In Stride

All blissed out
at the station...

I shoved us onto the train to Venice as the doors were closing. I'd checked the correct platform, car, and seats (it says right here...) but maybe not well enough.  So we had to throw some money at the problem and switch trains in Bologna.

Finding our B and B in Dorsoduro, the backbone of Venice, wasn't too much trouble, maybe a little. There are no cars in Venice and you take cheap vaporettos (us) or expensive gondolas (not us) to the nearest stop, then wind through narrow passageways between buildings.

Accessible, along with jazz and post-its, is an American invention. There are no wheelchair ramps in Venice, no free wc's, very few buildings with lifts. Venetians must have great cardiovascular systems, with an enormous number of stairs from the station intoVenezia, stairs over each of the 400-plus canals and Grand Stairs over the Grand Canal.

All this means you can't really take anything in stride, but still, it's Venice.

Ca'Santo Spirito locked out.

When we arrived at Ca'Santo Spirito, our little family-run hotel behind the church of Santa Maria della Salute, the doors were locked, no sign of life. Entry took a while but it was no-drama compared to The Uffizi: A German couple with a local phone helped us learn that our key was taped behind the mailbox.

Our room was only three floors up. The stairs were narrow and wooden but--most important--the keys worked and we had a view.

We hit the waterways and earth canals of Venezia as soon as we could throw our bags in the door. A little later than we'd planned, just when the light was perfect, breathtaking, beyond compare.

Sta. Maria della Salute