I can finally talk about it!

To say I'm excited about going to Venice is like saying a kid is excited on Christmas Eve. It's Just. Not. Possible. For me. To Be. More. Excited.

Oh yeah, and Rich is psyched, too. Ahem.

I mean, seriously? Even the trip from the airport to the hotel is cool..the whole thing is by boat! And the boat is called the Alilaguna. Say it out loud to yourself. The Alilaguna. Don't you suddenly get all Italian and start saying it like "Ah-lee-lah-GOO-nah". 'Eh?

Getting the tickets for the trip was no problem, once I managed to find tickets that a) fit into the time slot Rich had free from work and b) were affordable. I spent two days looking at Dubrovnik, Riga, Istanbul, Greece, blah blah blah, but could never really get it to work out, so when I finally found affordable tickets to Venice (direct on Norwegian Air) I grabbed 'em.

Ah...then the hotel. No problem, I thought. Uh, yeah, Problem.
Ever hear of the Venice Biennale? It starts on the 12th. When I would call for hotels, they would literally laugh and say,
"You want a hotel this weekend? For the 12th?"
"Uh, yeah?"
(muffled sounds as hand goes over phone, explosions of mirth as in the background Guido and Giuseppe the Hotel Guys bust out laughing 'hey this American lady wants a hotel room for the Biennale!' hahahahahahahah!!!!)
(comes back to phone, mirthful giggles in background) "No, we aint'a got no hotel room. It's the Biennale!"
"Oh. Um....any suggestions who I might call?"
"No, it'sa kinda late. You might try down the street."
"Um....what street? Maybe you got a name of the hotel down the street? I'm calling from Norway."
"Oh...NORWAY, eh? Hmm. You sound American".
"Yes, I know." (It's best to let them think what they want to think in cases like this.)
"I been to America once, but I never been to Norway."
"Oh." pause. "It's nice". pause.

Then he would rattle off some hotel names, that I could never understand as he spoke so fast. And on it went. For about 30 calls to Italy. They speak good English in Venice, that I can say.

I finally managed to find a hotel on line. It looks ok, it's very central. Three star tourist class. No I won't post the name (yet) as Mr. Nosy Guts Richard will instantly google it to see how much it cost. As I bet you all would, too. (Here is where I plug Trip Advisor. Use it for hotel recomendations. It rocks.)

The hotel is on the Piazza San Marco. This is a picture on the hotel's website.

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Yeah, so it's a bit pink but whatever. It's in the "new" part of the hotel, which, by the descriptions, is 200 years old. The "old" part? 16th century.

So now I have to go pack. My wardrobe this trip will purely consist of romantic dresses, floaty skirts and a straw hat. La Dolce Vita, y'all. La dolce freakin' vita.

Also, I have found a way to post pictures to my flickr page (my ID on flickr is karlakp) via my camera phone. If I can get it to work in Italy, that is. So check flickr this weekend, and if all goes well, I might have a few things up.