Which day are we on?  Too lazy to go back and look, but I think it is 6.  I think a long week of activity and time change finally got to us.  We had a good day, but a quiet day.

We had a private tour of the Doge’s palace and secret ‘itineraries’.  The Doge was the political leader of Venice from the 1200s until the late 1700s when Napoleon conquered Venice.  We learned about the government, how it worked, why it started to fail in the 1500s and so on.  The art work was amazing and our guide was able to help us actually interpret what some of the art was trying to tell us.  As for the economy in Venice, it started to have issues in the 1500s because a large amount of trade started going west, from the Mediterranean instead of inside or to the east.  Why you ask?  There was a new country being born on the other side of the Atlantic, you may be familiar with it…  Of course, the failing economy didn’t help much when Napoleon took over.

The best part of the tour was the secret ‘itineraries’.  We saw the back rooms of where the clerks worked, where prisoners were kept, how Casanova escaped (yes, that Casanova), we saw the room where they tortured prisoners and the dungeon.  This was all fascinating and you just couldn’t imagine the back passage ways, hidden stairs, hidden entrances.  All done to keep prisoners out of site so that the nobles wouldn’t have to hear them or look at them.  Good stuff.

We then roamed around a bit and then realized we were tired.  So, we do what tired peop9le do.  We napped.  A good old fashioned siesta.

I do need to mention this about Venice.  After hundreds years of settling, it is amazing how ‘warped’ outside walls are.  You can look at a building and see the wall have concave and convex curves to it.  I’ll be walking down a narrow walk way and the building will be closer together at the top than at the floor.  Here is a better description.  Walls are ‘wavy’.  I don’t know why, but I find this fascinating.

Later we went for a nice dinner, a stroll and we did hire a gondola for a ride through the back waterways of Venice.  We finished the night with some very nice deserts – canoli and some sort of chocolate eclair kind of thing with liqueur in it.  Yummy.  Funny part was this.  I ordered water.  The dude says to me, ‘you know water is same cost as wine and champagne”?  I said I understood and reaffirmed we wanted water.

Now – much like festivus has the airing of grievances, day 6(?) is the time to air some complaints.

1. Those of you who can use a track bad for a mouse on a lap top without inadvertently clicking everything on the screen have a magic skill that I will never possess – I hate these dang things.

2. Europeans can be pushy.  They also have a VERY bad habit of putting their hands on you.  I particularly don’t like it and if it continues….  Fortunately, they are mostly nice about it, they just don’t know better.  Except for this one dude – good thing for him he didn’t turn around when I said something to him.  Coward… hahaha

3. Wifi in Europe SUCKS.  And that is an understatement.  Actually, it sucks on Apple devices.  All 3 of my Apple devices can’t seem to stay connected.  The one MS device I have seems to work fine.  Do what you will with that information.

4. We are tired, still, and are retiring early.  Thought we might relax with some Netflix.  Oh no, can’t watch Netflix with MY account, because Netflix ‘hasn’t come to my part of the world yet’.  Ugh.

5. Watch ESPN app doesn’t work over here either (or just Apple sucking again).  So, I’m watching a bad soccer game between Algeria and South Korea in italian.

6. Our hotel is nice, but the mattress is overly firm, Lisa agrees.

7. Showers over here are goofy.  I’ve already flooded one bar/lobby in Thailand, I’ve come close over here twice.  I have serious water drainage issues (all self imposed).  HAHAHA.  Lisa seems to have no problems with it.  Clearly she is doing it wrong.  Sigh…

8. The toilet system – good gravy man.  It has 1 lid and 2 seats, so you have to raise 3 things.  I’m not sure which one to sit on and then there is this hand held device to spray things with.  As far as I can tell, the only possible use is to spray people who interrupt you while using the toilet.

9. Everything is warm.  No ice anywhere.  Unless you get a good place with a cold beer or white wine, which they will chill.

10. One last thing on the toilet.  Figuring out how to flush is often a scavenger hunt.  It could be on the wall, on a chain, on the floor or in a stall.  I HIGHLY recommending finding the flushing ‘handle’ before needing it…

As you can see, my ‘complaints’ are mostly for fun.  We really are having a great time.

We leave for Florence tomorrow.