Wake up, Venice!

 Wake up! Wake up, everyone! Wake up, Venice!

We arrived in Venice last night just before sunset, in time to revel in the evening's pink sunset falling on the Grand Canal, to sip Chianti, and enjoy the end of the day bustle of people coming and going on the vaporetto.

We watched the piano nobile in the huge private mansion just across the canal from our hotel being prepared for the night's party, complete with gigantic crystal chandeliers glowing, candles lit on the steps of the dock to warm guests arriving by boat, and footmen. Stripe-shirted gondoliers stroked through the water in front of us, enchanting other Venecian guests in their slim shiny black vessels. Venice is so much more beautiful than I'd ever imagined and I had had pretty high expectations.

After dark we wound ourselves through unobtrusive cobble walkways lined with seemingly ancient shuttered buildings of variegated gold, ochre, rust and gray, intuitively finding an open square lined with canopied outdoor restaurants. Choosing one on the basis of its quaintness, we ate our first Italian great meal of black risotto made with cuttlefish, roasted whole branzino, salade misto and wine from Verona.

After lingering at our table to soak up the pealing church bells and attuning our ears to conversations in the most romantic of languages, we strolled our travel-weary selves back to our charming hotel to collapse.

Now, two hours later, like a child on Christmas morning I've woken myself up with giddy laughter-- I'm in Italy!! And I want it to wake up so we can play. I want to see the boats unloading the days worth of supplies to markets and restaurants, I want to watch shopkeepers sweep their walks and open their gates. I'm wondering how my first true Italian espresso will taste and want to smell the morning scent of a bakery. And I giggle some more.

My excitement wakes My Baby, who is apparently a little giddy himself. As if he's been reading my mind, he jokingly asks if I think the Italians can make coffee as good as Starbucks, and wonders what we'll have for breakfast.

Hurry Up, Venice! Wake up!

Sticks Forks Fingers is off seeing the world and will return all too soon.