May 30, 2014, Friday:
We came down from our Antico Moro hotel room at 7.10 am, with our bags packed, requested Antico
Moro owner to ring up Moro Lin guy. He spoke to him in Italian and said, “Your
room will be ready only at 11, so he said he’ll come and pick up your bags then
and your bags will be in your room when you return in the evening. You can
leave your bags here and go”
I said “I need my keys… we’ll return only by 8/9 PM and I
don’t want a repeat of yesterday, standing at the gate… waiting for some one to
open the door”
He said, “Not my problem… my friend told me to keep your
bags… he’ll collect it at 11; you can go”
He dragged our bags into a small room, banged the door shut
and walked off…
I said “I need my keys… let me talk to him”
He said “Shhh…keep your voice low…the keys are not ready…
the room will be ready at 11”
I said “I need the duplicate keys… let me talk to him, I’m
NOT leaving till I get my keys”
He said “Shhh… don’t wake up my customers”
I said “I NEED MY
KEYS”
He ran to the phone and dialed Moro Lin guy… meanwhile my
son was telling me in our language, “These are mafia guys… they do what they
want…I don’t want you getting hurt… let’s leave… we’ll ask him to collect the
key and we’ll come back here in the evening, get the key and go there”
Moro Lin guy was on line; he sounded sleepy, said, “I’ll
collect your bags at 11, Senora!”
I told him, “This is not about the bags… I need keys…I don’t
want a repeat of yesterday’s waiting”
“Aaahh… the keys…” he said, “OK, where are you?”
I said “At Antico Moro”
He said “I’m coming in 10 min”
We waited for 15 minutes and I requested Antico Moro guy to
telephone him again… he did so, said “He’s coming!”
He did come in another
5 min, took our bags … Antico Moro guy was heaving an exaggerated sigh of
relief!!! Hmm.. I'm being painted as the bad guy here, just for asking for keys to the apartment I've paid for!
We were driven to the same office, and were going through checkin formalities… he wanted the credit card for immediate payment… at the
same rate…
I asked No discount for our trouble? We stayed in a small
room, no kitchen, so much waiting …”
He shrugged, “I drove you up and down… so it’s all adjusted…
there will be a bowl of fruit and bottled water in the apt when you return”
I had read in TripAdvisor reviews that is customary for all visitors…
He said “You can leave and find a new place if you don’t
want to stay here”
To add to all the trouble, I knew on that day May 30th, there
was a local transport strike. I had asked the Antico Moro guy, “I read the
buses will ply till 9am so that office goers won’t be affected and then again
resume at 6… is that right?”he had nodded… I had told him, “That’s one reason,
I want to go to Venice
early...don’t want to be stuck in Mestre during the strike”
I told MoroLin guy, “There is a transport strike today,
hurry up and let’s leave… I saw buses on the road”
He shrugged.. I again repeated my understanding of the
strike hours… he nodded.
(One of the TA reviews mentions that they were not informed about the strike by the Moro Lin people and had to hire an expensive taxi t go to Venice... oh, well, you really have to look out for yourself, I guess!)
We got the keys and were told ours was apt no 2… which key
opens the side gate and which one the apt… no other briefing and we were on our
way
Thankfully caught a bus from just near the estate …
Now like an idiot, I didn’t check with anybody else about
availability of bus in the evening… I trusted these 2 that the strike was
nothing to worry about after 6pm!
OK, Now on to our day’s sight seeing…
We got down at Piazzale Roma as usual.
Here’s the famous Rialto
bridge (Italian: Ponte di Rialto)
It is one of the four bridges spanning the
On either side of the portico, the covered ramps carry rows of shops. The engineering of the bridge was
considered so audacious that architect Vincenzo Scamozzi predicted future ruin.
The bridge has defied its critics to become one of the architectural icons of Venice
There are several gondolas available for hire... several
options around 100 euros...
The uniformed gondola guys are ever present...Note to self: never ever buy similar striped tees...
We got similar rides with our vaporetto pass and were OK with not hiring a private gondola!
We didn't have a strict agenda for Venice as we had seen the
best of the best in the earlier cities covered...PARIS, ROMA, FIRENZE...if we
had been keen on covering all the Venice museums, churches, we would have
considered buying the museum /church passes.
http://palazzoducale.visitmuve.it/en/pianifica-la-tua-visita/tickets/
has some info on museum pass.
Entry to each church is €3; http://www.chorusvenezia.org/en/pass
Gives info on church pass which is priced at €12. As said
earlier, after the grand churches, palaces, museums in Rome
and Florence , we did not feel the need to visit
all the churches, museums in Venice .
We entered a few churches...
We entered a free library and admired the exhibits.
The shops are veritable museums with lovely crafts in marble, bronze and of course the famous Murano glass...
Doge's Palace
We then visited Doge’s palace. The Doge's Palace (Italian: Palazzo
Ducale) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style. The palace was the
residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the Republic of Venice Republic
of Venice Venice was subjected first to French rule, then to
Austrian, and finally in 1866 it became part of Italy . The palace opened as a
museum in 1923.
No pics allowed in the palace. These are just shots of the ceilings in passages, halls...
The crowning production of
Tintoretto's life, the vast Paradise, size 22.6m x 9.1 m (74.1 x 29.9 feet), the
largest painting ever done upon canvas is great.
This is the courtyard...
Since the 16th century, the palace has been linked to the
prison by the Bridge
of Sighs
Bridge of Sighs
A corridor
leads over the Bridge
of Sighs
San Marco Campanile
Then we joined the short queue for going up the bell tower of San Marco
We took the
elevator and enjoyed awesome views.
Around 7.30 PM, we bought fruits, milk, yogurt, juice etc in
the COOP near the pier, came to Piazzale Roma, and waited for our bus… it was
raining steadily… we had brought one umbrella… our jackets were water proof,
the hat kept some rain off but it was a mess…buses came in, even ours with
board Noale and then after the passengers disembarked they put on Fuori service
boards and drove away!
It took us some time to realize we won’t get a bus… we went
to the train station, bought tickets to VE Mestre, got into a train going to
Paduva and got out at Mestre… we tried to cross the road and hail a taxi that
had come but a Chinese couple beat us to it!
We saw a huge queue at the station entrance for taxi… we
went to Hotel Plaza reception and requested them to call us a taxi on their
phone… the nice guys there tried for some 10 minutes but the line was busy and
they said that’s the scenario when it rains and there is a strike!
I had the google map showing the way to MoroLin.. I showed
them and asked for specifics on where to start… they said it’s a highway and
very dangerous. OK, we did not want an accident on top of all the junk we were
facing… We went to join the taxi queue and after an hour, got a taxi, which
took us on a convoluted route and dropped us at the gate for some €15!
We went with trepedition to our apt… the lights were on, the
TV was playing, a big bowl of fruits waited on the table in a classy apt with
lofty ceilings, chandelier and the whole works!!
Needed a hot shower, after poking around in the washroom,
Son found a thermostat behind a curtain near the kitchen area and seeing a
water sign on it turned the knob and managed to get hot water running. After
hunting for a lighter to light the gas stove, I found out it was the self
ignition type…. Made pasta, determined that we won’t let others ruin our day,
had a generous helping of the fruits and we slept in the spacious beautiful
house.
covers our day trip to the lovely Murano, Burano islands
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