thoroughly read the booklet that came with our tickets! And since this was a modern Eurostar high-speed train, reservations for the train are REQUIRED!) So he proceeded to charge us for reservations, AND made us give up our seats if anyone claimed them between where we were and Florence, which included one stop in Bologna. So instead of paying 10 Euro for each ticket's reservation at the station for the required reservations, we had to pay 18 Euro each on board for the tickets, which was effectively a 16 Euro penalty—about $20. When the train stopped in Bologna, people got on and a man came to claim Bev's seat. When she got up to move, he waved her off and sat in a seat across the aisle. But Bev's better looking than I am, as the guy that came to claim my seat actually wanted to sit in his assigned seat, so I got up, and we went to find seats in a car a couple cars from ours for the rest of the trip. We got to the coffee bar car, and looked ahead. The next car was very crowded and we didn't want to try to get through it with our backpacks and bags, and with only about 30 minutes left of our trip to Florence, we just put our bags on the floor out of the way of pass-through traffic and stood the rest of the trip. After standing 5 ½ hours on the train to Copenhagen, with people elbow-to-elbow, this was a walk in the park!
We arrived in Florence, got off the train and started to walk to the end of the track, and there stood our most gracious Italian host, Alessandro Martire, known to us and our Lynn, Jackson friends as Alex, waiting to meet us. I had met Alex and his wife, Anna, one time a couple of years ago at a dinner party at Haven and Terri Stuck's in Rapid City. Also, Alex, who is an attorney, had helped me a few years ago get some information on a case I had involving an Italian company. Alex took us to their home, where we met Anna and their houseful of cats and their dog, Keera. Alex gave us a tour of their home, full of amazing Native American artifacts and keepsakes. We presented him with a couple of small gifts as a token of our appreciation for their hospitality. We then sat down to a traditional Italian 4-course meal, including tortellini, pork, spinach and fruit tort. Delicioso!!
Alex's 86-year-old father, it turns out, was scheduled for very risky heart surgery the next morning in a city three hours from Florence, and Alex understandably had to be there for the surgery. So he explained that he was not going to be able to show us around Florence the next couple of days as he'd planned, but instead had to leave about 5:00 a.m. to go be with his father. He had arranged for two women who spoke English to come to the home and pick us up and take us into Florence (about 30 minutes from their home) to take us to some of the sites. Then, he explained, when Anna was finished teaching her high school classes, she will meet us and bring us back home. Bev and I felt so bad that we were “in the way” while such a family emergency was going on, and apologized for that to Alex. But ever the gracious host, he dismissed our concern and apologized that he wasn't able to be our tour guide himself! We are beside ourselves with concern for Alex's father, and guilt for the unwittingly poor timing of our visit.
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