This trip has been wonderful....but not very restful. Every morning it's the same routine...Rich wakes up, calls me a sleepyhead, asks if it would help if he takes a shower first, he turns on all the lights. This morning, he was even packing before I could be roused. But we made our 9:30 train even taking time for pastries from the Canoli Brothers, so my lazy morning ways weren't too troublesome. We arrived back at our car for the cross-country commute - literally from one coast to another. All was going well...perhaps too well. Somewhere outside of Bologna, we hit a very serious traffic jam. So serious we were tied up for over an hour, with emergency helicopters landing on the other side of the highway. The Italian truck drivers were aware of what we were in for right away, instantly hopping out of their trucks and getting together to smoke and shoot the breeze. 
Did I mention it's like 80 degrees here? A long hot wait on the highway...but with gratefulness that our luncheon picnic may have delayed us sufficiently to prevent us from being up ahead in the pileup. Or maybe it was just my morning laziness.We did finally arrive in Venice around 5:30 pm, turned in our car - and entered the world of water. I love it here - it's marvelous, full of boats, decaying palaces, gondolas and canals. It's completely unique, and even having seen videos and pictures doesn't really convey what it's like to actually be here in this improbable water city.
We had arrived just in time for the local chicetti habit - that's having little finger foods with a glass of wine around 7 pm (because of course Italians don't even think about dinner until at least 8 or 9 pm) It was fun picking and pointing to the appetizers we wanted, and a nice way to explore the food of the region, which is heavy on artichokes and seafood. Twilight only makes the city more attractive. Rich was the first to be baptised by the pigeons - maybe it will be my turn tomorrow. Ciao from Venice.
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