We quickly packed up our stuff and headed out to the San Angelo pier again to catch our water taxi back to the airport. This taxi was the 2nd leg of the tour that we "no showed" on and lost our payment for. When we arrived at the pier the one side of the pier said you had to show a code to enter. I didn't really have a code but there was a QR barcode on my ticket for the taxi so I tried that. It didn't work. Then some guy came over to try to assist us and told us to just go in through the exit. Okay, we'll try that... then nearby another guy walked up and asked if I was Mackenzie. To which I confirmed and he confirmed he was our ride. He was parked on the side of the main pier. We started to walk over there and as we left the guy that helped us with the gate to the main pier asked for money for helping him in Italian. I played dumb and kept on walking. lol.
Our boat was similar style to the rest of the small taxi speed boats. It was exactly like the one we took in the day before. This time it was just us and another lady in the boat to start. We boated around a bit and wound up at another dock where a few more people loaded in. Then we went and picked up another lady.
We took the group of people around the corner a few canals and dropped them off at a pretty large yacht. We drove the boat up to their back swimming dock on their boat and they jumped over to it.
We started cruising our way out to the main waterway and had a chance to take in some more sights and sounds of Venice on the way. Deanna made a great discovery of a pretty popular Banksy mural that I completely didn't see and would have not gotten a picture of if she didn't point it out. I was excited to see it!
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| Banksy's Migrant Child Mural |
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| Venice Fireboats |
Pretty soon our boat made it to the main channel and headed toward the airport terminal. This time our boat encountered a lot less oncoming wakes. The ride was smoother because of this and I was able to sit in the back of the boat and take in some fresh air from the trip. We also saw some folks getting a ticket from a polizei boat as we traveled by. I recall us speeding through this area the day before, so I guess the speed limit is much slower than that. Our boat was going pretty slow at the time we past the police boat.
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| Bye Venice!! |
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| Cruise Ships in Venice |
We arrived at the terminal dock and unloaded our carry on gear. At this point in our trip we could finally walk a bit slower and not rush. We felt like every move we were making until this moment was in such a rush and hectic pace. We stood on the moving sidewalks the entire way through the connecting hallway to the airport terminals. It was nice and relaxing.
When we entered the airport terminal it was now time to see if the Italian lost baggage team made miracles happen in getting our bags to arrive in Italy or not.
We headed over to the "GH Venezia, Lost & Found Office" which was just outside the baggage claim area. I handed the attendant my lost and found claim and my United ticket tags. He said he'd be right back to check. He came back a few minutes later and gave me a thumbs up through the window. OMGGGGGGGGGG, they had our bags!!!
He directed me to go to the end of the aisle to a security checkpoint hallway. I went down to that checkpoint which was sort of an employee entrance. I was about to enter through their metal detector when the person there told me to stop. They didn't speak any english so I had a hard time understanding other than I should "STOP" and "WAIT" over there. lol. So I went back out a little and stood until my lost and found guy came to rescue me and get me through. I followed him to a private room full of luggage. As we went in there they were, our two suitcases. I couldn't believe it. I wheeled them out to meet Deanna and we took a picture of them being reunited. :)
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| Our recovered baggage! And Deanna's carry on. |
I immediately received an email from the Venice airport that they had found our lost luggage. That notice alone was far superior than the kind of notices and updates that United or US airline services in general provide. Sometimes you know something is delayed before the United app or vice versa. The app updates you that you are delayed but the gate attendants have no idea. It's very frustrating.
At this point were so happy to have our bags and to be back on our regularly scheduled vacation plan. Our next step was to go pick up our rental car.
I had prepaid for a rental car through rentalcars.com that had a car reserved for us at the Hertz counter in Marco Polo airport. I also prepaid for full coverage on the car through the same website so I could deny any local insurance coverage at check in.
Prior to driving in Italy you must obtain an international driver’s permit. We did this by going to the local AAA insurance office in San Francisco and paying for the permit and taking photos. It took about 10 minutes in total and we were good to go.
When we arrived at the Hertz counter on the top of the airport levels we took a number and waited. We were getting used to this process of waiting. I think we do prefer taking a number in place of standing and waiting for a line to move along.
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| The Rental Car Waiting Area |
We were checked out pretty quickly from Hertz and made our way out to the stall where our rental car was parked. We still couldn't believe we were pulling our own luggage and were officially on our vacation again. And back on schedule!!!
The car is a Renault Captur. It's pretty comfortable but the engine is a bit weak. The bluetooth doesn't work but luckily we always bring auxiliary cables and usb cables for playing music. :)
Italy drives on the same side of the road as the USA so there wasn't much to worry about in that regard. I began to slowly make our way out of the airports winding garage and out of the front of the airport when I quickly realized that the roads in Italy are full of many roundabouts. The process of going in and out of these takes some getting used to. But when you get the hang of it the efficiency is much better than a stop light in the US.
We were on the highway soon after and on our way to Modena. The drive to Modena is about 2 hours long. At one point we came across a toll booth. One side had what is clearly marked as a prepaid card area and the other side was for those paying in cash. At this booth you weren't paying, but only taking a ticket to pay later as you exited the expressway. So we took our ticket and the gate opened and we continued along.
