Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Day 13 - Venetian Storm

Last day in Venice!  We had a walking tour this morning to the Rialto Bridge with one of the local guides...it was interesting to hear how Venetians live and she took us into little nooks and crannies around on the way to the bridge.  Once we got there, we were left to wander one of the local markets filled with fish and veggies.  Now yesterday the weather was roasting...we had had a tour yesterday and everyone was dressed fairly warmly for some reason, so today we were all wearing shorts because we were expecting it to be hot.

Wellllll...not so much.  Just as we finished the tour, it started drizzling and the guide said don't worry, it will stop soon, it never lasts long.  Don't worry, she said.  Famous last words...thankfully we were under cover at the market because the skies absolutely opened up on us.  We hid under the awnings for awhile and when it lightened up a tinge, we ran for it to an area where some do the street hawkers were selling umbrellas and rain ponchos for five euros each.  I was so mad as I had taken out my umbrella just that morning out of my knapsack, but we bought an umbrella and the guy handed me the last poncho left, a bright pink one.  Oh joy.  Those of you who know me, know I don't wear colour ever but I couldn't afford to be picky.  hubs and I were laughing because we figured these were likely the cheapest umbrellas ever, and would last five openings, so one euro per time we opened up. Sure enough...the third time we opened it, one of the spokes stayed to break and then there was a slight wind gust from people walking past and that was the end of it!  Thankfully we were pretty close to home and made it back relatively unscathed.  There was some crazy lightning and thunder though...apparently this was atypical Venetian storm but it was pretty crazy.  I've seen some hard rain before but this was one of the heaviest I've ever seen.

After a short break at the hotel, we headed back out to try and find some lunch.  The rains had stopped and the sun actually came out and it was warming up nicely.  We went down a few side streets to get off the beaten track and found a very small little place so decided to go in.  We asked what the specials were today and it was a strawberry sauce with pasta and the other was a pasta made with a small amount of bitter cocoa and squid and langoustines.  Sign us up! We each had the special and it was so good...just what we were looking for.  After lunch we wandered around a bit, had our first gelato (super creamy and yummy, hazelnut for me, milk and mint flavours for hubs).   tummy is not that happy with me right now (sigh...paying for the gelato) so tomorrow will be another bland food day to try and calm things down.  Not gonna lie, even tho I've loved the food, am really looking forward to some veggies.

Leaving Venice tomorrow and heading to Florence for two days.  Apparently no wifi there (noooooo!!) so will catch you all in a few days once I hit Rome.

1 comment:

Char said...

So the moral of the story is- if you're ever in Venice in a rain storm go for the poncho rather than the cheap-arse umbrella.