Junto Boys

ITALY PART II

Venice Calls

We were lucky that we decided to travel to Venice on Saturday. If we had chosen Friday we may have thwarted because of the general strike. Our train was delayed over an hour on Saturday morning and I had to wonder if it was due to the late night boozing the general strike no doubt brought about. The train trip to Venice was nice especially since it was snowing outside and it gave me an opportunity to read Raymond Chandler’s THE LITTLE SISTER. It was the last Philip Marlowe novel that I hadn’t read and I’ve been saving it for years for a special time. Chandler only wrote seven altogether and I squandered the first four in a month back in 1993. I also took along a Travis McGee and a Nero Wolfe having started the tradition of reading American detective books on the 2003 trip when I brought the Dashiell Hammet Omnibus and read RED HARVEST AND THE DAIN CURSE.

It couldn’t have been more miserable when we arrived. The snow had turned to rain meaning that we got all of the cold along with the moisture we could have done without. Venice only has 60,000 residents, I read. Everyone else commutes into the city each day. A greater number of tourists sleep each night on these small islands than do Venetians. It makes the whole thing more like a theme park and less like a community.

I wasn’t surprised by the architecture or the canals. They are well documented in movies and TV. I wasn’t prepared for the sidewalks and little squares in and around the smaller canals. It gave the city a real intimate feel. Our hotel was located in a maze of such little alleyways and the directions on the website to the hotel were incorrect. One of the hotel reviews stated that it was worth taking the 50 Euro taxi rather than the 4 Euro waterbus because the Taxi got you to a private little landing in front of the hotel. I just couldn’t see paying 40 more Euro when I would probably get lost anyway the first time we left the hotel.

Their directions hinged on locating a square that was actually on the opposite side of our hotel. Luckily we had the DK Italy book with a street by street breakdown of Venice. It didn’t have our street but we were able to head in a particular direction and eventually find a landmark. It was like an old video game I use to have where you are inside the maze without benefit of the bird eye view.




















Nighttime came to Italy about 5pm each evening and with our delayed train trip it was almost dark by the time we were settled into our room. The greatest thing about being in Venice is that it’s small enough that you can walk to the important places in little time. We could get to the Rialto Bridge and cross it in about 3 minutes. It took another 10-15 to get to the famed San Marco Square.

From the time we crossed the Rialto Bidge the path to San Marco square became a shopping mall. Every upscale and medium scale and even cheap store was located on either side of these narrow sidewalks. Put everyone’s umbrella into the equation and you have a comic picture of “excuse me” and duckings. We were warned that Venice was flooding with all the rain and my sneakers got soaked enough that I bought the 12 Euro pair of boots before the night ended.


I was told and read many places that Italian food in Italy was different than Italian food in America. I suppose that is true, but it wasn’t to the degree that I was expecting. This may have been because I was only in the bigger cities that were more likely to cater to tourists. It may also be because many American Italian restaurants have slowly introduced more authentic Italian cuisine to the point where the difference is becoming blurred. When I was a kid Spaghetti and Meatballs were Italian. Now I can get Chicken Florentine at Carrabbas and Pasta Milano at Macaroni Grill. One dish that was new to me was Gnocchi. Tiny dumplings served with the same sauce that you’d put on pasta. I liked it enough that I vowed to make it from scratch if I could find a recipe. Trish even brought a package back from the Italian market in Rome. The punch ine was seeing two varieties for sale in Publix on Sunday morning when we returned. Sometimes the exotic is right in front of your face if you bother to look.

The Italian dinner breaks down into courses.

AntiPasto – Appetizers like Brushetta

First Course – A pasta of some kind or Gnocchi or Rissoto

Second Course – Fish, Steak or poultry

After that on the menu were sections labeled Salads, Desserts and pizzas. I would order from these and try to guess where in the meal they would show up.

We found after a while that you could skip the second course. Meat was not only the most expensive but also the most boring. The food at the restaurants was all the same quality whether you paid $10 or $30 for dinner. When we got to Rome we just started eating at the same restaurant near the hotel every night. They had a big menu and plenty of variety to keep it fresh. The couple who owned the place saw enough of us that we went from getting the formal “arrivederci” to the friendly “ciao” by the end of our trip.

Some highlights were the spaghetti and tomato sauce from the first night mixed with a hint of pepperocini powder. It wasn’t too hot and yet gave the dish a distinctive kick that I intend trying to duplicate. The bruschetta in Rome was the best I have ever had, seasoned tomatoes and uncooked mozzarella on the top of Texas-like toast. If I could figure out the seasoning it will be a great party dish.

And although I criticized the meat for being over-priced the Italians cook steak just right. They don’t ask you how you want your steak they just bring it medium rare and it tasted perfect the three times I tried it.

The pizza was hit or miss. We found a place near the hotel in Venice that spread the dough by hand and the pizzas were the best we tried. It tasted like good ole New York Pizza. Other locations seemed to buy the pizza offsite and microwave it into a rubbery mess. None of it tasted like Pizza Hut, thank the good lord. And I think that is why people say the pizza in Italy is different. I don’t like to eat that fast food pizza if I can help it, so I think I was more at home with the Italian variety.

We skipped the Venetian art Academy after our disappointment with the Uffizzi in Florence. Instead we saw the Peggy Guggenheim museum of Modern art just down the way. Modern Art has its hits and misses as much as any period, but the variety of subject matter was welcome and her museum had some very interesting pieces including a Salvador Dali and a few Picassos.

We did the Gondola ride on Sunday morning and it was touristy and overpriced, but a must none-the-less. Our boat was run by a father and son team and since most boats were solo, I surmised that the son may hang out with his dad on weekends to learn the family business.















We also saw this old Byzantine looking church on Sunday and the palace that housed the Venetian government during the years it was an independent city-state. The palace was connected to a prison that would allow tribunals to send guys right to the can after sentencing.













I often times pay the extra money to get the audio tour to different museums, but the experience is hit or miss. It worked out best at the Guggenheim, but I nearly passed out listening to the painstaking detail of how the old government of Venice worked. The dramatic voice would explain what happened in every room and constantly speak of “The Doge” who was some sort of magistrate ruler of the city. I like history and this was just plain dull.







San Marco square also had a healthy bird population that would make Hitchcock shudder.


On Sunday night Trish and walked about 25 minutes to get back to the train station area so that we could visit the casino. Located upstairs from some sort of hotel, the once casino in Venice looks like it could rolled into a hidden room if the cops came to bust the place up. The roulette tables, and slot machines were authentic, but nothing else in the rooms said casino. You could imagine the whole thing packed up and tomorrow the place was some sort of suite for visiting royalty. Trish played slots and won 40. I lost about 20 playing roulette. No poker, of course.









I took the first photo of Trish and I couldn't quite decide how I wanted to frame it. How much head room did I want versus how much of the buildings did I wants to see? Looking at the verticals gave me the idea for the second photo where Trish gets a Hitchcock cameo.


NEXT TO ROME. . .