I’m not traveling now so I thought that may I would occasionally post some anecdotes from earlier trips. I hope you find them entertaining.
Venice, Italy
One of our early bicycle trips was in Italy. We went from Trento to Venice. It was one of my favorite trips. We ended up in Venice and had an off day to sightsee before flying out. Our hotel was not in Venice so we had to take the water taxi there for the sightseeing. There was a single woman on the trip who asked to join us on our off day. She was a surgeon from Washington, DC. We said that would be fine. In the morning we took the water taxi, first to Murano to visit a glass factory and then to Venice. It was one of those things where they will take you to Murano free of charge and the to Venice because they want you to buy something at the factory after viewing their demonstration. We did buy a very unique piece that I love. The surgeon was looking for a gift for her boyfriend and kept asking my opinion. We went on to Venice to see the city. At one point we agreed to split up and meet later.
So later that evening we meet up in Venice. We decide to go to Harry’s Bar which is a place that is in the guidebooks. It is one of those places where authors and important people hung out in the days when very few people had the opportunity to travel. The three of us show up at Harry’s and the surgeon is in the lead. She opens the door and almost falls back on us. The first person she sees is a middle age to elderly man standing at the bar in a hot pink silk jump suit. OK. We walk in and at a table to the side is an elderly transvestite. This could be an interesting evening.
We find a table. The headwaiter takes a liking to us. We are just ordering drinks. It’s late, they are not going to serve much more food so he starts bringing us samples from the kitchen at no cost.
Behind us is an American middle aged woman and her daughter who is probably about 20 years old. A conversation begins. The story the woman tells us is that she came to Italy because her husband is divorcing her and she has scheduled a meeting at the Vatican to contest the annulment that her husband was seeking. She brought her daughter along. When in Rome she saw a poster of a young girl that had been kidnapped, probably by gypsies. This woman claimed to have seen the child in Rome and went to the police. The police held her there most of the day questioning her. At this point we are starting to question her veracity.
More to the story. This woman rents a motor scooter in Rome to go to the Vatican. (Rome is full of noisy scooters.) Of course, she proceeds to wreck the thing and injure her leg. She has serious contusions. At this point our surgeon friend says, “Let me see it.” The woman says, “Are you a nurse?” Our friend says, “No, I’m a surgeon.” Everyone goes silent. The daughter is mortified. The look of embarrassment on her face was priceless. She wants out of there. This trip has not been a good time for her. She knows her mother is a nutcase. We have begun to realize that the mother really is a nutcase. She’s a drama queen and delusional. She didn’t actually see some kidnapped child because her story didn’t check out. It was all about her.
Anyway, the place is ready to close. The headwaiter is still taking a liking to us and is giving the Marie and the surgeon souvenir glasses. We find the water taxi and get back to the hotel.
I can’t make up a story like that. I may lack drama but it is anecdotal. We enjoyed it. Hope you do also.
More to come.