A (Too?) Detailed Day in Venice

I hope I've figured out that anything posted to my regular blog site (http://www.doriengreyandme.com) shows up on Facebook, I'm experimenting to see if that's true. If not, back to the drawing boards. Anyway....

After less than 2 hours sleep in the previous 36, I slept 10 hours last night. Badly needed. Got up and showered in the unique bathroom (photo to come later) and went down for breakfast. Stopped at the front desk to ask about laundry service (gun shy after being charged $168 for one load of laundry in Cannes). They do not offer laundry service, and the nearest laundromat is several blocks away and may or may not be open. Well, I have enough clothes to last me until Florence, at least.

The Hotel Falier is quaintly small and cozy. Entering the dining room, there was only one couple there, though a mother and daughter came in shortly thereafter. Deathly, deathly quiet. More like being in a cathedral than a dining room. The couple exchanged a few words, barely audibly, as did the mother and daughter, but the primary impression was silence. (Having no motor traffic noises to distract is a key, probably).

Refrigeration seems to be an unknown quality in Europe. Everything is served room temperature. The juice (orange or, in everyplace I've stayed, a combination of grapefruit and orange and something else) is room temp. The milk is room temp. I did get a regular-sized cup of cappuccino, though. Then back here to report.

Again, why am I doing all this recording of every belch and pin-drop? Selishly, of course, for me, so that I can cling as tightly and as immediately to my adventures as possible. But equally importantly because I really would like you to have the sense of being here with me and seeing things through my eyes.

Well, now for a walk to the Favoria (train station 5 blocks away on the Grand Canal) to catch Vaporetto (water boat, Venice's equivalent of busses) #1 to St. Mark's Square. Stay tuned.