Ah, Venice.

I have been to Europe twice before in my life. Once in my early teens, to visit family in France and my sister in Germany, and once later in my teens as an assistant/tagalong on a trip my parents arranged for a group of home school students from the southeast.

I have always wanted to see Venice, and both trips were, due to their limited destination lists and durations, not times that I could arrange to see it.

While planning for this trip, I made clear to 80 one thing. "I don't have mandatory objectives for where else we go in Europe. There are a handful of places that I'd like to see, but if we don't get to them that is ok. But we must see Venice. On that point I will not waver."

So it was, after missing my chances twice before, I found myself in the city where the streets run and sparkle as the sun passes over them, and the lulling brum-brum-brum of an occasional taxi's outboard motor is the only engine noise you can hear. A city where losing yourself is as easy as finding yourself, and each corner turned might reveal a new secret that you'd never imagined before.

We left Hotel Marte around 7 PM and decided to do a sit-down, Italian dinner, since we hadn't really taken the time to sample a local restaurant since Sevilla, Spain, three days back. We cut out into the heart of the city, jumping the Grande Canal and pushing through turning alleys and past glowing shop fronts. At each new restaurant we would stop, compare prices and menu items, and point out things that looked intriguing to us.

As we wandered the streets, noticing that almost all the locals closing up their shops for the nights had dogs as pets, which to me, raised in the south with dogs running through fields, seemed anachronistic in a city with only three or four real patches of grass. We watched as the streetlights came on and the tiny footbridges and canals came alight. Each new turn gave us a new look at Venice, and we enjoyed every new facet. As we wandered we quickly allowed ourselves to choose our directions almost at random, and would consult the map from time to time to discover which new and interesting place we had popped up next.

In this manner we scoped out several restaurants and got a feel for the city, quiet and serene, at night in the off-season.

We eventually returned to a place that had caught our eye very near the main bridge across the Grand Canal, very near the train station, and we stopped there and had a lovely dinner.

We split a fantastic pizza as an appetizer and I had their only draft beer (Lowenbrau) and 80 had a sprite and a spiced rum whose name I didn't recognize. After that we shared primary courses--meat tortellini and four-cheese gnocchi (a soft and warm Italian potatoe pasta rolled into balls*).

After dinner we found a local internet cafe/hotspot for American kids called Casanova, which had a bar and internet point downstairs, and a full disco in the second floor. It is here, with music pounding, that we end this entry.

*We didn't know either. We had to ask the waiter.