Four weeks in Italy. First stop, Venezia. First surprise, no tourist. We were them. Longs walks about the city were without crowds of any sort. Restaurants had 1:3 occupancy and those were Italians, many were workers and locals.
It had been 44 years since I was last there.
The flight was uneventful. Chicago to Dublin, switch planes and then fly to Venice. The alps are so close! When we landed at the airport across the water from Venice and then boarded the bus to Venice we could see very clearly the peaks of the Italian Alps and at that time of day, late afternoon, they were pink.
 We had very enjoyable meals out and about but we also cooked some at our apartment. If you choose to do that, you’re well served to go to the Fish Market alongside the main canal. Not only was the selection of fish absolutely superb, the produce was glorious! It was December for Pete’s sake.
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I returned to some locations I had first seen as a college kid. The Tintorettos and Tiepolos were grand. I spent over two and a half chilly hours sketching and gawking at huge Tintoretto canvases, and could have stuck around for another few hours but Giamila was chilled to the bone by then and the dinner bell was ringing.