Venice, Here I Come!

By Tammy H. – Guestblogger from Venice
The fast and comfortable EuroStar train took me from Florence to Venice in less than 3 hours for 34 euro. On the train, I sat across a young Italian coast guard and eagerly practiced my Italian with him. He was returning to Grado, a small town north of Venice after visiting his parents near Rome. He usually works a two-day shift, and then goes home 3 hours away for 3 days. Sounds like an ideal work schedule! He just got married last year and his first baby boy is due in December. "Congratulazioni!" I said to him. Then I read some short news items from his daily newspaper and he helped me with my pronunciation, especially which syllable to put the correct accent or emphasis on, like gelateRIa instead of gelaTEria. We enjoyed each other's company and soon it was time for him to change trains 2 stop before Venice.
I studied the Venice map from my LET'S GO guidebook to see how I was going to walk from the train station to my homestay. My landlady/hostess wouldn't be there. At the last minute, she had to go off to California to visit her daughter and grandkids. Her niece Lorenza would take her place, I was told.
At 11:17 am, the train pulled into Venice. It was a beautiful day when I walked into an island city with old palaces, canals, alleys, bridges with lots of steps up and down, boats, vaporetti, gondole, narrow and short streets crowded with shops and tourists. Making my way out among the huge crowd of tourists at the train station, I tried to follow the directions Lorenza had told me on the phone the night before when I called to ask how to walk to the house in Campo Santa Margherita.
So with my medium-sized wheeled suitcase and my backpack, I stepped out into the glorious morning sunlight to face a harsh reality: Too many steps on WAY too many little bridges. It was hard to pull and push the suitcase along and up and down the numerous steps. I was afraid the wheels would come off from being abused. After about 15 minutes and seeing little bridges right and left around me, I stopped next to a newstand and called Lorenza for help. "Wait right there, " she said. In 5 minutes she came running with a big smile. We hugged and kissed on both cheeks as if we were old friends. Then she helped me pull my bag all the way home and up 40 steps to the 2nd floor condo.
I thought Lorenza would live here with me as my substitute hostess, but she lives with her mother nearby. After showing me everything around the house, she hugged me goodbye and left. So I am here all by myself in a large condo with spacious sitting room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and a garden terrace. Looking out from the kitchen or living room windows, I can see the Rio del Malcanton with boats and gondolas full of tourists passing by. I can enjoy listening to the romantic songs sung or played by the gondoliers, and the rousing bells from the nearby church. In addition, the house is only 5 minutes walk to my school, along a clean canal, over a little bridge, through a narrow and short alley, across a large square lined with coffee shops, bars, restaurants, little eateries, ice cream shops and a supermarket.
Venice, my kind of city!