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The second day in Italy, I bought a journal because I wanted to write down our activities. The following is from the journal.
We left home at 12:50pm and picked Mamie up at 1:00pm. She was ready. Cam came with us but didn't speak much. We went through Air Canada gate but just went straight to security because we weren't checking any bags and I had checked in online and had our boarding passes. Security line was long but it went quickly. Mamie did not have to remove her shoes. We met a nice family from West Virginia ahead of us. The little girl had a Fiona stuffed animal.
After security we found our gate. We decided to eat at The Local. It was "sit-down" and we could eat "outside" and watch the travelers go by. I had "dirty" mac & cheese. It was good, it reminded me of Keystone. Mom said her cole slaw was the best she ever had. I took most of mine to go, and a Coke to go too. I also tracked down a chocolate chip muffin.
At CVG they called us to the counter to check our passports. I think because I checked in onlilne but not when we got to the airport.
The plan to Toronto was on time. Mom's bag was too big for the overhead compartments. A nice stewardess put it under a first class seat for her. Mom tried to talk her into letting her sit with her bag, but when Mom asked "what have you got to lose?" the stewardess said "my job".
The flight to Toronto was only about 90 minutes. I helped Mom with her crossword, and also read Tiny Beautiful Things. We were served a bag of little pretzels, and I got a cup of Coke.
When we got to Toronto, the wheechair was not at the gate. Mom had trouble walking. We rested a little, and then she said she could keep going. We had to scan our passports at a station because of our international connection. The lady asked where I was coming from and I said Toronto. She gave me a funny frown and I realized she wanted to hear "Cincinnati". The Toronto airport was really cool. We found a table where you could use an iPad to order food to deliver to your table. I left Mom and went to change into comfortable pants and take my contacts out.
We both had a Coke / Diet Coke, and I ate more from my lunch. When most of the pasta was gone, I threw the rest out. It was a pain to lug around, and did not taste great cold. I forgot my water bottle in the bathroom, but it was still there.
There were many announcements that the flight was full, and they were hoping to get some bags checked. I told Mom we should use the "pre" on our tickets to be sure we didn't have to check our bags (first ones on...)
We ended up standing at the front of the line for a long while because there was a safety check. A very nice airline employee chatted with us, but he kept saying that Mom's bag was "awfully big". He kept complimenting my bag, which was kinda funny. Finally I told him "If we have to check it, I guess we do". We were worried because we had another connection in Zurich, and they were going to check it all the way through to Venice.
I also asked about the wheelchair in Toronto. It was on the ticket, but I guess we were supposed to wait until everyone else was off. Or maybe at least mention that we were supposed to have one as we left the plane.
The flight to Zurich was the long one. We sat on the runway for almost an hour. Which I guess is normal for an international flight. Or maybe because it was a 777. The thing was huge. It was 3-4-3 in our section. Mom watched Angels in the Outfield on the screen. I put on my big headphones, partly to make sure the guy next to me didn't try to talk to me. The flight was over 7 hours. I listened to my Italian Survival Phrases. I took my pill as soon as we were on the plane. I tried to get some rest, putting my pillow on Mom's shoulder. But I think I slept at the most 2 hours.
I watched a little of "Book Club: The Next Chapter" when dinner came. It was chicken or pasta (I picked chicken) We were not impressed. The brownie was okay. I ate the bread and cheese.
When we landed in Zurich, we waited for the plane to clear. They got Mom a wheelchair (after she walked up a long-ass ramp) and pushed her and another lady around. The Zurich airport was strange. It all seemed disorganized. We ended up in what was basically a special needs room and were told to wait - someone would come and take us to the gate.
I guess it was nice to be away from the hubbub, but a little weird. I got a Swiss Coke, which tasted strange. As I was starting to get nervous, an adorable Japanese girl came to talk to us. It was a bit muddled, but eventually we ended up on the back of her little airport vehicle. She took the other people to their gate, and then realized she had forgotten another traveler, also going to Venice. We had to go back to the Special Needs room. The forgotten traveler needed a lot of assistance, so the cute girl took us in a van out to the runway, and we boarded directly from there. We were the first on the flight, and the stewardesses gave us a lot of attention. Mom loved it. Then, after the rest of the passengers filed in, the captain himself came down the aisle and gave us each a Swiss chocolate. Very cute.
