|
Fusina, Italy - Thursday, June 10
We're at this real touristy campground about... well, I guess that's Venice right there across the bay. You can see the lights. Sort of eery in the almost rain. Tomorrow, we'll check out the gondolas and see the "troubadors", or whatever they're called. Maybe it's gondoliers. And we'll... (THUNDER) Oh oh, I don't know. The sky's getting threatening there. This is a very commercial campground. A jumping off point for Venice. Everybody speaks English. Everybody. When we arrived at the front gate, Dick volunteered the usual required campground information, "Uno tenda, due personni", one tent, two persons. And the guy said, "What?". They've got a helluva bar here too. Mixed drinks are only 2500 lira. Zombies, White Russians, Pina Colodas for the English tour groups. They're a wild bunch. A true bunch of partiers. They were having hamburgers for dinner. They come to Italy and have hamburgers. How culturally fulfilling. There's also a tour group from Singapore. They seem to be quite shy. I guess they all turn in around ten o'clock or so, they're quite asleep now as it must be three in the morning. Dick's checking on the time. They actually sleep on the top deck of the bus. And, they spend all day hunting for good values on fruit. What a contrast between them and the English group. We spent some time at the bar this evening chatting with the tour people. They were going to party all night then sleep all the way to... (THUNDER) ...Austria, their next stop. Dick: Five AM. John: Well, they'll be getting up in two hours. They might still be partying out there or on their disco bus. It has flashing lights in it for dancing in the aisles. Really hopping. So, Dick was talking to some English chicks. I was talking to some Americans. Dick: They were Americans? John: Yeah. And, they had been in Italy for two days without meeting one Italian. Also, you missed it, there was sort of a festive game these guys were playing on the picnic table. They were heavy-duty Italians, wore tee shirts and everything. They were kind of choosing with their fingers. Going "Uno, sette, cinqi... sei..." random numbers, and then somebody would win somehow. Quite an exciting game. There was a huge crowd. I couldn't figure it out though. But, they really got into it. They would yell. As the winner, he got to knock all the rows of salt across and raise his hands in victory We sort of figured out the secret of the layout of Venice. Venice is a series of little tiny islands connected by bridges, so the canals are between the islands. Very clever. But, the whole layout is arranged in a rather screwy fashion. Because of the oddity of the layout, our strategy to tackle Venice is simple. Since, if we followed a map, we'd definitely get lost, the idea is to just wander anywhere. Whichever road looks neater. Whichever canal leads us to an interesting "piazza". Go wherever you want. But for now we better get to sleep before the storm hits. Dick: Too late. John: What? Dick: Don't you hear it? John: What? Dick: The rain. John: Huh... oh... this sucks...
|
