Our First Full Day in Venice

July 5,2009

Today we began our latest residency in Venice. We are not Venitians or tourists, we are temporary residents. Our concerns so far have been mostly those of daily life--getting settled, grocery shopping, finding our way around our new sestiere, going out to Sant'Elena so we could find the language school and estimate how long the trip would take, going to the Internet point we know since we haven't found one close to where we live, going to the bancomat and back to the grocery, etc. We were lazy and took the vaporetto everywhere.

We were hoping to be able to use the new free wifi theat Venice has instituted but it is only for Venetian citizens. That seems fair. Eventually there is supposed to be a scheme so that visitors can pay to use the service too but that is not available now and who knows what it will cost. It may be that like the IMOB there will be schemes for more long-term visitors and different rates for short-term visitors. The service for Venetians has only been up for two days so most people aren't too familiar with it yet.

Now we are starting to feel comfortable. We sat in a bar and had a drink. Peter had water and was charged for using the glass as well as for the water. I had a Campari spritz, so Venetian, although un'ombra would have as well. We ate gelato and managed the whole thing in Italian, but we do that all the time.And we can find our way to some places without a mpa. I found the pasticceria where I got a macchiato and a brioche con cicciolata every morning last summer on my way to the institute and the shop where Peter bought me my wonderful linen dress.

We didn't feel rushed or stressed, just comfortable. My friend Susy, who may be rushing inand out of town between school obligations and curating an exhibition in Milan, emailed me about her hairdresser so that if she can't go with me, I can still get my hair cut while I am here. But I really hope I can see her anyway.

We found one bancomat with limited withdrawals and another with seemingly unlimited ones. Just the luck of the draw I guess. We also noticed that while there are a lot of tourists, as usual, there don't seem to be too many Americans. Most of the English is being spoken by Britons and Australians.

Tonight we just had salad and creme caramel for dinner. It is warm and we weren't that hungry. It is an easy meal. Having made soup for lunch, I wasn't eager to stand over a hot flame cooking dinner. The one thing left on my agenda is washing some clothes. And then waiting for tomorrow and the start of class. I expect that I will be in the beginners group in spite of the studying that I did before we came.

All in all our first has been a success. And we now have hot water.