in the morning we watched a bit more of the news on the tsunami as we took turns washing up. we got directions from venezia to cortina d'ampezzo and saved it to the computer. we ate breakfast in the lobby- not at all like the cafeteria of a dorm. cioccolata croissant and cafe con latte- salume and fromaggio. succo di arancia.
we loaded up our wheely night bag and laptop backpack and headed to find a ferry for tronchetto. after walking a ways we found the ferry we should have ridden on last night. it proved to be a straight- yet slow- shot to and from the tronchetto parking garage to lido. so slow i had time to sketch this grandpa- yes grandpa with his grandkid.
the things we rode on last night were vaporettos- or water taxi's. in the parking decks we located our car and stuffed all our belongings into the trunk. this time we rode the people mover and actually got somewhere we wanted to go. AND other people were on with us. this is probably going to be the funniest part of our trip- this next part. but it will probably be lost on you all- kind of a "you had to be there" moment. so i will attempt to describe as best i can.while we were on the ferry we noticed two guys- probably college age- good looking italian kids, you know? they were wearing rayer soccer stuff- a scarf, a hat, etc. and ray ban aviators. but were VERY suavely dressed. very stylish. having product keep all their hair organizedly disheveled. so we ran into them again on the people mover. it's a train connecting little compartments about 1/3 the size of a marta car. so it's more intimate. anyway- one of the rayer fans was talking on a cell and it went something like this- (italian means he was speaking in italian and i couldn't understand what he was saying)
"italian italian italian italian people, people mover italian italian italian italian"
and when he got to the part where he said "people, people mover" he sang it. chris and i sat and smiled- wanting to laugh because we thought it MUST be an advertisement for this thing on italian tv. i told chris- "it sounds like something i've heard before" so i hummed it a few times. "i got it! it's the flinstone's song- flintstones, meet the flintsones, they're the modern stoneage family"
we were walking toward venezia proper now. and ahead of us were the guys- now both weren't talking on the phone. and he takes up the song- "people, people mover italian italian italian italian" and it's ALL in the flintstone's tune. i was proven right and we both gave a laugh. i don't know why we found it so amuzing. maybe because last night was frustrating a bit and we needed to get it out and laugh about it. but i think we'll always remember that funny "people mover" tune.
we walked and walked and walked- crossing bridges over canals- getting accosted by gondoliers "wouldn't we like a ride? for 80 euro?" nah. we just kept walking, following signs for s. marco's. i started feeling worse and worse. the day was wearing on faster than i would've liked, i needed to find a church and NOW! we are in italy! it shouldn't be so hard to find a church! it should be like finding a starbuck's on peachtree street- but it seemed like a never ending row of shops, ristorantes, and consumer traps.
my "wake up" alarm went off. that meant it was 6:30 in atlanta, and 12:30 in italy! i almost started crying. i was literally falling apart. chris found a church
and we snuck in just in time for the gospel. mass was all in english- with an american/canadian/english congregation we sat down and just before communion i told chris i felt terrible- just physically awful. all these late nights sharing litres of rosso and early mornings with cappucino- full days of sight seeing. i told him we needed to get the vitamin b caps out of our suitcase and take them! i swore off rosso and cappucino. as we left mass i put my hand on his back and it was soaking wet! he was sweating profusely. he admitted to me that he was about to pass out. he was shaking and probably had low sugars. RIGHT outside the side door of the church we stepped up to a sidewalk cafe and grabbed a seat under the large awning/tent. i ordered spaghetti carbonera and chris ordered another seafood spaghetti. it was yummy as usual. i think food seemed to solve all our problems. i didn't feel so terrible anymore- my outlook was sunny. chris stopped shaking and sweating. we felt human again. it was nice to have renewed energy.after lunch we found san marco's and toured the building and terrace. very impressive. the horses on the terrace were SO old- but timeless- great pieces of metal work.
we walked back to ferrevia by way of the rialto bridge 
and found the people mover back to tronchetto. of course we sang our new favorite song and got back into our car. we pointed ourselves in the direction of cortina and were off. look at us! reading directions in italian!
we ended up in cortina at about 6. we made one sweep of the town and on our second way back through we spotted a nice place to stay. it said "alaska" on the roof but had confusing other names on their letterhead, keys, etc. it's also called domina or home. which i guess means the same thing just in different languages- alaska probably is a sign that distinguishes the hotel and is probably a fixture in town that no body wanted to see taken down.
we took a nap and then headed out to dinner on the next corner over. it looked to be a pub of some sort. hacker-pschorr or something. i ordered some sandwich- roasted pig with peppers and chris got this sausage and chips plate. it came with three sausages that were pale pink, french fries, and sauerkraut. a bit of the sausage and kraut together was a good pairing. i asked for some kraut to add to my sandwich and that was YUM! best kraut ever! and we were still in italy!! being this far north in italy and so close to the swiss border- brought other plates to our attention for sure. over dinner we discussed staying in cortina for two nights- i just had to stay two nights in a row somewhere- all this hotel hopping was wearing me out! he quickly agreed.
the pub soon got crowded fast with the cortina calcio team. the waitress, liliana, said that they were a talented bunch. after dinner she talked us into shots of limoncello- a VERY sweet liquor made from lemons- and lots of sugar!
our friend liliana.we returned to the hotel, and toured a gallery of reproductions, including the mona lisa. we called back home and then went to sleep- with dreams of a big day of skiing.
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