Mom thought the airplane looked great - very clean. I did not notice. The flight was only 70 minutes. We were above the Swiss Alps almost the whole time. When we got to Venice, we waited for everyone else to leave again. The person pushing Mom's wheelchair this time was a young Italian man - maybe 23-24? He did not seem interested in hearing any Italian from me. His English was good, but he was quite cyncial. First Mom asked him if something(?) made him happy and he told her happiness was just an illusion. Then we got into some type of conversation about "the custome is always right" and he definitely didn't believe in that. We were happy to have his help though, as he took us straight to baggage claim (Mom's bag was there, yay!) then to the check-in place for the water taxi, then to port 9, where we would board the water taxi. It would have been a lot of walking for Mom, and we most likely would have gotten quite lost at least once.
The water taxi took a while, but it was a fun speed-boat ride. We got off at San Marco, and our hotel was about a 5 minute walk. It was hidden down some cool Venice alleyways.
There were a lot of steps in the hotel. I think it was 5 floors, with rooms on the top four. We had to share a bathroom. We asked the nice man at the desk (Red) for a dinner recommendation. We think he sent us to a friend's restaurant. The entree (we shared) was 23 Euros, but he started us with 2 glasses of champagne (gratis) and two small potato something (maybe latkes?) There was spinach in the entree, but I ate it and it was pretty good. We sat overlooking a canal, which was a nice view. Then we headed to find our evening gondola ride. Finding the meeting spot was a little tricky, but we did it. We rode with three nurses who met each other while working in Saudi Arabia. They were a hoot. Our gondolier had a nice personality, but he didn't really narrate. (or sing) The nurses turned on the theme from The Godfather, so that was funny.
There were a ton of other gondolas around for our sunset ride, but it was still a great time to be out. We almost hit other boats, and walls, several times, but he missed them every time.
After the ride, we walked around Venice some, got some gelata (I got tiramisu, it was just ok), and got yelled at for sitting in a chair in St Mark's Square. Apparently it was reserved for a bar. The guy who chased us off was super rude. I got the kids each a little dancing gondolier (2 for 5 Euro)
Back at our hotel, I took a shower (It was in a shared space and was more than a little challenging.) I took my pill at 8p, even vefore I took my shower. Mom turned on the TV, wow it's annoying when it's in a different language. Then we played 2 rounds of Gin, but had trouble keeping our eyes open. I tried to read, but could not make it to 10pm. I went to sleep at 940, woke briefly when Mom got up at 1230, THEN - a fire alarm went off at 230am! I got up, talked to a woman that said her hair dryer set it off (a false alarm) I called the local fire station. At first he thought I had a wrong number. Then we communicated well enough, and he told me to dial 112. But after I did (it's the emergency number) I heard someone in the hall say that someone was coming to turn it off. Finally, it went off. But I never went back to sleep. At most now I had a total of 6 1/2 hours of sleep over 2 nights.
I set the alarm for 730 (although I never went back to sleep) and got Mom up. We went down for breakfast at 830. We actually had to wait (less than 5 minutes) and then a lady showed us to the table. It was different, but I had no problems. A delicious chocolate croissant, some lunch meat I put on bread, and lots of chocolate spread on bread. I wasn't overfull, but it ended up being enough for me until at least 5pm.
We walked over ot the meeting spot for our St Doge's palace and St Mark's Basilica. We checked in and waited a while for our tour guide. They gave us a radio and an ear piece. Our group was 18 people. Our tour was in English; there was another group in Italian. The radio was so we could always hear our guide. It was awesome! It's been a while since I've been on a guided tour, I guess. I could always hear him, and you didn't have to worry about guides yelling over each other. OUr guide was wonderful. He told us not just about the two landmarks, but all about Venice itself. He was Venetian, one of very few left (they are moving out for various reasons, including the cost of living) and he obviously loved the city. We weren't sure we would want to stay for all 3 hours, but we did.
