Driven (Tuesday, October 11, 2011)
It is sort of a helpless feeling to be in the passenger seat, next to someone who has to drive for 7 hours, knowing that no matter how sick and/or tired of driving Brian is, there is nothing I can do about it (I have to forgo all apostrophes because I am using an Italian keyboard and cannot find one on it). So I hand him snacks, and Coca Cola Light, and talk his ear off, and find the podcast that he wants to listen to.
The drive of today was long, but not too bad. Trees and hills and lakes marked the stretch through Croatia, some portions reminding us of the Smoky Mountains. Then we got to Slovenia, which really was not too different from Croatia in the few kilometers we saw.
Then we got into Italy. The biggest change we could see from the highway is that the gas station bathrooms took a significant turn for the worse. In Croatia, the highway must have been built in the last 10 years--the roads are much nicer than in Michigan, the trucks avoid it because it is a toll road, and the big bathrooms at the service centers practically sparkle. Apparently Croatia allowed a private company to build the road, and all the stops along the way, sort of like rest areas, are the responsibility of that company too.
Not so Italia--the gas station we stopped at was reminiscent of 50 million gas station restrooms I have visited on the trip between Grand Rapids and Dallas, rooms not to be remembered or spoken of. At least they prepared me for this!
In a somewhat tense but still pretty direct route, we arrived in Venice.
Full disclosure: Neither I nor Brian have completely looked forward to Venice. We have heard people give opinions for and against it, and it sounded smelly and crowded, not to mention expensive. Natalie, on the other hand, could not wait, because she loved the book The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, which is set in Venice. Well, neither of us admitted that lack of excitement to each other, and we are glad we did not. It is beautiful, and if we were not schlepping three kids with us, I would happily wander aimlessly for days. It is good we went to Split and Trogir before this, because there are similarities between the three in ancient architecture and narrow lanes. The Croatian cities would have paled in comparison to the monumental cluster of land and water that is Venice.
We found our hotel with the aid of the GPS on the phone of Brian. (I am starting to sound like David Sedaris in Me Talk Pretty One Day, sorry for the awkwardness of no apostrophes!) The clerk then escorted us over a bridge and down some streets to the building where our aparment is. We can hardly believe it--it is perfect. Big rooms, 2 baths (with 2 showers!) in the land of cramped quarters and huge rent. It is a bit away from the tourist action, which we knew going in. We are near the university, and continue to walk past ultra-cool, stylishly dressed students while we sport our drip-dry zip off pants and fleeces.
Settled in and then we headed out to meander our way to San Marcos plaza, the center of tourist activity. So lovely, and only the occasional area with a foul odor.
It does feel a little like the 400 year old version of Las Vegas--in LV, they took a bunch of water-dependent tourist activities (golf, swimming, etc) and dumped them in the middle of the desert. In Venice, there is a tourist attraction that is dependent on dry stores and walkways, built in the middle of the water. Hard to stock, hard to maintain, hard to save from the flooding and eventual sinking of the island. There are stacks all around the city that we were trying to identify--like upside down tables or risers. Really they are raised walkways that get laid out if the water gets too high.
Obviously, Venice was not originally built for tourists. It was built by a group of people trying to escape the barbarians. They did, and they flourished, but in the intervening years the city has become one big tourist trap, and we are happy to be the victims.
We paid a ridiculous amount of money for dinner, during which Allison ordered pizza AGAIN, Natalie ventured into seafood pasta and raved about it in spite of countless unnamed sea creatures remains, and Andrew got a veggie pizza that came with enormous slices of eggplant, zucchini, and peppers, and he even liked it.
Time to put up our feet, as we did tons of walking. I am happy to have such a competent driver!
PS Will have to add photos later, as we are having some connection difficulties.
The drive of today was long, but not too bad. Trees and hills and lakes marked the stretch through Croatia, some portions reminding us of the Smoky Mountains. Then we got to Slovenia, which really was not too different from Croatia in the few kilometers we saw.
Then we got into Italy. The biggest change we could see from the highway is that the gas station bathrooms took a significant turn for the worse. In Croatia, the highway must have been built in the last 10 years--the roads are much nicer than in Michigan, the trucks avoid it because it is a toll road, and the big bathrooms at the service centers practically sparkle. Apparently Croatia allowed a private company to build the road, and all the stops along the way, sort of like rest areas, are the responsibility of that company too.
Not so Italia--the gas station we stopped at was reminiscent of 50 million gas station restrooms I have visited on the trip between Grand Rapids and Dallas, rooms not to be remembered or spoken of. At least they prepared me for this!
In a somewhat tense but still pretty direct route, we arrived in Venice.
We found our hotel with the aid of the GPS on the phone of Brian. (I am starting to sound like David Sedaris in Me Talk Pretty One Day, sorry for the awkwardness of no apostrophes!) The clerk then escorted us over a bridge and down some streets to the building where our aparment is. We can hardly believe it--it is perfect. Big rooms, 2 baths (with 2 showers!) in the land of cramped quarters and huge rent. It is a bit away from the tourist action, which we knew going in. We are near the university, and continue to walk past ultra-cool, stylishly dressed students while we sport our drip-dry zip off pants and fleeces.
It does feel a little like the 400 year old version of Las Vegas--in LV, they took a bunch of water-dependent tourist activities (golf, swimming, etc) and dumped them in the middle of the desert. In Venice, there is a tourist attraction that is dependent on dry stores and walkways, built in the middle of the water. Hard to stock, hard to maintain, hard to save from the flooding and eventual sinking of the island. There are stacks all around the city that we were trying to identify--like upside down tables or risers. Really they are raised walkways that get laid out if the water gets too high.
Obviously, Venice was not originally built for tourists. It was built by a group of people trying to escape the barbarians. They did, and they flourished, but in the intervening years the city has become one big tourist trap, and we are happy to be the victims.
Time to put up our feet, as we did tons of walking. I am happy to have such a competent driver!
PS Will have to add photos later, as we are having some connection difficulties.
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