Venice water buses transportation

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ROF= Ring of fire journey

ITL= Italy Journey 

Saturday November 14, 2015

Venice, Italy Water buses   

The water canals of Venice are wonderful. All transportation is by boat. And of course... the buses.... are boats. 

You go to a kiosk... or some places have a ticket booth. A 48 hour transit pass is like E7.50... a bargain. Put it on a credit card; don't mess with currency and exchange rates that will penalize you 20%. You can ride ALL city transportation.. ALL grand canal waterway boats= the ACTV boats... and the stop every few hundred yards on each side of the canal.

You can also ride the city land buses at Roma square.... the main transportation square, near the train station. These buses go over to the airport and various destinations for local city riders. The waterway taxis are mostly for tourist novelty to ride the canal.  Locals going to and from work ride these transit buses-- boats too-- they have to get to work economically too. 

The Venice train station is  a couple of blocks from Roma square... go over the big main bridge... it's steps are marble... it's fantastic.  The bridge is the gateway to Venice. The big cathedral is right across from the train station. Huge green dome... ?copper turned green? 

The train station itself is a frantic hustle to be in... many shops... some high end.  Italian gellato... the most wonderful ice cream in the world.  ticket kiosk for the competing rail lines. Trenitalia....  ect... 

Watch out for people that want to "help" you while you are figuring out the ticket kiosks; they want a "tip" of a Euro or 2 for Helping you. You were a mark... and they watched you lost, to "help". This is how they make their living. Some work with pickpockets; be careful.     

ITL 9 Goodbye Paris CDG airport

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RT ITL= Italy Journey 

Tuesday November 24, 2015

ITL  Rome, Italy 9 to Paris, FR CDG airport

Headed home. Tired, worn out. Boarded a Boeing 777. Nasty rainy weather. CDG cleared for Takeoff & rolling.  

You never drink twice from the same stream. 

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Venice, Italy The Grand Canal 1

Tracks of the StoneBear Copyright MMXV ALL Rights reserved 

ROF= Ring of fire journey

ITL= Italy Journey 

Saturday November 14, 2015

Venice, Italy Grand Canal 1

There is no spectacle that can describe the Venice Grand Canal. Your 1st view/ impression is of the water...water ways/ boats...  these are the streets.  It's waterways to every building/ hotel/ business.... waterfront is all 3 story buildings that have been here for 500+ years. 

We were dropped off at our hotel dock... baggage. tipped the boat driver. 

checked into our room... great room... not a direct view of the canal. Bathroom shutters opened and you looked right to the canal. An alley/ alleyway leading to the canal was right under... the canal was 100'. ... we had a "View" of the canal. You know... we were in Venice, Italy.... on the canal.  

You could see the canal traffic... later that night  we could hear the bells ringing of the call to Mass... from our room; that's pretty good in my book.   

 Next morning at 0600 could hear stirring around on the canal and got up .  0730 went into the breakfast room/ hall... had a balcony onto the grand canal....

Got the buffet breakfast of some prosciutto and scrambled eggs, toast... a few bites and had to go out onto the balcony to breathe the air of the Grand Canal.

Breakfast in Venice, Italy.... go out onto the balcony w/ a glass of OJ and sip... cool... almost chill at 52*... a couple of boats coming and going....it's overcast and can't see a sunrise... but it's still a grand spectacle... Thank you lord for this view; I promise I will not waste this day you have given me. 

Breakfast bar... prosciutto ham, thin sliced like you could read through it. .. it's salty ham  & really good. Some scrambled eggs, wheat toast....black coffee, but they don't understand real black strong coffee. 

They offer a cappuccino but it's a strong black shot... and I like that! ../ but you have to work for a real cup of strong black coffee.   Maybe ge4t 2 cappuccinos in a cup and top off w. an American dose... work at it... it's there if you don't give up.  

Then you walk back out onto the balcony overlooking the Grand Canal of Venice... breathtaking... magnificent.... a spectacle for sure. Can't take pix fast enough.  

Back to the room & get saddled up to head out into Venice.

Leave the hotel and the "streets" are 10' wide alleyways. Cobblestone brick walkways... several turns and corners... and out into a square w/ a well. ... tall building which we would 2 days later realize it was a cathedral we would have Sunday Mass at. 

NO... I'm not Catholic... but when you go into these grand cathedrals... and they're all over the place... you forget your smallness and go and have mass in one of the greatest places in the world and you pray for forgiveness of all your sins and mistakes and am in awe of the grand setting in these remarkable cathedrals. You lose your sense of being and want to stop and say a pray for forgiveness of all your shortcomings... these great cathedrals will bring you to your knees.  It doesn't matter what religion you are from... you just have a sense of awe and want to be absolved of your sins./ mistakes... and go make the world a better place to live for all mankind; these are powerful places...     

