Bob on BAC Trans Alps 2008

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On Sunday, we left Il Fae at 9:00 for Park Hotel Villa Stucky. We had two vans for passengers and luggage plus one van for passengers and boxed bicycles. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there. Once we were there, Jeff and I unloaded our luggage and walked to the train station. We got a jump on the others in our group who were not quite ready. We bought round-trip tickets to Venice and settled back for the short ride to the Venice train station.

Vaporetti Stop at the Venice Train Station

After debarking in Venice, we went to the vaporetti ticket office and got 12 hour passes. The Number 2 line took us to Piazza San Marco where we got off. We were getting hungry, so we tried to find a small restaurant in the area where I had eaten before. We couldn't find it so we settled on another place where we had panini. Then we went back to the piazza and toured the basilica museum. We couldn't get into the basilica because mass was in progress and when we finished the museum tour, we would have had to wait too long. So we decided to take a walk so I could show Jeff some of the areas we had been to in the past. We found some of them, but my memory and navigation skills are getting worse and we missed a few. Jeff got a chance to visit the Academia art museum while I waited outside for him.

We did some more exploring and had gellato and Italian cookies. We thought that we were going to stay in Venice for dinner but we were pretty tired at this point. So we went back to the train station and rode to Mogliano and Hotel Villa Stucky. We checked into our room and found that we were assigned a room with a king-sized bed. If I had a cycling roommate other than Jeff, I would have insisted on changing to a room with two beds. It didn't bother us, though.

We were able to join our group for our final Happy Hour. Several of us went into Magliano for dinner splitting up into a pizza group and a real-food group. We went for real food. Jeff had pizza anyway while I had a forgettable gnoche with ragu sauce. We walked back through the town square and stopped for gelato.

Produce at the Rialto Market

On Monday morning, we said goodbye to everyone that we saw in our group. Then we grabbed our luggage and rolled to the train station. When we debarked, I checked my bicycle case at the left-luggage counter. It was too heavy and bulky to carry to our hotel. We bought 24-hour vaporetti passes and took the Number 1 line to the Realto Mercanti stop where we walked a very short distance to Pensione Gueratto. This is a well-situated hotel with one side facing the Realto Market. It was mid morning and we were ready for a snack so we bought some bananas and a melon at the market, took them to our room and ate the melon. It was very juicy and hit the spot.

Old Entrance to the Doge's Palace

We rode the water bus to Piazza San Marco, ate pannini (brown bread, meats, etc.) at a recommended panini store and went to visit the Doge's Palace. (I had forgotten to bring my Rick Steves' tour information and was feeling very bad about it, but the hotel had several copies of the Venice book that were left by previous guests. We borrowed one for the day). The palace tour wore us out. It's funny that we can ride our bicycles over the Alps and Dolomites and feel more tired walking the hard, stone streets of Venice.

Even though we were tired, we walked through the basilica. The dress-code police are not as strict as before. I wore shorts and wasn't stopped. We walked back to an internet cafe where we had some time left from the day before and checked our flights and looked at our emails. Then we toured the old Jewish ghetto. After that, we walked to the bus station so that we would be prepared for the next morning's departure.

Back at the hotel, we took a rest. I tried to read, but I managed to doze instead especially because Jeff plied me with beer.

Campo S Maria Formosa

Soon we were off again to find a Venician mask maker and store near our hotel. We found the store, but they were done making masks for the day. Jeff had ideas about buying a mask, but they were very expensive. After that, we were off testing our navigational and map reading skills to find Osteria Masaroni for dinner. We got there about 40 minutes too early (they open at 7:00) so we hung out at Campo S Maria Formosa watching the locals doing their after-work routine like dog walking, bench chatting, etc.

We were the first into Osteria Masaroni unlike two years ago when we were lucky to get a table. It smelled sooooo good that our appetites got larger and larger. We ordered the house red wine and then decided on our meal. Our antipasto was a mixed selection of squid, shrimp, potatoes, sweet red peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc. It was delicious . Our pasta course was spaghetti with fresh tuna. It was very good and filling. For dolce we had panna cota with raspberries and blackberries.

Piazza San Marco at Night

After dinner we strolled over to Piazza San Marco to see it at night. We got lost on the way and got to see some of the Venice neighborhoods that most tourists don't get to. We finally got to the Grand Canal and then to Piazza San Marco a little later than we expected. There were still many tourists there, but not as many as the daytime. The dueling o rchestras were playing but nobody was dancing. The extremely over-priced cafes were almost empty. Overall, there seemed to be many fewer tourists in Venice than my previous trips there. Maybe it's because of the exchange rate, maybe it's because of the expense of Venice or maybe because it was the first of September and many people were going back to work.

We walked over to the water bus for our ride back to the hotel. For a surprise, we met Steve and Cynthia at the pier. They were getting off of the boat to see the piazza at night. We chatted for a few minutes and then were off to our hotel.

Jeff was up at 5:15 so that he could catch a vaporetto and a bus to get to the airport for his flight home. My flight was much later, so I slept for another hour and had the breakfast buffet at the hotel. At 9:00 I checked out and took the vaporetto to the train station. My bicycle case was still there at the left luggage counter. I paid for it, rode the vaporetto to the P Roma stop and caught the bus for the airport.

Here is a Venice transportation tip: When you buy a vaporetti pass, it is valid for the orange local busses as well. When you leave the airport, buy a pass and ride the Number 5 bus to Venice. You get dropped off at the P Roma vaporetti stop after a 20 minute ride. When going to the airport, do this in reverse. This is way, way, way cheaper than riding in a water taxi.

I got to the airport several hours before my flight was due to take off. When I checked in, the counter agent asked me if I'd like to take an earlier flight. I agreed. So I went through Security and Passport Control, walked onto the plane and was pleased that my seat was next to Art Hewig, our tour director. He, Rose, Ralph and Larry were on the flight.

After I debarked in Frankfurt, Art and Rose were rushing to their connection. Larry and Ralph were flying to Los Angeles so I lost track of them. So I wandered around the airport and had lunch - meatloaf, spätzle and broccoli chase by a large beer. When I left the restaurant, the police had the main mall area of the airport cordoned off. I quickly left the area and walked to my terminal. I was able to sit for awhile and work more on my blog until my battery ran low.

So, I caught my plane to SFO. Ann picked me up at the airport. I got home, took a shower and immediately went to sleep.