"I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers"

"Does it have a receipt"

Our last day in Venice was sunny. Sunshine definitely changed the city.

On Tuesday, I walked the Grand Canal until I reached the Italian Naval Academy. As on the other three days, there was a light overcast. My observation is that it is the light that defines Venice and Paris. Paris light is for painters. When you look to the sky on a sunny day, you see an Impressionist blue and clouds.. It is remarkable. They painted what they saw.

In Venice, it is a writer's light. You see the sun on the water but it is a haze. The light makes you introspective. It is a poet's delight. Over a long period of time, it gives you a feeling of isolation. Together with the feeling of separation because of distance from land, I can see why poet's and writers gravitated to Venice.

Did you know that Richard Wagner lived in Venice and wrote about Venice. He actually died in Venice. A strange end to a strange dangerous man.

We enjoyed Venice. On Monday, we sat the Piazza San Marco. An orchestra played favorites like Love Story, Mary Poppins etc. I had an Irish Coffee and Betty had a Latte. We sat for over an hour watching the people and listening to the band. The only interruption was when we ordered the very popular cocktail in Italy called the Veneziano- sorry it is not Harry's bar "Bellini". The Bellini was not any menu we saw. The Veneziano is everywhere and anytime. Basic ingredients are Prosecco and bitters.

We walked  to the Rialto Bridge and, at noon, stopped for beer. We crossed over the Rialto Bridge. The bridge is an engineering monument. In order to hold the weight of the span's traffic of 600 years ago and today's tourist trade, the footings are over 100 feet deep- and I thought the Rialto was a movie theater in an Andy Hardy movie.

We took a Gondola ride. It is something you have to do. We were fortunate Betty and I had the Gondola to ourselves. The experience was worth the money.

You become aware in the early morning that every item - milk, beer, bread, napkins, garbage - has to be hauled in or away by hand cart. Venice has no back lot like Las Vegas or Disney World where the trailers or lift trucks show up after show time to unload 5 tons of produce. It is one cart at a time. Under those circumstances, the prices are reasonable.

The one thing I missed in Venice is coffee bars. Paris is the best. Stop anytime and anywhere are order a cafe' or beer and sit and talk. Milan was different but in Milan, coffee is a religion practiced often.

In Venice, there are no cafe'. There is a ton of restaurants, bars and wine shops. It is easy to sit with a glass of wine. But, coffee is not worshiped. I like worshiped.

But, pizza is everywhere. It is relatively inexpensive and ranges from acceptable to very good. The pizza is more like California Pizza Kitchen than Pizza Hut in style, but is better and fresher. Not sure how the locals feel about pizza, but it is inexpensive.

I have started seeking sandwich bars. Again, one price if you stand and another if you sit at a table. We have discovered that there are sandwiches it is called "toast". Simple, but good. The toast has meat and cheese between two slices and bread heated on a panino grill.

I am learning to like the sandwiches of Italy. For one thing, the bread is better. Overall, the taste and texture is more earthy. The panino of Italy is totally different than Panera's. It is spicy. Italians use mustard, who knew.

I think -with a big "maybe" - that I starting to get familiar with the Italian language. I listen now and I catch a word here and there. I hear words now. The speed seems to be slowing down. I almost ordered our lunch without embarrassing myself. Very forgiving people.

Today - October 2, we are on our way to Como, Italy. The weather turned cooler today so we will see what it is like in Lake Como.