Goodbye Rome 8B Takeoff

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ROF= Ring of fire journey

ITL= Italy Journey 

Tuesday November 24, 2015

ITL  Rome, Italy 8B   

Venice, Italy airport water taxi to hotel

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ROF= Ring of fire journey

ITL= Italy Journey 

Thursday November 12, 2015

Venice airport water taxi to hotel, Italy 1 

This may actually be Friday November 13, 2016. It's been a loooooong haul from ATL to CDG Paris, to Venice. I think it's near 24 hours transit time & am wrung out tired & not sure... +7 hours from ATL timezone.

Landing at Marco Polo international airport was testing the pilots skill.  I know IFR minimums are 500' ceilings and visibility are the minimum air requirements.... the pilot  earned hes pay. I thought about 4 to 500' visibility when we landed. I couldn't see the other side of the runway/ taxiway clearly.  

We had a gate hold in Paris for a couple hours as Venice was socked in, Wise decision by the pilot as 2 hours earlier would have been near zero visibility. 

After 30 minutes of walking around the Venice airport, found the water taxi gate1 cubbyhole and waited another 30 minutes until we had 6 riders to Venice. 

Walked 1/2 mile past the parking lot, around the covered walkway... it was rainy drizzling,,, to the water taxi station and it was the 1st introduction to ... 

Welcome to the hell ride to Venice.  

The "taxi" drivers in their speedboats were floating/ hovering around in the water surf station and waiting for a full load of passengers... 

These were speedboats with a back cabin that would hold 8 to 10+ passengers to go from the airport docks to "downtown" Venice on The Grand Canal. 

Now set your mind to the romantic gondola rides of Venice, Italy... with the gondolier singing Italian opera while slowly rowing while drifting down the Grand Canal taking in the sights of Venice, Italy; ...now hold that thought. THAT... is another place in time.   

   This was a speedboat hell ride to Venice.  

?What the hell do you think this was.?  These are taxi drivers-- in speedboats-- getting their passengers to their hotels. ... and as soon as they could drop off these tourists... they could get back to take another 8 to 10 tourists at $25 a pop... 8x 25- $/E 200; 10 rides a day and hey... it's making a living off of tourists in Venice. As Navin said "It's a profit deal". This is a 7km/ 4+mile ride for E25; THAT is good money & these guys hustle for the bucks/ Euros.  

The Euro exchange rate was 1.07/ to US dollar... in the paper. Also see the post about currency exchange where the local dealers charge 20%+ to convert. 

We're in the stern of this enclosed speedboat (there was a convertible top)... enclosed because if it was a normal sunny day we'd be soaked from the other boat wake splashes. It was foggy... as the airport landing was... visibility maybe 250' at best of the grey fog and the 3- triangle telephone pole channel markers... and the returning speedboats to haul another load of saps/ tourists to the Venice Canal

Now there IS a public transportation- water bus/ boat that will take you on the same route for 3-4 Euros... but you'll have to find the stop -- which the water taxi drivers don't want you to know--  and wait maybe 30 minutes until the next boat/ boat= bus. We pre-booked the transfer online before we left and had a voucher that any taxi will accept; they try to get 8-10 passengers for a full money making trip. Or you can pay 20 to 25 euro for a voucher.

Your speedboat taxi will take you to exactly your hotels dock,... our bags... right there to check in. Welcome to Venice! ...greenhorn tourist.      

You never drink twice from the same stream. 

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Restrooms in Italy

ITL 2 

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ROF= Ring of fire Odyssey  MEF-H = Marine Expeditionary Force- Hargus 

ITL= Italy Journey     

Monday November 16, 2015

Venice, Florence, Bologna, Rome, Italy       

Be advised,... when you travel to some of these main tourist cities... there is a lack of restroom facilities available. Other than your hotel room they are few and far between.  

I don't mean to sound like an old tourist coot but in America,... almost anywhere in the US,... bathrooms are plentiful, AND... they are FREE! and they are usually somewhat clean in retail places like Walmart, Home Depot, or fast food chains of McDonalds, Hardee's, Wendys, etc... it's how we live. We don't charge people to use the restroom facilities.   

Even in New York... big urban city, restrooms were few and the merchants were not accommodating. A restaurant host said, "they're for paying customers". Fine. We'll do this your way; we spent our $45 lunch somewhere else.  

In Italy there were public restrooms with an attendant, E1.5/ $1.50 was the most expensive but most were E1/2 or $.50c. and these were prison restrooms with stainless steel fixtures and they wreaked of urine smell. I don't know how often they cleaned them but they smelled horrible in places. 

You know... Europe... y'all have had 5,000 years to get this worked out. America is 238 years old and we can run our country with free restrooms - most places. People make fun of The South but Southern hospitality... you come to The South... as your host... we'd be embarrassed to charge for a restroom.  

You come to The South.... stop, take a break and eat,... and there are restrooms to refresh at NO charge! That's how it's done.  Simple... You are our guests; No charge! 

You never drink twice from the same stream. 

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