Ice Cold, Beautiful Venice!

Our flight, though a long 10 hours from Seattle to Frankfurt, was uneventful. Watched a couple of movies, they fed us twice with predictably terrible airline food, but it gave us something to do.

The real adventure began in the Frankfurt airport.  My advice is to avoid that airport if at all possible. It is sado-masochist's dream come true. We landed and, after descending the portable stair system they dragged up to the exit, we were immediately herded onto buses that took us to a terminal where we were herded down one long hallway, then through security all over again, then back down the same hallway only on the other side of the wall, then down four flights of stairs, since the one elevator couldn't begin to handle the demand, then down a VERY long hallway at least a quarter mile long ( I guess we walked under a runway) and back up four flights of stairs. No, not done yet. We were finally in the correct terminal, however, another quarter mile walk was necessary to get to the far end of the A terminal and our gate. By the time we got there they were already beginning the boarding process.  We poured ourselves into our seats, hot and exhausted. The experience was like being a rat caught in a maze. Yikes!

Landing at the Venice airport an hour and a half later, we again had to board a bus. This time, however, the bus drove us all of about 100 yards, and stopped. The doors opened right into the baggage claim area. Laughter erupted inside the bus as everyone realized the absurdity of the situation.



Our Venice guide, Julia greeting us in Venice.

Luggage in hand, we went through the doors that separate passengers from those waiting for them and there, blessedly, was our guide, Julia, holding up a sign--"Western Washington Choir" and smiling warmly.

 

San Marco square

Julia gathered us up and got us on the bus that would take us to the boat landing. From there we took a vaporetto on an hour long cruise past some of the islands around Venice. She described what we were seeing as we went along. It was a great boat ride and landed us only a few hundred yards from San Marco Square. We walked across four bridges toward the square and when the square opened up to the view of the students, there was an audible "Ahhhh"! from them.  The sun was shining and though quite cold, Venice looked her wonderful.

As we walked along towards San Marco, we were surprised by Ed and Carla Rutschman, professors at WWU who had showed up to greet us. We knew they were in Venice and planned to attend the Palm Sunday concert, but this was a nice surprise.

Typical square tucked away and waiting to be discovered.

Once the students had been given their instructions for where and when to meet, we walked around Venice with Ed and Carla as our guides.  We grazed along the way buying a slice of pizza here, a cone filled with gelato there and even some delicious frommage!

At 6:30 an exhausted and happy group of students met at the two pillars in San Marco near the gondola station to walk over to dinner along the water front. We dined on a primi of ravioli and a secondi of roasted chicken and potatoes.  Our dolce was two more scoops of gelato.

Some students, myself included, were actually falling asleep at the dinner table. We took a shorter boat ride over to the island where we could catch our bus. The ride to the hotel was very quiet. No one could get their room key fast enough. Within minutes, everyone was in their room and quiet. No noise or shenanigans tonight. Only very sleepy people scooting into their warm beds. We did the same but prefaced that with a nice hot shower. 24 hours in the same clothes, running through airports, walking all over Venice in the cold....I don't know how anyone wouldn't have dreamed of a hot shower and a warm bed.  We went to sleep immediately and slept through the night.

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Waiting to board our vaporetto.

The next morning gave us a chance to take a better look at the place where we were staying. It was actually a lovely hotel. Very well appointed. We all met in the breakfast room at 7:45 where students entertained us with stories of figuring out how the European electrical and plumbing systems worked. We breakfasted on cheese, ham, croissant, fruit and eggs. The coffee was delicious. It was wonderful to indulge in a typical European breakfast.

It is so fun to watch students who had never experienced any of this before, especially those who are from more sheltered backgrounds, like myself on my first trip to Europe, so long ago. However,  I'd say that a sheltered American in 1972 knew significantly less about the world than one in 2013 what with our access to so much

more information today.

We boarded our bus again for the trip back to the island where we could catch a boat and retrace our steps from the night before. This morning there was a light but steady rain greeting us in San Marco Square and it was cold. Students had brought along there formal wear for the concert mass they would perform later in the day. We walked a short distance to a store room our guide had arranged for and dropped off the items they would not need until the concert.

Students took turns singing Italian arias while
riding the gondolas. The gondoliers were impressed!

After giving them their instructions for the day, everyone walked off in different directions.

We had prearranged to meet the Rutschman's for lunch at noon. They treated us at a place just off San Marco Square. We each got the €16 tourist meal which turned out just fine.

A city tour preceded an afternoon gondola ride. Our group was scattered between 7-8 gondolas, about 6 per boat. Students took turns singing Italian arias and other art songs they knew. Scattered applause was offered from along the shore and above on the bridges where small crowds gathered when they heard the lovely singing echoing off the buildings in the narrow canals.  It was wet, cold and wonderful. It was magical, just the way a gondola ride should be.



Entrance to Saint Mark's.

At around 5 we headed over to the church to get changed for the concert. The same two guys behind the counter tried their best to hurry everyone. We walked behind San Marco and, plopped our belongings in the seldom seen crypt below the church and headed upstairs.

I left the group to go out front and see the vespers service before their mass.  Very uninspiring. 45 minutes of a cantor, seemingly bored stiff based on his delivery, exchanging unrecognizable phrases with the congregation.

The mass began and the choir sang beautifully! Ubi Caritas, There is a Balm in Giliad and a couple of other pieces all performed in the appropriate places during the mass.

The WWU choir sings a mass in San Marco!

The congregation indicated its appreciation at the end of the service after the priest introduced the guest choir. Leslie had hoped the choir could sing a few extra pieces after the mass but the minute the mass was over someone hit the light switches and the place was all but dark. Thanks, now get out! Friendly place. We'd been told the choir couldn't sing more pieces because they were having special tours for special guests after the mass. Baloney! They were closing up shop.

Dinner was at a little restaurant a few minutes walk from the church. Nothing to write home about. A lasagna al Forno, a veal cutlet dry and tasteless without any sauce with a few roasted potatoes and a dish of hazelnut ice cream which was the high point of the meal.

We walked back to our boat that would take us to the bus. The high tide had come in with a vengeance  and the elevated walkways, I had seen pictures of in magazine stories, had been put up to allow us to keep our feet dry. The sea was coming in over the sea wall and washing across the walkways. It was raining sideways and so cold.

The WWU choir loved their ride in a gondola.
Nothing could dampen their spirits. Not even
the cold, rainy weather.

A boat took us back to the island to our bus and dropped us off. The skipper was obviously in a big hurry hollering at everyone to get on quickly, a dangerous thing to do under the wet and stormy conditions. The dock was slippery and rocking due to the tidal surge. Then he insisted we hurry off when we arrived.

Cold, wet, freezing and exhausted,  we marched over to the bus station where we found...no bus!  The driver had forgotten the pass to be able to cross the Freedom Bridge to the island and had to wait for someone to bring it to him. So we sat on the cold concrete floor and waited, and waited and waited--for an hour.

 

We slept the sleep of the dead again. Our last night in Venice. Up early, we breakfasted in the hotel, then boarded the bus that would take us on the next leg of our adventure and to Pula, Croatia! A new country!