Our friend John told us a funny story that had happened to him. The story involved a Jewish couple that was visiting him in Croatia. The husband was telling about a difficult task and he described it by saying ‘it was like squeezing juice out of a rock’. His wife was somewhat indignant and asked him what he had just said. He repeated it; she laughed and said, “I thought you said it was like squeezing Jews out of Iraq.” We laughed so hard we were crying.

So on Monday we drove to Porec, a coastal town and had dinner before putting John on a bus to return to Zagreb. We spent the night at the house then packed up on Tuesday and drove to Venice in John’s car.. We made four or five wrong turns so it took us much longer to get here than we had anticipated. After arriving, we parked the car as close as possible to Venice and took a vaporetto (motorboat bus) into Venice and got off at the Rialto Bridge, a famous tourist area. We then had a short walk to our hotel. After checking in we set out to explore Venice. I was last here in 1970. Venice hasn’t changed other than there are a lot more tourists, and things are more expensive. We bought a good map and haven’t gotten lost yet. We wandered over to San Marcos Square where the basilica has some of St Mark’s remains. They wouldn’t let me in since I had a large purse and they had no means to check it. So we wandered around for hours and stopped and had café latte and a pastry.

We did a lot of window-shopping but didn’t see anything we wanted to buy. We were amazed at the prices here. We saw ties for $250 and a nice man’s suit for $2,500. Oy! Later we ate at a restaurant that was a tourist trap. The meal was overpriced, mediocre and the seating was claustrophobic. Tonight we will go further away from the Rialto Bridge and hopefully have a better meal. After dinner we roamed some more. Venice is such a great place for walking around, as there are no streets, only alleys, squares and walkways. And of course canals. Neither of us slept well. I turned out the light around 12:00 and a young couple next door was having a bath. The woman giggled a lot and the man ‘s voice carried well right through our walls. After a long bath, they pulled the plug and went to bed. By then the hardness of our bed was bothering me. I got up and searched for a sleeping aid but couldn’t find them. Then at some ungodly hour a construction crew started assembling scaffolding. If that wasn’t enough I was just starting to get accustomed to the rhythm of the clanking of scaffolding when a seagull started screeching reminding me of my dear friend Kathy Burkey who can imitate a screeching seagull to perfection.

So we got up and started our day. The breakfast was bread, jam and coffee. Delicious Italian coffee. Starbucks doesn’t stand a chance here. You can’t improve on perfection. We headed out and spent the morning at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Art. What a treat to see so many pieces of artwork by artists that she helped to get their start. There was a room of Jackson Pollack’s paintings, Mark Rothko, Motherwell and other important abstract expressionist artists. She had a fabulous home and sculpture garden. Next we took a vaporetto to the Jewish ghetto. We discovered that the Italian word for foundry was geto and the Ashkenazi Jews pronounced it ghetto. In the 1500’s the Venetians required the Jews to live in the area where the foundry was and hence the term ghetto was coined. We visited three of the five synagogues in the area and learned the history of the Jews in Venice. Since the Christians were not allowed to lend money with interest, the Jews were required to be the moneylenders. Commerce was such a vital part of the Venetian economy that having money available for loans was essential. The fact that they were forced to be moneylenders led to the stereotype of Jews being moneylenders. Each night they were locked in the ghetto and they were four guards to ensure they did not go out after dark. We were surprised to learn the Jews were required to pay the guards salary. When Napoleon captured Venice he liberated the Jews and later he sold Venice to Austria. Once Austria ruled Venice the discrimination against Jews resumed. Today there are about 30 Jews who live in the ghetto. During its height there were about 4,000 in the ghetto.

We came home and napped. How delicious. And then to the Internet and out to dinner. Tonight was fine dining. We had seen the restaurant on our walk last night. We had an exquisite meal with excellent service. I had sea bass and Ron had a pumpkin gnocchi. YUM! More walking into an area whew we hadn’t ventured before. What an absolutely lovely place Venice is. We saw more lovely shops with Murano glass. The artwork is of such a high standard that we never tire of seeing it. We passed lots of designer clothing shops where you can buy a pair of pretty underwear for $80. We meandered home and were glad we had such a great visit, a relaxing time and a feast for our eyes.