There are rules when you go in the Basilica, and we saw a woman get turned away for exposing her midriff. Both places were opulent, but I would have been so bored without our guide.
After the tour, we walked around Venice. There were many streets we had not seen. I bought this journal at a small journal shop. It is handmade. Mom was hungry, but I didn't think we had time. We went back to the hotel (we had stored our luggage), got the luggage, and walked to the public transportation stop. Good timing - it was six minutes to the next stop. We got on, and it took us to the train station. (it was a water bus)
I realized I had made a mistake in Rome, and I tried to change my train ticket, but they told me I could not. Boo. So I am trying to change our Colisseum tour. Word is still out on that. The train left just on time (Mom got a sandwich while I was trying to chase the train ticket) I'm going to see if there is a food car soon.
I went to the food car and go microwave pizza (terrible), weird potato chiops, coke, and cookies. It made it so I wasn't starving. We pulled into Roma Termini right on time. From Roma Termini (nice there - lots of shops and restaurants, including a McDs, Five Guys, and Starbucks. The McD had a lot of capuccino choices, and pastries.
We went down to the Metro (subway) The line to get tickets was long. There were like 10 machines and only one was working. We finally got some, and Mom snuck in on mine so we maybe still have one. We went 4 stops and got off at Piazza del Popolo. It was past 9pm. There were not many people on the street. I was so frustrated. What had I gotten us into? What if we were robbed? And Mom was super hungry.
It took us maybe 20 mins, maybe more, but we found it. I called the landlord, and he showed up on his Vespa/motorcycle. HIs English was not super, but we managed to communicate. He was funny and friendly - Luciano. He got us settled and told us where to get dinner. The place was okay. They did not speak much English. We also stopped and got some snacks (and milk). That person did not speak English at all. I was able to use a little of my Italian. Also the lady at the restaurant seemed appreciative when I said "dessert menu" correctly.
After we got back, I took a shower (not bad - at least we had our own!) and we went to bed. Finally I got a good night's sleep - 12a - 8am.
We got up at 8am; out at 9am. Went to the tobacconist and bought a ticket for the train. But then we weren't sure where to take it. So we walked - it was a long way to the Vatican, but we had left a lot of time to get to our 1130. When we were getting close, Mom wanted to stop and we sat at an outside cafe and got American breakfast (not good) and shared and Mom had a Coke. That morning she realized she had lost her wallet at the Venice train statiion. It really sucked. She reported her CC missing. Someone had been trying to use it. Capital One had already asked about a charge.
After our break, we walked around the Vatican wall. Since we already had tickets we got to walk right in. I went to the guided tour desk, and we got checked in for a bust through the Vatican gardens. When the lady said "2 people" I said "due persone" and she laughed and said "so I can speak Italian with you?" It made me feel good. I said, "No. Parle Englessa, per favore!" We only had to wait 15 minutes, and then we went on our bus tour through the gardens. The gardens were very beautiful, and the earpiece tour wasn't bad. It let us back out at the Vatican Museum, which turned out the be huge. After looking around some, we found the direction of the Sistine Chapel. It was a really long walk thorugh other displays that started to get really repetitive. Finally we got there. It really was not that impressive. They didn't allow photos, which was pretty strictly enforced.
After we finally found our way OUT of the Vatican (which was NOT easy) We ended up on this circular ramp that went on forever. It made me have vertigo. At this point my phone was going down fast and I had forgotten a charge cord or the portable charger. So I stopped taking pictures.
It took a while to find the hop-on hop-off stop, but after many inquiries, we found it. We were lucky to get seats together. We sat across from this nice Australian couple. We really enjoyed talking to them. I told them we were from Ohio, and later he asked, "Where in Iowa?" which I thought was hilarious. I said "you're right, same thing." The strongly disliked Trump too.
We took the hop-on, hop-off in a full circle and listened to the audio narration. It was fine. Mostly it was good to rest for a while.
