Friday, March 03, 2006
Friday Feb 10, 2006
Worked, of course, almost a full day, my flight was at 5 out of Detroit – with an hour drive from the office, the need to be there a couple hours in advance and also grab food, I was gone by 2. It was an option to rent boards while we were there but I spent a good amount of money on a new board so I decided to lug the thing (including boots, helmet, clothes, etc) throughout the trip – a bit of a hassle but worth it. Of course, this caused a concern about overweight luggage – I had the board bag stuffed with stuff and a carry-on – but the lady at the counter wouldn’t let me put it on the scale; "over there" she said; "just leave it there" said the guy; am I actually going to see this thing in Venice? Do I have a choice? Whatever – security, flight, no sleeping of course, bad movies, bad food.
Saturday
Still haven’t slept, a bit of a layover in Amsterdam, Venice. Sitting in the airport waiting for Bonnie, it seems like EVERY flight is delayed – except for hers, surprisingly, she was actually early. Next the waterbus to Venice, takes you all the way around the island to San Marco Square, you can see quite a bit of the city – yeah, I fell asleep on the boat. Next is Bon and I walking through Venice carrying our snowboards (got a few strange looks) without a map. Alright, one thing that we learned – DO NOT go to Venice without a map that has street names – the streets are crazy and there are a lot of deadends at canals and sometimes the ‘street’ that you want looks like a very narrow alley. Another thing that I learned about Venice – if you open the door to the bathroom and see 2 women standing there, you don’t necessarily have the wrong room. Finally, we find our hotel, check in, and then head out to check out the town. Did some walking around, got some dinner on the side of the Grand Canal, it was kind of cold but doable. Then it was time to go out – what type of bar do look for in one of the most popular cities in Italy? An Irish pub, of course, to drink some Guinness and watch some soccer (the Irish pub proved to be a common theme throughout the trip). After a couple of hours there, we were very tired, but that didn’t stop us from grabbing some of the best pizza ever on the way back to the hotel.
Worked, of course, almost a full day, my flight was at 5 out of Detroit – with an hour drive from the office, the need to be there a couple hours in advance and also grab food, I was gone by 2. It was an option to rent boards while we were there but I spent a good amount of money on a new board so I decided to lug the thing (including boots, helmet, clothes, etc) throughout the trip – a bit of a hassle but worth it. Of course, this caused a concern about overweight luggage – I had the board bag stuffed with stuff and a carry-on – but the lady at the counter wouldn’t let me put it on the scale; "over there" she said; "just leave it there" said the guy; am I actually going to see this thing in Venice? Do I have a choice? Whatever – security, flight, no sleeping of course, bad movies, bad food.
Saturday
Still haven’t slept, a bit of a layover in Amsterdam, Venice. Sitting in the airport waiting for Bonnie, it seems like EVERY flight is delayed – except for hers, surprisingly, she was actually early. Next the waterbus to Venice, takes you all the way around the island to San Marco Square, you can see quite a bit of the city – yeah, I fell asleep on the boat. Next is Bon and I walking through Venice carrying our snowboards (got a few strange looks) without a map. Alright, one thing that we learned – DO NOT go to Venice without a map that has street names – the streets are crazy and there are a lot of deadends at canals and sometimes the ‘street’ that you want looks like a very narrow alley. Another thing that I learned about Venice – if you open the door to the bathroom and see 2 women standing there, you don’t necessarily have the wrong room. Finally, we find our hotel, check in, and then head out to check out the town. Did some walking around, got some dinner on the side of the Grand Canal, it was kind of cold but doable. Then it was time to go out – what type of bar do look for in one of the most popular cities in Italy? An Irish pub, of course, to drink some Guinness and watch some soccer (the Irish pub proved to be a common theme throughout the trip). After a couple of hours there, we were very tired, but that didn’t stop us from grabbing some of the best pizza ever on the way back to the hotel.
# posted by Keith @ 3:41 PM 
