Thursday October 20, 2011

No walking today. It was raining this morning and we had to have our bags out in the hall on the early side as we are leaving Venice today. We had a quick breakfast, brushed our teeth and then donned our raincoats for the walk to the vaparetto (water bus). We traveled for 20 minutes and then reached the mainland where we boarded our bus. We stopped for a break at mid morning. There was a convenience store there that sold, among other things, giant containers of Nutella (they each must have held at least a gallon!). I had seen them on display in Venice, but I thought they were only bigger than life size models of the small jars of Nutella you can buy in the States, but no, they are meant to be sold and eaten. It would be like buying a gallon of peanut butter - wow! We stopped for lunch at a roadside cafeteria located over the highway - it was quite good, especially the foccacia, except not as good as what Nick makes on the grill! The area we traveled through was quite lovely - many hills and small towns along the way. We also saw lots of vineyards and olive groves. Unfortunately, it did rain the whole way, but better a rainy day on the bus that a rainy day while we are walking around looking at the sights. We finally arrived in Chianciano in the Tuscany region of Italy at 3:30 in the afternoon. We saw our friend Susanne in the lobby - she is traveling the rest of the way with us - she just skipped the Venice pre-trip. Apparently, their hotel in Ostia, near Rome, was flooded this morning. We were very lucky that we did not get the heavy rains in Venice although they are certainly set up for rain there (see photo of the stacked wooden walkways in St. Mark's square). We had a welcome briefing by our new guide, Manuela, and then a lecture on Renaissance Art. We then went to dinner at a lovely restaurant. The food and service were wonderful. Our table was located in what looked like an old wine cellar - brick vaulted ceilings - fantastic! I managed to publish a few of the blogs and will do some more tomorrow. I will try to stay up to date now that we have internet service. The photo of the cat was taken on Burano. He (she) looks as if he is reading the Fried Fish and Potatoes sign and wishing that he could have some too!