We got off at the Spanish Steps stop because supposedly our room is close to them. We walked in the direction of our hotel, looking for a restaurant. We stopped mainly because Mom needed the bathroom. I got the lasagna and Mom got a salad with tuna. Neither was great. When I went to the restroom I pushed the door open (It was partly open already) and a guy was already in there. Very weird. He came out after a bit, didn't respond to my "sorry", didn't wash his hands, and had gotten pee all over the seat.
After we paid our check, we walked out to discover - voila! Somehow we are at The Spanish Steps! We were at the top and we decided not to go down, but we looked at them for a bit. There was a Metro station close by, so we took it one stop and were back to where we were the night before. It was so different in the daylight. It wasn't scary at all. Actually, I saw the Piazza di Popolo right across from us. It was beautiful. First we got Coke and Coke Zero from the McDs nearby, then walked over just to look.
There were so many shops and restaurants - now they were open. Mom finally got hairspray, and I was ready to buy some cannoli. The cannoli was just okay - a little different from ones in the states. We walked back, and stayed in our room from about 7:30p on. Hoping to get to bed about 10pm. Getting up early tomorrow.
We got up and out by 7:15a because we had an early tour at the Colisseum. I was happy to discover that we could take the subway (we did have to transfer from A to B) The B train was so crowded that we skipped the first one. We were absolutely packed in. When we got to the Colosseo stop, we got out and it was immediately there! It is a pretty awesome sight. We took lots of pictures. The meeting spot for the tour was not too difficult to find, though there were many steps. We were super early, which made Mom grouchy. I went back to the bridge with a view for a while and just stared at the Colisseum.
The tour guide was from Barcelona - she had been in Italy for 10 years, and was an archaeologist. Her name was Sandra. She was super skinny. She was nice, and little funny, but was difficult to understand. We went to the Forum first. It was interesting - most of it was ruins, but there were some buildings we were able to enter. We were at the Forum for a long time, then headed to the Colisseum. Mom was able to take the elevator up, which helped with that tour.
We had trouble finding the exit (Uscita) of the Collisseum too. Finally we were back on the street and headed downhill to the Big Bus stop. I wanted to take the yellow to the cat place, but there aren't as many yellows, so we took the red to the closest stop. We got off and walked through "the Jewish ghetto" which is not a ghetto at all but a rich area. We were getting close to the cats and decided to stop for lunch. We stepped into a cute, quaint restaurant and had my favorite meal yet - tortellini alfredo. We shared it, Mom liked it too. Then we had a pastry, it was yum too. The ruins of the Pantheon were just across the street (pretty neat looking), and the cat shelter was basically IN the ruins! We visited the shelter - they also do TNR. Some of the cats were blind - one had no eyes but was super affectionate. I gave a donation of 30 euros on my CC because I am running out of cash.
After the cats we headed back to the Big Bus stop. It was much closer than it had been at the Vatican. We took the bust one stop to the Trevi fountatin. We found that without too much trouble. It was very crowded, and Mom was okay not throwing a coin in. Back to the bus, and we rode it around the whole loop. This time we sat on the top, which was nice. Off at Tervi fountain again, onto the A line, back to Popolo, Mom had McDs, I ate my leftovers, and early to bed for me.
Got up at 730a packed up and out by 845a. Caught the A metro to Termini. We were pretty early, which was good because I wanted to get more Euro. I found a place, and ended up paying 50 Euro for 200 Euro. But at least I have cash now. Since Mom lost her purse, I had lot quite a bit of my original 200 Euro. After that, we decided to get food at McDs. I was hping for a breakfast sandwich, but no breakfast was on the menu at the kiosk. We got a "treat" basket to at least get something local. Service was very fast, even though very rude. The treat basket was chicken wings, chicken nuggets, and little pizza rolls. The Coke and Diet Coke was excellent. After I was done, I checked and our gate was still not announced. Finally, only like 10 minutes before it was supposed to leave - gate 12. We got on ok, and that's where I am now. Headed to Napoli (Naples)
We got to Naples without issue. We sat next to a guy on his way to run a foot race. Turned out his English was pretty good and Mom talked his ear off. It was 3 generations and the whole family seemed very nice.
