The beginning of the end: Trieste and Venice

Well, after a beautiful drive through Slovenia, Google Maps and the directions involved ceased working as soon as we got to Italy. Somehow I directed us through Trieste to parking near the hotel only to discover upon check in that there was no internet. We have been pretty heavily relying on internet, so this was a blow. But the hotel was right down the street from the ocean and within walking distance to a lavanderie, so there were benefits. We washed clothes that night and fell into an exhausted slumber. Upon waking we set out in search for a beach. We started the search at about 8 am and didn't find it until 10 am. We used Google maps on Kitz's iPad. Despite these setbacks, it was a gorgeous day at the beach. We laid around, bought some granitas, swam some, and laid around some more. I could already feel the vacation fatigue taking me over a few days before when Kitz and I got into an argument because neither of us would make a decision about what we wanted to do in Vienna. I've done and seen so much, I'm not sure I want to do and see anything anymore. It is all beautiful, but I stopped planning. I stopped caring. I'm still loving it, but how much vacation can one person take?

Even on the beach, I was reading some Walter Benjamin to wake up my mind a bit. I've been reading him off and on, but I have started to really need him. Vacation is not something I do much of and until this summer, it has never been long term. So, I am here in Italy and enjoying it, but even more glad it is coming to an end. The beaches in Trieste are not sandy, but rocky. We went to a beach club and hired two lounge chairs for the day under the awning, though we pulled them in and out of the sun throughout the day. There were steps carved in rocks leading down to the sea, and the water was so cold and perfect. I love swimming in the sea with the waves and the salt water. I swam out nearly to the floating barriers so I could look at Trieste and the castelo right by the beach. Boats kept going into the harbor then out to the Adriatic. It was so perfect. I love days that seem so perfect because they are so perfect. That was one of them.

We visited the square of Trieste, ate some seafood, and poured on the apres soleil cream that night. Then we went to sleep quite late. This did not help the morning. Kitz woke up in a particularly nasty mood, caused by the beginnings of illness and being unable to find church that morning or use any free wifi in Italy because we didn't have an Italian phone number. I stopped talking to her until she cheered up, which wasn't for a while. We started out drive over to Venice early and (a miracle) I somehow directed us to the hotel without directions or a map of the area. We had a large map of Venice and environs, so I knew the approximate area, but with all the problems we have had in finding anything in Italy with directions, this was a miracle and appropriately called such. As soon as we got to the hotel, Kitz slept, and including breaks to eat, slept through the next day. I was fine with this day of doing very little, and proceeded to do very little. If she wasn't going to be better by the next day, Tuesday, I would be going to explore Venice myself. But after her very long sleep to stave off illness, she was better enough to explore. I had found a nearby market, so she was still eating, though not up to her standard.

We got to Venice by bus, and commenced the wandering. That's all I really wanted to do. When Kitz found out I was fine with getting lost in Venice (it's an island) with absolutely no goals of what to see, she was a bit upset. Well, that's what she gets if she leaves me in charge and I am vacationed-out. I didn't feel like making a single plan or even read much about what to see. If you have ever vacationed with me, my time is usually tightly scheduled and there are usually trails I want to hike, or things I want to do. This is the new me. The me who has had too much vacation. I really loved wandering. We went into some churches and shops. We stopped for lunch. Kitz used a map and we found some nice tourist-y spots, but for the main, we wandered. I would stop, take a picture. Kitz would try to figure out where we were. Eventually Kitz wanted to go to the Jewish Ghetto, so we did. We got to tour three of the original synagogues from the Ghetto. I also learned that the "Ghetto" or "Getto" in Venice is the original ghetto. The Jews were forced to move into an area by the foundry, which is why it was called the Getto, which means metal cast. The Germans naturally mispronounced it, and thus areas that were segregated and nominated "Jew areas" became "Ghettos." It was an awesome tour. It was quite small. A Spanish family was on it, but left half through, which left just us and four elderly French Jews. It was in English, but you had to be on a guided tour to see the synagogues, so I don't think they understood much, but they wanted to see. Very nice people.

Anyway, we wandered and then went back for the night to rest. The next day we went out to the "Garden Island" of Sant'Erasmo. Kitz was hoping to rent bikes so we could bike around this tiny island, but we never found the place to rent them. This island is quite small and very few people live there. I don't think you can ever drive full-size cars on the tiny roads here. They had some mini-trucks with three tires and I think a single cylinder engine. We walked to the beach and spent a few hours there, wading and sitting in the shallow water, then laying down to dry. I listened to To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and read an interesting book called Wolves and Peasants 38% Notes 38% No Title 19% Dreamers 4%. I picked it up in Bologna at the modern art museum and liked it enough that Kitz insisted that I buy it. I have not regretted the purchase at all. I also stole Kitz's Economist to read when she wasn't looking. I've been listening to Virginia Woolf on and off, usually when Kitz is asleep since she and Virginia don't get along. I've read the book, so it is nice to just listen to it. After the beach, we wandered around the island. Kitz really wants to live in a little house with a garden. She wants to live on this island and if she ever comes back to Venice, she is going to stay at the one hostel there, even though the only way to get there is by waterbus. I just liked walking after laying down all day. I'm definitely getting fat, so we walked and eventually we found our way back to the waterbus to go back to Venice. Then another waterbus took us to the bus dropoff, then the bus took us back to the hotel. We got some food at the coop and I got yelled at by an Italian lady. They definitely have the crazy side to match the relaxed side.

Back at the hotel, I was done. I had to book some rooms for our drive back, but that was the end of my vacation.

But it doesn't end there. Does it? Driving back was another adventure. We somehow ended up driving through the Dolomites to Austria. Seriously, Google image search Dolomites. It was so beautiful. Kitz was a bit upset at all the shifting and her leg had a cramp by the end of the day. (I did offer to drive.) We got through them to Austria, then drove through the Alps. Also gorgeous. We were headed to this little Gasthof between Ulm and Stuttgart in the town of Wiesensteig. We finally got there and our entrance seemed magical. Though the freeway was nearby, you had to descend on a switchback paved road past sheep to get to the town and once you entered, you had to fall in love it was so adorable. The Gasthof we stayed in was just as cute. They had an old wooden dollhouse in one corner, fully loaded with furniture and dolls and all their other decorations were just as quaint. It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day.

We finished The Return of the King, the movie, that night. We still have to finish the audiobook, but we will not with only seven hours left in the car. And that means that I will have to read the last couple chapters myself so I can remember the souring of the Shire. I much prefer the book to the movie in the case of The Return of the King. We did get very close to the end though for the audiobook. Maybe I will read it tonight before going to sleep next to Charles de Gaulle Airport. Maybe I won't. Soon I will be back on familiar territory and back to a life that I am used to, even if that includes moving very quickly to Saint Louis. It is all at an end and another chapter of life is beginning. I hope it includes me becoming a wizard, but I will be happy with anything.