Okay. I get it.
Day two has convinced me that this was a wonderful idea. There are still some things that are not perfect. CoCo still has not adjusted to the time which lead to my first Executive decision of the trip (well, besides not killing red-sweater-man).
Our walking tour was to begin at 9:10 Am. So we dutifully rose, dressed and went down to the hotel's lovely breakfast room. The staff always fusses over CoCo (is there any better way into a mother's heart?). They even made her a pot of hot chocolate just for her. Unfortunately, she was literally falling asleep as she sat there. And while she was speaking her eyes were crossing with sleepiness.
At 9:10 Am we were not on the walking tour. At 9:10 Am CoCo was fast asleep in our lovely hotel room. She slept like the dead. She did not wake up until 1pm. When she woke up she was ready to take on Saint Mark's Square (San Marco Piazza).
It was unbelievable. Really amazing. We crossed the Rialto bridge several times.
CoCo bought a fan. with a scene of Venice on it. we don't try to be cool.
She still seems a little unsorted. However, we had a lot of fun. There seem to be an extraordinary number of "underwear" shops here. Scantily clad mannequins that would make Victoria's Secret less of one. Every time we pass one I ask CoCo, "Do you need some underwear?". After about the third time she started intercepting my question. "No Mom, I have enough" she would say. We also can make one another laugh any time we say "Pizza e Kebabs" which is the "American" spot where we ate lunch that first difficult day. We ate pizza. And drank cokes. And didn't see a single Kebab.
We made guesses about what the Kebab could be...each one funnier than the last (exhausted people occasionally find things funny that other people do not).
On Day two, we got lost a couple of times. Which is fine because we don't need to be anywhere and there is always fabulous food nearby.
In fact, as we ate lunch at Al Paradiso we met Mitzie and her daughter Manon. They are Americans from Manhattan. We struck up a conversation when Manon (13) and CoCo began singing along to the same American song. Mitzie was so much cooler than me (her name is Mitzie after all) but extremely kind. She's been to Venice a million times. They had already been to Rome and somewhere else before arriving in Venice. She took my map and marked all the best spots on it and gave some wonderful color commentary. She also gave me her Italian cell phone number so that we could meet up again.
After we parted ways from Mitzie (who, by the way, was wearing four inch heels to walk the streets of Venice) we shopped and explored. We got lost a couple of more times always ending in a dead end full of doors to peoples homes. We shopped and laughed. We turned down 3,487 gondoliers all who wanted us to take a ride.
We went to dinner at another restaurant near our hotel.
It was not as nice as the place the night before but still very delicious. We met some more Americans who happened to be sitting next to us. The girl was studying abroad from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her mother (from North Carolina) and her aunt (from Montana) had come out to meet up with her and travel a bit. They were so funny, they kept insisting on taking pictures of CoCo and me for us.
We ate beautiful food. Caprese salad.
Plain noodles for CoCo (sigh) and then we had Turbot which they brought out with the head still on it. Fortunately the waiter deboned it.
The highlight of the day is when the woman from Montana asked CoCo what year she was. ? I looked at her puzzled. She said, "is she in high school or college?". CoCo literally lit up at that. "Um. she's eleven. but she's dressed up like it's school picture day". We all laughed.
Very fun day. CoCo is till not sleeping at the right times. I'm sure by the time she's adjusted it will be time to go home. I'll keep you posted.
Isn't it funny how you can be literally thousands of miles from home, in a foreign country, but when you meet other Americans, you click right away?! :) Sounds like you guys are having a great time. Keep the fabulous travelogues coming!
Posted by: ElleBee | March 24, 2009 at 09:03 AM
Glad day 2 was good. Sounds better and better all the time.
Looking forward to day 3!
Posted by: Rock Chef | March 24, 2009 at 09:34 AM
Well obviously Mitzie got the schlumpadinka memo...can't wait to see the "deboning" picture ;) The girls want to know when you're going to the Isla di Segreto?
Posted by: The lurker | March 24, 2009 at 01:23 PM
Ah! To be in Venice and talking to the....Americans! You need to talk to the people of Venice so that we can find out about their differences, their sameness, why the man in the red sweater was how he was. Find us your loyal blog followers a true Venice person (not sure if the term should be Venetian--that's a blind isn't it?), anyway...interview them :)
Posted by: SleeplessinOL | March 24, 2009 at 10:04 PM
So glad red sweater man is still alive and that you have had a much better day....
Time difference can be Blah...I'm guessing she will be back on track on day 3.
xoxox
Posted by: Miss Danielle | March 24, 2009 at 10:35 PM
Love these daily updates. Keep it coming!
Posted by: Sandra | March 25, 2009 at 06:25 AM
Yay for shopping and eating....such the life! It sounds like a fabulous trip....I'm dying to know the name of the hotel you're staying in....I still need to make my reservations.
Posted by: Jenn | March 25, 2009 at 12:20 PM
"We turned down 3,487 gondoliers all who wanted us to take a ride"
But, was there a 3,488th one that you DID take a ride with??
Glad you are having a great time after getting off to a bad start. Can't wait to see the pictures from your trip.
Posted by: Cyndie | March 29, 2009 at 04:10 PM