Day Nine: Recharging Our Batteries

This picture of the gate leading to the campanile in Piazza San Marco is actually from Day Eight, but I don't think we have any pictures from Day Nine, so it'll have to do.

For some strange reason, I had tremendous trouble getting to sleep on Day Eight. I was up until at least 5:00 AM, depleting the last of my iPod juice and dreaming of the first day of this fall's new hip-hop class I'll be teaching.

We woke up around 10:00 AM, showered and got dressed. We went to the internet cafe around the corner to see how much they wanted to charge the iPod. The guy agreed to do it free of charge — how about that? We bought a half-hour of internet use (four Euros) anyway.

We went to a restaurant on a side canal for lunch. I had pizza (slightly too big to finish at one sitting), and Diane had an omlette. We sat around and read for a while afterwards. Then, for the first time ever, the waiter brought us il conto without our asking. We surmised that it was time for us to move along.

I got my iPod back from the @ place. The owner's mom (I can't imagine who else she would have been) was totally confused when I tried to indicate I wanted it back (she didn't speak English). Afterwards, I had a nap while Diane did laundry. (I'm totally at peace with wearing funky once-worn clothes toward the end of the holiday.) We lay around, read, and watched MTV in German.

We ate dinner at a very cute place near the Grand Canal. I tried to order The Usual, but the waitress made it clear it was a minimum two-person dish. But I did have some really terrific vegetable soup. Then both D and I had pasta (me = spaghetti; she = tagliatelle) with barely enough four-cheese sauce. We also split a liter of wine, since we're apparently developing a tolerance. We were both a little buzzed afterwards, though.

Wandered the canals a bit and inquired at a different spot about a gondola ride. He said they start at 120 Euros! We were tired and didn't want to fork over more than $150 for a splash in a canoe. Back at the hotel, we watched the last third of Airplane! and went to sleep. Tomorrow we rise at 8 for a long-long train ride to Naples. Onward!

Next: Interlude #3: The Books I Read