March 21st, Venice: Doge's Palace and the Secret Itineraries

With the wonderful help of Rick Steve, Dianna, Alicia and I had worked out a detailed itinerary for our 3 days in Venice. First up on our first full day was our scheduled visit to the Doge's Palace with our ticket to the "Secret Itinerary", a tour showing us, among other things, the cell of Casanova. The Doge's Place was originally built in 810, but then with significant reconstruction in the 1300s and 1400s. Who knew Casanova was actually real? Apparently, most everyone but me. Casanova was quite the character, sentenced for 5 years because of his "affront to religion and common decency". He managed to chisel an escape route through his cell floor with a piece of black marble. He used the black marble to sharpen a spike out of a bar from his cell. However, 3 days before his plan to escape during a festival, he was moved to a better cell, but with the help of a renegade priest, Father Balbi, was eventually able to concoct a complicated plan that led to their escape.

Casanova was challenged in getting OUT of the Doge's Palace; we were challenged getting TO the Doge's Palace (seat of the city government but also a prison in the 1700s), and it was not Rick Steve's fault. Somehow, the three of us managed to get to the vaporetto stop, but without our vaporetto tickets. We returned to our hotel, several times, collecting more tickets, head phones for our Rick Steve's app with audio tours, and tour tickets. . . so many times, in fact, that a homeless woman sitting on a bridge watching us over and over (5x), finally asked us in English, "What's the matter, girls?" But we finally made it onto the vaporetto. However, with our initial uncertainty, we got on and off the same vaporetto, several times, before finally deciding that we were, in fact, going in the right direction. And as much as we were trying to get the logistics "right", it really didn't matter, because we were never actually asked for our tickets. Ever. On any of the vaporetto rides!

The vaporettos are not really complicated; it's just that it's like anything the first time you do it, especially in a foreign country with a language you don't speak: until you do it once, you're just not certain of it, and then it seems so incredibly easy and fun!