There were plenty of green pastures and farm houses to see along the way. The expressways go around 130kmh at times and sometimes down to 90kmh. The left lane is more specifically used for people passing or going over the speed limits. Italians waste no time flashing their lights at you to move out of their way. They also get much closer to your bumper when doing so than I would typically see in the US. I was excited to see some vacationers towing Italian trailers along the expressway. As we are fellow trailer campers it was cool to see. Some pics below. We only made one stop along the way to go to the bathroom and continued on our way. The stop we made was at a chain called Autogrill. It was a madhouse in this place and we got out as quick as we could.
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| On the Road! |
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| AutoGrill Parking Lot |
At one point along the drive I pulled over to a gas station diner combo to fill up the car with gas. I tried using my credit card but it was rejected. Then I used cash instead and went to fill the car. After I filled up the tank I had change coming. I went back to the machine and it said to go inside to get my change. I went inside the diner and realized the gas station is next door to the diner. I went outside and over to the gas station front door and it was locked. I went back into the diner and asked, in English, about the gas station and how I can get change. Nobody knew what I was saying. I asked if they spoke inglese and nobody did. Then I got the attention of one of the diner workers who understood what I was getting at. She walked over to a guy who was getting pretty serious with a sub sandwich. I heard them discussing stuff and then he looks at me and says "2:30!!" in italian. It was something like 1pm at the time of this discussion. In Italy it is common for businesses to be closed during this time for their employees to have a long lunch break. I completely forgot about that and also didn't think that would occur at a gas station. The guy would not budge. So I started to stress out about having to sit on the side of the expressway waiting for my change from this guy for an hour and a half. The lady at the diner was super nice and gave me change out of the diner register. We were back on the freeway shortly after.
We arrived in Modena after some pretty crazy turns, loops and navigation blunders. Luckily we were able to adjust quickly and get back on track or on occasion make questionable turns. Modena is a very cute town. It had a small village vibe for sure. If you think the name is familiar to you just have a look at your Balsamic vinegar bottle. If it isn't from Modena throw it out. Modena is the world leader in Balsamic making.
We checked into our hotel, Vittorio Veneto 25, and took a bit of a rest before figuring out our dinner plans. Our hotel was clean and cozy. The check in process was completely automated. We were given a code to get in. Then we had a code for a lock back inside the lobby that gave us the key to our room. We could also use that lockbox for anything we needed. They only have a receptionist on premises from 8am to 12pm. It was simple and easy and we had no issues following their process for the mostpart.
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| Our room in Modena |
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| Every bathroom we've had in our hotel rooms has had one of these. |
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| Inside lobby to our hotel in Modena |
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| Modena Hotel Bathroom Sink |
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| Modena Hotel |
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| Modena Hotel |
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| Modena Hotel |
The entire reason we booked a night in Modena was to visit the world famous restaurant Osteria Francescana which we learned about on Chef's Table and Master of None. Three months ago I set my alarm for 1am. The goal being that I would wake up and get on the reservation system for this restaurant. Well when I woke up at 1am and logged onto the site it already had a pretty deep queue. I kept my browser open and went back to bed.
When I woke up the next morning the queue was down to 30 people in front of me. So when my turn came I looked up reservation options and we were only allowed to book lunch and it wasn't on the day we would even be in Modena. We had already booked our room in hopes of this plan working out. *Sad Trombone*
From our hotel room we searched around a bit and found a restaurant called Zelmira that looked and sounded great. Zelmira Website One thing that is common in Italy is that dinner opens around 7pm or 7:30pm and sometimes even later. So a restaurant may not answer their phone or take reservations during the off time. We decided to wing it and just stroll over at opening time.
On our way we stopped by the Osteria Francescana restaurant to snap a picture for tourism sake. :)
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| Osteria Francescana |
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| Osteria Francescana |
When we walked up to Ristorante Zelmira I lead with "Parla Inglese?" - as I'm getting good at saying and the host indicated he spoke very little. I asked he had room for 2 for dinner. He asked if we had a reservation and I said no. He looked said and said in english, "this is a problem." But then a brief conversation with someone else he quickly ushered what looked like staff members off of a table and seated us there. Woot, we made it with no reservations.
The waiter quickly showed us the English menu which was very convenient. For dinner we had the following: Ricotta and Potato cheese flan, Ceviche with house made potato chips, Shrimp and Butter Risotto, Sage Butter tortellini filled with Butternut Squash, Charred Roasted Octopus and a side of seasoned potatoes. Deanna loved her risotto and commented on how rich it was, but good. I think the tortellini I had was mindblowingly good and still sits as the best thing I've eaten in Italy thus far. The sage butter was so perfect and the tortellini was so fresh and delicious.
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| Ricotta Cheese Potato thing |
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| Ceviche |
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| Shrimp Risotto |
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| Amazing Tortellini |
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| Octopus |
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| Potatoes |
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| My finger became a breadstick and fell off. |
We found the gelato place called Bloom Naturalmente Gelato. I ordered the pistacchio and Deanna ordered strawberry (fragola). They were both very good and hit the spot for an after dinner treat. We sat on the curb people watching for awhile. Then wandered the streets back to our hotel always in search of hidden art and things of interest.
We hooked up my Ipad to the TV and enjoyed some movies that I preloaded and went to bed soon after.
That is the end of Day 4.
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