From Napoli Centrale, we took a subway to Mergellina. We got off but I didn't know where to go. The lady that was sitting next to Mom tried to get us to go down the stairs, but I thought that was just for more subways. So we looked around some more. Finally we asked someone, but I don't think he spoke any English. I did know the word for bus. He helped some. (I forgot - at Napoli Centrale, we took an elevator down and found we were at the subway line. But then someone asked us for our ticket (billete) and we didn't have one. He showed us where they were. I stood in line, but then I was able to do it on my phone - very exciting)
Also, on the train, these girls came down the aisles and gave us snacks. But then they tried to sell us tickets to Pompeii. So, at Margellina - we finally made our way outside and then we ran into the lady from the subway. I asked her "autobus?" and she tried to explain how to get there. Then she decided to walk us there! She even waited with us! I asked "card? Euro?" And she said no and pointed me across the street. I knew how to ask for 2 tickets! Then the lady even got on the bus with us! I asked the bus driver and he told me 10 mins. Then I asked "numero fermata?" and he said 4. Then, I saw the name plaque for the B&B as we passed it!
We waited a few minutes for the lady to let us in. At first she seemed nice, but she is very picky! She has an adorable cat, but the cat is not supposed to come in our rooms. :( We had about an hour until we could have our room, so we walked up the street and checked out the little shops. There were a couple with food, drinks, etc, and a grocery store at the end!
Everything around here is very authentic, and most people do NOT speak English. We tried to walk down to the beach across the street, buit a sercurity person stopped us. After much confusion, it was decided that we could go down to the beach and buy tickets. It was 10Euro each, but that included a chair. We stayed from about 315 until about 5. They closed at 530, but everyone else was gone already, so we left. I got into the water some, and walked where I could. There was a pier you could walk under, which was pretty cool. Mom fell asleep, and I moved to the shade and read.
We went back to the room, changed, and then went to the one restaurant on the street. We were the only customers. I did not understand the menu (only Italian) but finally we decided to share the ravioli. It was okay - too fancy for me. I got tiramisu and mom got creme brulee for dessert. They also gave us 2 glasses of champagne (free) and some strange appetizer - Mom had both of mine. Also assorted bread, which was pretty good. Then we went to the grocery store. I tried to find bus tickets a couple places, all in Italian! One person told me the driver would sell us tickets. Then we went back tot he room. I was sad there was no kitty to greet us.
Got up at 6a, out at 7:15a. We saw the sunrise. Mom got a pastry at the little shop across the street from us. We waited for the bus (140) for like 30 minutes before we gave up. We walked down the hill and were able to find the subway station. I bought a ticket on my phone, but no one checked it. We got a tram/subway pretty quickly. We took it to Piazza Gerabaldi. When we got off, I realized that the train to Pompeii left from the same platform. It was less than 20 mins, and then it showed up. We got to Pompeii, no problem.
We used restrooms at the statin (a lady barged in on me) We decided to walk to the excavation site, but first I had a chocolate croissant and Mom had a Coke Zero (I had a Coke too) It was a straight-shot walk, and we found it about 40 minutes early. We ate at a restaurant right across the street.
Our guide's name was Alessandra. She has a phD in archaeology, she was a good guide. Mom especially liked her. The tour was 2 hours, but the terrain wasn't THAT bad, and we found many places in the shade. She said "those poor people" so many times. After the tour (we had trouble finding uscita - again), we looked at the restaurants around the site, but they were very busy. We walked back to Pompeii proper instead. I got another Coke, and I tried a granola bar (bleck) and a peanut cookie (good) and then the subway was there. We were able to take it all the way to Margellina. At Margellina, we got out and looked for food. ON the way, we found our meeting place for tomorrow - I was excited! We settled on a restaurant right on the beach. It was very crowded, but they sat us. He even found a place in the shade. We both got some kind of potatoes with cheese and meat, they were delicious!!!! I also got a scoop of gilato (tiramisu)
Then we walked back to the room - it wasn't too far.
