Better Late than Never

We're finally on our way to Venice, via Charles DeGaulle and Air France. After a sleepless 8 hour flight in the non-reclining bulkhead seats sandwiched between the galley and the rest room at the rear of the plane, we arrive in Paris for our short layover. Even though we're in transit, we need to pass through a very disorganized security screening that involved a lot of rummaging through luggage and a pretty intimate and thorough pat-down. We also have to pass through passport control, where we're awarded with a French visa stamp in our passports.

I should note that US Airways did us the final courtesy of giving us the wrong local time when we landed, giving us a time 1 hour earlier than it actually was. Thanks guys! Glad we noticed our watches didn't match the airport clocks, or we would have missed our connection to Venice.

It's our first experience with CDG airport, and it is instantly our least favorite. We're at Terminal 1, a ring design with shops and facilities on the lowest level and departure gates the level above that. It's crowded, with minimal seating, and the shops are staffed with surly clerks who clearly hate their jobs and their customers. Fortunately, our sojourn there is brief, and we're soon on our way to Venice.

Our Air France flight is uneventful, and we arrive at Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) a bit late, at about 12:30pm local time. VCE is a breeze, especially without baggage claim to deal with, and we breeze right through arrivals and passport control. We're staying in an apartment rental, so our first order of business is to pull enough euros from a cash machine to pay the rental fee, and to get our cell phone working so that we can contact our host.

The ATM proves to be a bit of a surprise...on our last visit to Italy, in 2011, we were able to make multiple withdrawals for large amounts of cash from the Bancomat machines with no difficulty. Now, I don't know if this is universal or just limited to Venice, but the machines seemed to have been reconfigured. I can only make a single withdrawal of 250 Euros. Further attempts yield a message indicating that I have exceeded my international currency exchange limit for the day.

We think this might just be a configuration on the ATM at the airport, so we decide to try again once we reach Piazzale Roma. We've come prepared for any eventuality, though...we've got two separate debit card accounts, each with two debit cards, just in case.

Tip: I've mentioned it before, and I'll mention it again. When you're traveling in Italy, a debit card tied to a CapitalOne online account is your friend. Whenever we pulled money out of a Bancomat machine, we paid NO fees, and the exchange rate was the published daily FOREX rate for the USD vs the Euro. For this trip, it varied from day to day, but averaged around $1.30 for a Euro.

As for our cell phone: our normal carrier is StraightTalk, a great plan at a good price, but one which absolutely prohibits foreign roaming. We decided that, in order to have a functional cell phone the moment we touched down, we would pay the premium price that Telestial.com asks for an Italian TIM Sim card. Their price for this card is high, compared to what you would pay for it in Italy, but you get your Italian phone number well ahead of your visit, and a 15 Euro credit. The Sim is supposed to be pre-activated and ready to use as soon as you arrive.

Well, that's not how it worked out.

Any attempts to make a call resulted in a speedy Italian error message, too quick and too poor quality for me to understand. I gathered that there was something wrong with my activation or my balance. I stop at the Tabacchi shop in the airport to buy a Ricarcicard (the way you recharge a pay-as-you go phone in Italy), but I'm unable to apply it to the phone. I'm stumped. Somehow, we're going to need to contact our host to let her know we've arrived.

We step outside the airport to the Hello Venezia/VeniceConnected machine, where we collect our pre-purchased transportation pass (we've already pre-purchased a WiFi pass for Venice as well), then hop on the bus for the 1/2 hour ride from the airport to Piazzale Roma. Since I have the WiFi pass, I'm able to connect my phone up to the public internet in the Piazza, and make a Skype call to Luigia, our host, to let her know we're finally on the ground (albeit a day and a half late). She'll meet us at the Giardini vaporetto stop.

TIP: Venice offers a WiFi Connected card, for a 24 hour, 72 hour, or 7 day period. This buys you a username and password to connect up to the Venice public WiFi spots, near most major piazzas. It works well, but can only be used on one device at a time, and, of course, is limited to the range of areas where it can be used.

While we're at the Piazzale, I try to pull some more cash out of the ATM there with my original card. It won't permit it. My wife tries hers, and she's able to snag an additional €250, but that's it. We have to switch to the cards for our backup account to get enough to cover the apartment and our other costs.

We hop aboard a Vaporetto for our first ride on the public transportation system in Venice. It's pretty simple to figure out where you're going, and all we need to do is swipe our transportation ticket at the card reader before we board. A short time later, we're met by Luigia, who will escort us to our apartment near the Bienniale Gardens in the Giardini district.

The area is beautiful. It's about a 15-20 minute walk east of Piazza San Marco along the waterfront, but it's a different world. The public gardens border the east side of the area, the broad, park-like Vialle Giuseppe Garibaldi borders the west, and it's just a lovely residential neighborhood.

Luigia takes us to our ground-floor apartment on Calle Sarasina. It's compact, but efficient, and pretty well equipped. Windows on two sides of the apartment keep it well ventilated during the day, though they have to be closed at night for both privacy and limitation of noise.

We're pretty well exhausted, and would love nothing better than to take a nap, but it's far too early for that. We explore the neighborhood, heading up to Via Giuseppe Garibaldi to pick up some essentials for the apartment, and scope out some restaurants for dinner.

We can't resist stopping for a gelato while we're at it. While we're out, I pick up an internet connection and make a Skype call to Telestial, to try to get the phone Sim problem straightened out. They tell me there's nothing they can do, and I should try to find the TIM store near the Rialto tomorrow. I'm so impressed with their great customer service, I promise them I'll let everyone know.

We have a 7pm tour scheduled for this evening with Laguna Eco Adventures, and I'd like to let them know we want to postpone it because of our delayed arrival, but I can't find their phone number anywhere. Coincidentally, at that moment, my phone rings...apparently, I can receive incoming calls on my Italian sim, even if I can't make outgoing ones. It's Giovanni, from Laguna, and I'm able to explain the situation to him. We shift our tour to 7:30pm tomorrow.

It's too early for dinner, so we go out wandering, consciously avoiding the tourist areas and sticking to the back streets of Castello and the Arsenale.

We have an early dinner at a touristy restaurant along Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, Osteria al Garanghelo, where we enjoy Pizza Margherita and a side of grilled vegetables (which went directly on top of the pizza!), along with a half bottle of their house red. Somehow, we find our way back to our apartment, and collapse.

Tomorrow, we'll be visiting the Palazzo Ducale, wandering Venice in search of a TIM store, and taking an evening tour of the canals. See you then!

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