Lost in Venice
July 1, 2009
The temperature was well above 90 degrees and I was navigating. Everyone says, “The best part of Venice is getting lost!” I don’t think this is what they had in mind, as I watched Justin melting under the heat and the weight of his backpack that was filled with both of our stuff. I can almost see Amy shaking her head, thinking once again, Rebecca, really? Can’t you carry your own stuff?
He trusted me with a map, which I immediately attributed to his lack of real experience with me and was convinced would be the ultimate demise to what had started off as a very nice trip of Italy. After wandering the streets of Venice finding one Calle Spezier after another Calle Spezier, I asked a woman at a tabacchi if she knew where our hotel was located or if she could at least sell us a better map. All out of quality maps! But, she would do her best to get us to the area of our hotel. We had made a serious error, not taking into account the area our hotel was located in. Venice is broken into districts and the Calle Spezier we were looking for was in ‘Castello’. She found a book and wrote a series of landmarks. Go to this square and ask for this…. Then go here and ask for that. I had a feeling she was just trying to get us close.
Two people, three landmarks and at atleast five u turns later, I found a man in his tabacchi shop.
“Parli Inglese?” I asked shyly. I hate to talk to strangers in my own language, let alone Italian, which is a beast I try my best to avoid.
“Poco,” he replied.
‘Nice, he speaks as much English as I speak Italian, this should be fun. Justin is still sort of smirking at me, although he is being VERY quiet. Why didn’t we eat LUNCH!?’ I thought.
The man took me outside to the café next door, where five men were sitting drinking beer and smoking cigarettes in the sun. An eruption of hypotheses broke out before someone finally picked up a phone and called Hotel Al Tiepolo. I couldn’t help but smile listening to the banter and seeing the warmth of their faces, all of them completely devoted to helping us find our way.
‘This is why we got lost’ I thought, ‘So I could see these men.’
“Left at the Farmacia… down this road, right here, left there.’ More debate and then a little old man stood up and said, “I will take you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely, it is very close”
(Yes, Amy, said in Italian, this is what I think he said.)
“Venice is rubbish.” The tabacchi owner added with a wink,(in English) before we left, and I realized hmmm, yeah his English is a little different then my Italian. Quick thank you’s were said and I withheld a deep desire to hug the old men that sat in the piazza watching the day pass and opted for some smiles and a grazie. Five minutes later, we were staring at Calle Spezier which could not be entered two abreast and looked nothing like a street. Justin looked at me, I looked at him and both of us had the same thought, ‘We would have NEVER found this place alone!’
The little old man walked us to the door, made sure the unlabeled door was actually our hotel, looked at us sweetly and said, “Buon Vacanza!”
(Calle Spezier is right of the pink building.... Justin took a picture thinking we might need a landmark later that night, good thinking, WE DID!)
The temperature was well above 90 degrees and I was navigating. Everyone says, “The best part of Venice is getting lost!” I don’t think this is what they had in mind, as I watched Justin melting under the heat and the weight of his backpack that was filled with both of our stuff. I can almost see Amy shaking her head, thinking once again, Rebecca, really? Can’t you carry your own stuff?
He trusted me with a map, which I immediately attributed to his lack of real experience with me and was convinced would be the ultimate demise to what had started off as a very nice trip of Italy. After wandering the streets of Venice finding one Calle Spezier after another Calle Spezier, I asked a woman at a tabacchi if she knew where our hotel was located or if she could at least sell us a better map. All out of quality maps! But, she would do her best to get us to the area of our hotel. We had made a serious error, not taking into account the area our hotel was located in. Venice is broken into districts and the Calle Spezier we were looking for was in ‘Castello’. She found a book and wrote a series of landmarks. Go to this square and ask for this…. Then go here and ask for that. I had a feeling she was just trying to get us close.
Two people, three landmarks and at atleast five u turns later, I found a man in his tabacchi shop.
“Parli Inglese?” I asked shyly. I hate to talk to strangers in my own language, let alone Italian, which is a beast I try my best to avoid.
“Poco,” he replied.
‘Nice, he speaks as much English as I speak Italian, this should be fun. Justin is still sort of smirking at me, although he is being VERY quiet. Why didn’t we eat LUNCH!?’ I thought.
The man took me outside to the café next door, where five men were sitting drinking beer and smoking cigarettes in the sun. An eruption of hypotheses broke out before someone finally picked up a phone and called Hotel Al Tiepolo. I couldn’t help but smile listening to the banter and seeing the warmth of their faces, all of them completely devoted to helping us find our way.
‘This is why we got lost’ I thought, ‘So I could see these men.’
“Left at the Farmacia… down this road, right here, left there.’ More debate and then a little old man stood up and said, “I will take you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely, it is very close”
(Yes, Amy, said in Italian, this is what I think he said.)
“Venice is rubbish.” The tabacchi owner added with a wink,(in English) before we left, and I realized hmmm, yeah his English is a little different then my Italian. Quick thank you’s were said and I withheld a deep desire to hug the old men that sat in the piazza watching the day pass and opted for some smiles and a grazie. Five minutes later, we were staring at Calle Spezier which could not be entered two abreast and looked nothing like a street. Justin looked at me, I looked at him and both of us had the same thought, ‘We would have NEVER found this place alone!’
The little old man walked us to the door, made sure the unlabeled door was actually our hotel, looked at us sweetly and said, “Buon Vacanza!”
(Calle Spezier is right of the pink building.... Justin took a picture thinking we might need a landmark later that night, good thinking, WE DID!)
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