Wow, so much disappointment. I was looking forward to this day the most. I thought we were going to hang out on the coast, maybe a boat ride. We got picked up on time at least - 7:20am at 50 Kalo, which is a pizzeria. We got up at 5am - ugh. We were in the van for a very long time before the tour even "started". The driver spoke no English, even though it's supposed to be an English tour. We were probably in the van for 40 mins before the guide started talking. We couldn't understand him - the mic wasn't working. So he got on his knees and turned around - that was much better. There was a couple in front of us from Hungary - they were adorable and funny. And a couple from NYC - also adorable, and sweet. There was a mother and son from Malta. The mothere was very nice and interesting; the son was a dud. An annoying couple from Texas, a great gay couple (2 guys) from Australia, and a couple other duds I never talked to.
We stopped at Sorrento first. Unfortunately I was starving, and I didn't want a pastry. We sat down and I had eggs and bacon. It was very delicious, but really cut into our time. Also, I thought this one packet was jelly, but actually it was vinegar. Oops. It was good I ate, because it turned out lunch was not for a while. After I ate, we went around the city some, and looked at some of the shops.
We got back on the van. Now it seemed the air was no longer working. Were all HOT. The guide was okayh, and funny/good personality. But he was not very informative. The only time we got much information was when people asked questions. We got to Pasitano next. It was crowded and hilly. There were some spots with very nice views of the ocean and the hillside. We did manage to go to a public restroom, although there was no paper. After Pasitano, we drove towards Amalfi. The view from the restaurant was great, and luckily Mom and I ended up at the "cool" table. The food was not impressive.
After lunch, we got to Amalfi. I went to the ocean and put my feet in. The beach was TERRIBLE - the sand was brown and yuck, and near the water it turned into rocks that HURT your feet. We went toward the shops, which were at least all shaded. We got gilato - I tried the Lemoncella, Mom had chocolate chip. The cones were better this time. We got back on the van - still super hot. At leat they opened the windows this time. We headed back. We were in the van 2 hours and 20 minujtes more. Ugh! Finally we were off.
We went to 50 Kalo for dinner because we still hadn't had pizza. Our waiter was awesome, and (kind of) complimented my Italian. The pizza - just okay. But the waiter was very friendly. I left after I paid the check and booked it to the supermarket - they closed at 830. There were a couple people in front of me. When it was almost my turn I went to get a bag of ice. The cashier said something I didn't understand, and then "close" - oops, I went back and closed it. "Sorry" I said and then, a second later "mi dispiacha". Both the woman in front of me and the cashier got big smiles on their face. So I guess they do appreciate it when you make an effort.
We got up about 7:30a. The night before we felt what I am pretty sure was an earthquake. It scared me - I was glad to be leaving Naples. We got packed up, and the lady popped out and wanted to talk to us. I really don't know what she was asking, but I told her we have to go - taxi. The taxi showed up right when I had requested it. The driver was very nice, and we were dropped off at Mergellina station. Unfortunately I did not figure out how to tip him until it was too late. We got a subway right away (didn't pay) and took it to Napoli Piazza Gerabaldi, and we had to walk some to get to Napolie Centrale. We were early, and had "toast" for breakfast. I had pulled pork, and Mom had a breakfast sandwich. We had tried McDs first but - No Coke! Weird. It was good to sit and stay out of the way. We got on our train to Florence no issues - it was about a 3 hour ride. When we got to Florence, we had to go to the restroom. When we finally found it (and paid 1Euro each), and found our connecting train, we missed it! So we ended up buying new tickets, because I couldn't figure out how to just find track numbers. This ticket was actually TWO trains. So we ended up taking a subway and 3 trains. This connection was easy, and we made it no sweat.
When we got to Pogglibasa, we didn't know what to do. We asked two teenage girls who really wanted to help us in English, but finally just said "follow us." We had just gone the wrong way, and all the busses were on the other side. We got 2 tickets, and the bus came shortly after. The San Gigiammo (?) stop was very cool. There was a street very like Venice. I put the hotel in my Maps app, and it was just a 7 minute walk. It was downhill too. We got to the hotel a bit after 4pm. Most people here speak English, so that has made things easier.
