Utah-Italy 2001 (6)

Hello!! Let me take you on a quick tour of some other parts of Italy that don't involve such things as climbing... why? Well, cause I haven't been climbing!!!!!! Why? Well, cause it's raining!!!!!!! Bummer. I guess all those days when Susan and I were getting rained off from the 5th, 3rd and 4th pitches of routes, we were actually lucky, cause we could at least do that much.

At this juncture, the sun is splitting the clouds and we'll be back on the rock tomorrow, but the last few days have been rough. It's hard to find enough to do to keep one busy when no one nearby speaks your language, none of the shops are open from noon to 3:30pm and you have three small kids to entertain and the playground and pool are out of the question. Well, this is what we did...One day we went to Venice. When in Venice, hire a gondolier? Yup. Expensive though it may be, it's well worth it ... and what do I know of the costs anyway.. Venice by gondola was great. OH, what's a gondola? Well, those are the long boats that you cruise around in, with the dude on the back end holding a long, long oar. The gondoliers wear a shirt with black and white stripes, fancy enough not to resemble old school prison uniforms. They also usually wear a hat to keep the sun out. Some folks will hire an old Italian dude to serenade them while they get rowed around venice.. He'll usually have with him a woman or another partner, playing the accordian.The boats are crafted with pride and cared for by the men that steer them. They are all black and shiny. They have cool little seats in them and can take up to six or so people. But, let me not give you the wrong impression of Venice.. Along side of those romantic boats are speed boats, taxi boats and tourist sight seeing boats. Luckily, those big rigs can only ride in the Grand Canal and the gondolas can at least go through the small channels between the buildings. We got into a gondola traffic jam in a small alley way between the walls of sinking old buildings and we could see the rot that had taken place on the first floors of so many of the buildings. Apparently, most people live from the second or third floor up. It is way expensive to live in Venice and a lot of the gondoliers live back on the main land and come intoVenice to work every day. We floated past the house of Shakespear's family, Mozart, and Marco Polo. I think. Our gondolier guy said he spoke English, cause that was important for Susan to get a bunch of info on the creation and development of Venice... but he didn't speak enough English at all... so most of the tour was done in Spanish through me! We went by their Opera house which burned down five years ago and who's reconstruction will not come to an end for another five years or so. Very sad when you see how much theatre and opera mean to these people. Every shop window hosts many masks and wonderful styles of theatrical clothing... very expensive. I also saw in one shop window a real Pinocchio puppet! That was cool. I guess he is from Italy, eh? I've also been called Pinnocchio a couple of times for one reason or another. Our Italian camping neighbor, Gratziano, didn't think we should have heard about Pinnocchio in the states.. guess he hasn't heard of Disney. Back toVenice. The best part of our tour of Venice was when we got out of the gondola and walked around. We saw all the fancy shops ' Gucci, Armani, and whatever other names are big.. Like I would know.. But, the shops were super air conditioned and from what I could tell, few people shopped in them and those that did were bombarded by sales people the second they walked in the door. Meanwhile, on the outside, were the rats of society, me included, looking in with sweat dripping like butter from a hot bun...familiar?? Oh, yeah.. what's the name... oh, some music group.. AlleyCat... Io non so!
Anyway, you can walk all over Venice and you just have to cross the canal every block or so via an old bridge that gives a vista of the small canals with the gondola traffic jams. I bet it was a wonderful place to be back in the day before all the motors and tourists. Enough on Venice.. Just go!

So, one night in our boredom Susan and I went to the neighboring campsite to get some pizza. Well, we were greeted in high style by the four Italian men that worked in the bar/pizzeria. They sat us down even though we ordered to go and gave us some breadsticks. We decided to order a beer each.. Well, one beer later and still no Pizza. They asked how long, we said, give us another five minutes and another beer. We were all having a blast. Two were Italian and two were Moroccan, so between the four of us, the only exchange of language was my broken Italian and good Spanish, Susan's french and their broken English and decent French! Well, it was fun. Following the second beer, we were gifted a glass of chardonay each... following which we were given a glass of champaigne each, and then another... meanwhile, two hours have passed and Susan realized that Tim was back at camp, with the kids, starving... So, she left me in the bar and ran back with his pizza.. I sat and ate mine with a newcomer who is also from Cortina, but who spent several years with his wife and kids inWisconsin. He gladly showed me his version of the Wiz'can'sin accent. Then he told me about his divorce and how he misses his kids who are still in the states cause one of them needs special attention for Autism in Wisconsin.. Well, Susan came back and the lesson in languages continued with a little bit of pantamiming on the side.. FUN!! I love that kind of stuff!!

Finally, on our last rainey day, we dandered through a local graveyard that holds the remains of so many war casualties.. Cortina was a huge player in one of theWorld Wars... the one that happened in 1914 or something... I know!! Shush! I had shitty history teachers!! I'm sorry!!!! Anyway, this part of Italy used to be Austria until that war. We also cruised through a rad museum that had tons of war relics, fossils, old clothing and weaponry, lots of dead butterflies, beetles and moths? and a bunch of other old shit. It was cool. While walking through town in the rain this fine Sunday in Italy, it ocurred to me that ABSOLUTELY no one here neuters their dogs! Balls in my face left and right! But, to their credit, they were all on leashes and mostly well-behaved. People are weird with their dogs here. No one seemed even the least bit amused that I would walk by with a sparkle in my eye at the sight of their dogs. Not even my funny dog kiss noises could make them smile back or pause for me to pet their stinking mutts! I need dog interaction.. It's killing me!!!! Luckily, two days ago, a great dane moved in across the street from us. His name is Duka and I do get to touch him once or twice a day. His owner and his wife brought us some Grappa last night! Yuk! That shit tastes like Everclear! Me no like!!! But, when in Italy, try grappa! Ciao amicos!