Dufus and Lucy Take On Venice

Nothing much will stop Dufus and Lucy.

Especially in a foreign country.

Apples will not stop them.

Ham will not stop them.

Brie cheese will not stop them.

Even when the ham that is eaten is spoiled.

Even when that ham takes hold of poor Lucy's bowels and turns them inside out for 12 hours.

Nope. Not even then.

Because Dufus will help her clean it up, Lauren will go running to the front desk for antiseptic and be very, very brave. Lauren is very brave as she has grown up with a younger sister who just couldn't hold food down for most of her life and who spent a lot of years in the bathrooms of various restaurants, homes and places tossing her cookies. Not that Lauren ever got used to it. She just learned to run. Like she did for the antiseptic. Like she and Dufus did when they realized Lucy was not going to die.

 It was a really small hotel room.

And Lucy said it was o.k. to leave.

And they kinda, maybe, sorta had a really fun dinner and walked around Florence together at night. Then they checked on Lucy and realized it wasn't stopping, so they fled to the lounge of the hotel and ordered hot tea and read their books. To give Lucy some privacy. 

Privacy is good in these situations.

And Lucy was o.k., 'cause she had a bathroom trash can right next to her in the bathroom. AND next to the bed. So convenient.

Lucy, being the amazing traveler that she is, rallied the next morning, and decided they were to all go to Venice as planned. Not maybe as early as they had originally thought, but they would still sally forth to go see the canals and gondolas. Lauren once again left to go buy train tickets, and when she came back, all was well.

Off they went to Venice. Just a short, two hour train ride away from Florence! (In Southern California, you can travel two hours and still get no farther than Bakersfield. If, in a car, with traffic, you are lucky to maybe get to Los Angeles. Plus, we just don't do public transportation. Such a shame.)

But us girls? Well, we rock trains!!! (Not so much buses, but trains, yes.)

I love cameras, don't you?

When we arrived, I have to say, I was stunned.

Our hotel room was chock-full of old-world charm. I literally went running around like a loon, snapping pictures and telling myself it just would not be right to stuff everything I saw into my suitcase.

Like I told my friend, Pam Q., I don't think they have free wi-fi access in the "italian clink."

This is the view of the courtyard outside our window.

This is the view of the PALACE-turned apartments out the back window.

There are no cars, buses, bikes or vespas in Venice. None. You travel by foot or by boat.

It is stunningly quiet, yet bustling with activity.

We did not take a gondola ride. It's a bit cost prohibitive. Like 100 euro (each) for 50 minutes. And that's without a song from your gondolier.

And when one is only eating dry breadsticks for two days, it really wouldn't be fun to barf 100 euros worth of fun overboard.

But it is fun to buy tickets for a night of listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons in a magnificent church, played on period instruments.

These are some of the statues in the church. Take a close look at this one's face.

That veil over her face is MARBLE. Dufus couldn't figure out how the artist carved the face and then added the veil of marble. Lucy told her it was all one piece. It's still hard for her to wrap her mind around that one.

Here is the background of the church:

Then, you know, just a bit more statuary:

Oh, man. There are a bazillion pictures to show you. It will just have to be split up into two posts.

Are you still game?

cool.

With buildings like this, I kept thinking I was really at Disneyland. We work so hard here to make things look old, and authentic. Ha. THIS is old and authentic!!

So, that sandwich that Lucy ate? With the ham?

Dufus had a bite. It didn't pull her bowels inside out, but she pretty much ate dry breadsticks for most of the two days. Plus, when she gets rather tired, her immune system pushes back and she feels like she is coming down with the flu. Dufus rallied for dinner and gelato, I'm proud to say.

But all she wanted to do was sleep. So, on Saturday, she cried uncle and gave Lauren her camera, and crawled under the down comforter for the afternoon.

Lucy kept asking her if she didn't like Venice.

Which Dufus did, very much.

But, man, that down comforter and pillow were hard to compete with.

Ooops. Back to reality.

Time to go pick up Miss Brenna.

ciao!

xo

D.