This small hotel is very amazing. Nice lobby area, nice pool area, a bar (Mom got two free "welcome" drinks) and a bistro. After we checked in, I needed food. I had tortellini from the "bistro" and Mom had a big salad. We ate on a patio by the pool - it was lovely. We have been very lucky as for weather - sunny and about 83 every day. After I finished the food, I walked up to the shops (just me) I wanted to check them out, and maybe get some milk.
The walk is lovely - the Tuscan countryside is so beautiful. The shops seemed to be set up around maybe an old castle. It was a huge area, and by 630 at night, it was pretty cleared out. I had a cannoli- it was better than the last one I'd had. It was very good - lots of filling, yum. I found a place to get milk, at the front of the shops. I asked her what time she closed. It was difficult, but when she said "a l'oto" I knew what she meant! I walked through the ship area, and got back to the shop in time for the milk. I got back to the hotel as the sun was setting. I sat on our lovely balcony for a while. Actually, I stood, so I could look at the view. After it was dark, Mom went down to get her wine and we played a few rounds of gin rummy. I asked the bartender for ice, (I brought my water bottle), and he gave me some, yay!
We read until we got tired, then I had some milk (it was yum!) and cookies - ice in the milk :) Neither of us slept great. It's our smallest bed,it was kinda hot, and I guess I kept stealing the covers. But the shower was great - the best water pressure, and the best temperature - it got hot!
I had set the alarm for 830a, but we both woke up around 8am. It was super bright in the room. I got dressed. I was going to wait for Mom, but I was hungry. I headed down to the included breakfast. It was the largest breakfast spread I have ever seen! I had eggs, hot dogs, a lunchmeat sandwich, peanut butter bread, and some delicious pastries - a cheese pastry, chocolate crepe, and lemon pastry. After breakfast, we sat at the pool and read some. We both fell asleep for a while. I finished my book and started a new one. We played cards for a while and Mom had her 2nd drink.
Oh - after breakfast we took a short walk around the neighborhood. But I wanted to go back because - OMG. All we have done is walk. We played cards at the tables by the pool for a bit then we walked up to the stores. We ate dinner with a view of the Countryside. It wasn't great, but it was pretty. I had Picu in Ragu, which was just really thick spaghetti. But I was able to use "Buono fortuna" because the poor waitress (all on her own) had a big table after us.
Mom kept looking for a luggage tag - at least it gave us something to look for in the shops. It's a cool area. Another beautiful night. We got cannolis form the same place I had bought one from the night before, and walked back to our room.
Woke up and had another incredible breakfast. Then we checked out, and played cards at the pool for an hour. We walked up the hill and caught the bus to Possibonsi (didn't pay again) We waited in Poggibonsi about an hour. We got on the train (it was late) with a lot of high school students. I was worried because it was late, but our connection in Florence was late too.
We got McDonalds in Florence because we were both hungry. We got into Venice almost 8pm. Mom looked for her lost wallet - no luck. We bought bus tickets this time, and we walked a little bit to get to the stop. The bus was there, and we took it to the airport. From there we got a taxi to the hotel. From the hotel we took a free shuttle to a nearby restaurant. I finally got spaghetti carbonara - I was not impressed.
We went to bed as soon as we could, we had to get up at 630 to get the airport shuttle.
Shuttle in the morning, no issues getting through security. Our gate was not announced until a few minutes before takeoff. I had some pizza and a cream croissant. We bought candy and Bellini from the Duty Free store. Our flight to Zurich was delayed at the gate, and again in the air. I was very nervous we would miss our connection.
We booked it off the plane, and then as we got close, there was a gate attendant trying to find the stragglers. We made it fine - and then there was a 20 minute delay at the gate. I watched the rest of teh Book Club: The Next Chapter, No Hard Feelings, and Asteroid City on the plane. It was a 9 hour flight. The food was not great, but I didn't get too starving hungry. We didn't have to rush to make our CVG flight, and our luggage was there when we got to the baggage claim.
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