Buon Giorno!
I am in Venice (more on that later).
I think I was delirious when I wrote the last communique.
Jet lagged and lack of sleep and a non-air conditioned i-net cafe can do that
to you.
For all you future travelers to London-English is hard
to understand sometimes. I asked 3 people how to get to Waterloo station. They
all said take the Underground Blue line. I never saw a 'Blue Line.' I found out
(by surmising) they were
referring to the Bakerloo Line. Of course, the B'loo Line.
The French food in Brussels was ok (and I forgot about
the chocolate. No worries, though Priya, I am headed back to Brussels and
Bruges later), the French food in Montreux was worse, but the seafood tonight
in Venice was terrific.
Took the night train to Bern (hard to sleep on it, too),
then another fancy train to Lausanne. Another tip for would be travelers: Make
sure you get on the non-smoking train if smoke bothers you. I almost passed
out. It didn't even occur to me to think about that, but I should have known.
If American cigarette companies quit selling to Americans,
they would still make billions of dollars. It seems like every single European
smokes. And they smoke Marlboro and Camels. Hey Doug! Get me some stats on
Cancer among Europeans!
Montreux Jazz Festival was great. I saw Dr. John and his
band, then saw John Scofield with his new band that included Dave Holland.
These guys are at the top of their craft. In case you didn't know, Scofield is
a guitarist and Holland is a bassist-plays a stand-up bass. Awesome virtuosic
performances for jazz fusion fans. Almost as fun was the guitar and accordion
duo at the Venice dinner tonight-quite a different atmosphere and music style.
Before I left I heard from someone that Venice was not
worth the trip. Use your own judgment. I think it is fascinating. It is both beautiful
and ugly-I passed the industrial area on the way to the hotel-but my hotel room
view is fantastic! Walked around and got lost, found 2 people from Austin, 2
from Houston. There are mountains of tourists here. The trick is to find the
places where the tourists aren't. The restaurant I found was in a regular
neighborhood. People were walking their dogs, taking home groceries, coming
home from work. It's wonderful.
Tomorrow I'm going to the Accademia Museum near my hotel
and to the island of Murano and sleeping late!
Ah, Venice.
Kim, I'll be in Cinque Terre on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Our man Lance has done it again! More stages to go, but
he's in great shape now. See you in Paris, Lance!
Ciao,
Darryl
