I'm with the Tour

Driver says, "You don't know where this bus is going to?"
Old man says, "I just want it to get me through
Hey, I'm staying on the ride, it's gonna take me somewhere"
Patty Griffin. "Stay on the Ride"

All right, No more tales of public transport woes. Yesterday we marched (all right, I stepped, dragged my leg, stepped, dragged my leg ...) to the Rialto Bridge. After looking at the ticket window for about five minutes, we finally decided that was where you get your tickets, went up and bought a VenicePass that lets you ride the water buses and get into museums.

The weather was as glorious as you could ask, so we decided to ride the water bus just to check out the sites along the Grand Canal. We didn't know where we were going, just doing a random tourist thing. Or at least that's what I assumed. It did strike me as funny, though, how we ended up with Linda studying the map and saying we should get off. Guess what, we were back where she first met her Italian heartthrob. I will chalk it up to coincidence. Besides, he wasn't anywhere to be found today.

The city is drop dead wonderful. Everyone knows so much about it from movies, but it really ends up not only fulfilling its promise but exceeding it. Linda noticed perhaps the most remarkable difference between Venice and any other city we have visited. Last night, around 9pm, we stood on the sidewalk and heard nothing but people. No cars, of course, no horns, no brakes, no sirens. Just this incredibly quiet beautiful city with only voices in the air. Some of our MANY pictures are here, but we both took lots more yesterday. When we get home, we may try to revive the slide shows people used to subject their friends to in the 50s.

OK. I will close by explaining the pictures at the top.

As you can see from her fairly good impression of Princess Leia with two of her three new scarves, Linda is continuing the Accessorize My World Tour 2008. Handbags, glasses, scarves, gloves. Who needs designer outfits when we have so many accessories to choose from?

And the top picture is one of several combos that were playing at outdoor restaurants around St Mark's Square. The instruments vary a little with each, but at their heart is the accordion. Finally, after 50 years of wondering what I could do with the musical skills I tried to learn as a kid, I have discovered a place that actually values them. And just in time, apparently. Once I converted the euros Linda spent on accessories to Aussie dollars, I decided I may just have to pull out the old squeezebox one last time.

Va bene.