We were thrilled to arrive in Venice on such a warm day, 20 degrees, and even more thrilled when we arrived at our air BnB apartment and met our host Nicola. The place was  fabulous – large, clean, two bedrooms, outside sitting area and it had everything you need…..and more. We immediately walked the neighborhood, got a few groceries, took a few pictures, and after showers, a few appies and a glass of wine we decided to go for dinner. Found a neat little place about a ten minute walk from the apartment and the people coming out said it’s great and that they had been there a few times so we thought “why not here?”  Let me tell you ‘why not there!’   Marilyn was the only one pleased, not thrilled but pleased,  with her dinner(calamari).   Jim’s lasagne was too dry and blah! and my sea bass, what little there was, was over cooked and dry and the roasted vegetables, all two of them, were tasteless!   If I was able to speak Italian I would have complained but since I can’t we just paid the bill.  Anyway you just chalk it up to a bad choice, which we did, and we  decided to call it a night, or so we thought.  For  the next two hours plus we wandered around looking for where we lived……..and this had nothing to do with the wine we had for dinner!   The first hour and a bit wasn’t too bad as it was a beautiful night and after all “everyone gets lost in Venice, it’s part of the experience” but towards the end of the second hour when everyone had to use the bathroom, was tired, thirsty and cranky it was no longer fun. We started to see the same places over and over again and the same people who had given us directions would just smile and look the other way.  We also met many others who were lost and couldn’t help themselves, never mind us, so it was a little social event as well……at least in the beginning.  Finally we met a bunch of young Americans who were from NY and they stirred us back in the right direction as they too had been lost and in the process had been in our neck of the woods.  One of the young men  gave us his map of Venice as they were leaving the next day and in order to thank him we agreed to cheer for the Buffalo Bills, whoever they are(all right I know who they are!)   About 40 minutes later, which meant we had still gone around in circles,  we were thrilled to see our door and pretty well collapsed upon arrival.

By 8am the next morning we were up and ready to run the paths again and had forgotten about our little ‘lost in Venice’ episode the night before.  Jim had a rough agenda which included touring the sites, a walk to San Marco, a water taxi home……..or at least somewhere close to home!    We spent another glorious day wandering around, enjoying the sights and were amazed by the crowds which apparently are nothing compared to summertime.   The old ‘carless’ city of Venice has a population of roughly 60,000 and on average have 55,000 visitors a day or approximately 20 million per year.    This was no surprise because  as we were wandering around  people/tourists/screaming children/delightful children/teenagers/dogs were everywhere and this is November!   After a full day of exploration, and feeling pretty tired, we found a great Mediteranian/Middle Eastern restaurant that was fabulous………….there wasn’t a crumb left on any of our plates!

It is also worth mentioning that it was in Venice that we had our best Air BnB experience to date!   We have used Air BnB in Canada, the U.S., Portugal, Spain and Croatia and Nicola’s apartment topped them all!   He was such a wonderful young man and dropped off a St. Martin’s shortbread(see below) treat and explained that on November 11 kids wander through the streets making noises with pots and pans and whatever they can use to make noise and ask for coins or treats to celebrate St. Martin, something similar to our Hallowe’en but different.  He said it’s also a celebration of the good weather in early November, similar to our Indian summer…….you’ll have to google it as I am too tired to type anymore……..good night!