Travel | Venice, Italy: Why We Returned 25 Years Later

We didn't return to Venice because we'd run out of places to visit. We came back because 25 years ago, this city quietly became part of our story. 

Come wander Venice with us as we revisit old memories, discover a few new favorites, and share the moments that reminded me it's the people around the table—not the way it's set—that make a life full.

References:

• Hotel: Sina Centurion Palace 
• The Pork Chop Restaurant: Trattoria Vini Da Arturo
• "Somebody Feed Phil": Venice Episode

Hosts:  Amy Kathleen Smith | Insta @astoriedtable | www.astoriedtable.com 

Edited by:  Ben Hill* | http://benhillsound.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/benhillsound/

*starting with episode 60

Transcript

Setting The Table For Stories

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Life happens at the table, like in those rare family dinners when everyone's actually home, or when you finally get to go and catch up with your friends. We don't get enough of those. Those moments that we all wish would happen more often. But that's the feel that I want here. That place where you get to finally shift out of survival mode. Welcome to a story table. I'm Amy Kathleen, and I'm so glad you're here.

The Movie Like Ride Into Venice

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Hey, welcome back. I'm so glad that you're here. And if this is your first time, uh, we're in the middle of a recap of a trip that we took to Italy last year. It's taken me a year to get there to finally do the podcast and uh recap everything. But in this episode, we're talking about our trip to Venice, and I'm really excited to fill you in on all the things. The first thing I have to tell you is that one of my favorite things about Venice is getting there. So I love Google Maps. Like I have this love for Google Maps. Anytime the kids or Michael or I, like anytime we're talking about somewhere in the world, doesn't matter if it's in our state or in another country or another continent. I love to pull up Google Maps and I love to see where it is and zoom in, what's around it, and zoom back out. I kind of just geek out over maps. I was doing this whenever I was preparing for Venice and it kind of reminded me of something. And a lot of people, when you think about Venice, you know that it's an island off of Italy. But it's actually a chain of islands. Like there's a whole little chain of them that goes on around. And it was really kind of fun to zoom in there. So, you know, if you're looking for something to do in your lunch break, there you go. Like I said though, the coolest part about Venice to me is the getting there. It's the train ride because you're going from the mainland part of Italy, and then you just start going across water. And, you know, there's just a train gliding over water, and there was just something that reminded me of like a movie, you know, something you would see maybe even like an Avengers movie or something, where it's just this fast train shooting across water, and it's just the coolest experience. It's a little bit surreal. And there was something about having that part of the train ride back across the water that just took me back. Back to when we were in college and we were taking the same train ride across the water over into

Returning To A Pivotal Place

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Venice. So it kind of brings up a great question of, you know, why did we go back? If we'd already been there, you know, why go back to a place you've already been? Well, I mean, we all go back to places we've been before. But when you had the opportunity to explore so many other parts of a country or um just Europe in general that you um haven't been able to see before, why do we take the time to go back to a city? And really, I thought a lot about this and I wanted to figure out how to put it in words. And really and truly, I think about like the life that we built, you know, this home that we have, the friends that we invite in and we share it with, and our boys and all their friends, and just how we've built this life here in our little corner of Louisiana. And honestly, when I think back to it, it all started there. Like Venice was our pivotal point that kind of put us on the trajectory of where we are today and and the life that we've built. So that's why. That's why we went back. So I'm gonna give you a little bit of the backstories of way back when and um and then kind of catch up on like what all we did this time around.

Backpacking Venice And Meeting Nona

SPEAKER_00 3:21

So in our 20s, how do we end up in Venice, Italy? Uh seems kind of crazy, but actually, the the story actually starts with me going and being a part of the LSU Abroad program. Um, I'm not sure if I've mentioned that before or not on this podcast. But anyway, so I went over and studied in Spain for part of the summer. And then once it was over, Smith came over and he met me in Madrid. And then we went on a little backpack excursion um for two weeks. And it's funny thinking back to it because I don't know that either of our parents, like sets of parents, said this out loud or not. Um, but I think we were all on the same page of this is either gonna be a make it or break it kind of trip. And you know, when you're like what, 22 years old, um, broke, pinching every dollar, penny, or I guess euro that you have to try to go backpack across Europe, um, you get to know each other pretty well. And we had dated for, I guess, about a year or so at this point. But um, again, this is gonna be like a this is gonna be a test. And uh, and apparently it looks like we passed it, so that's good. But we were coming from Switzerland and we were coming from Interlock in Switzerland, which is the coolest place in case you haven't been there. Um, that's another podcast for another time. But um, we went from Switzerland down to Venice, and we had the coolest experience on the train ride down because we shared a train cabin with um a little Italian grandmother. She was the cutest thing. But here was the problem. So, of course, we were American, so we could speak English, I could speak a little bit of rough Spanish. Um, she could speak Italian and French. And so the communication barrier there was real. But um, you know, through gestures and just trying to piece things together, you know, we we were able to have minimal conversation, but she was still very, very sweet. But the cool thing that happened was um there was a knock on our door, they open up, and one of the people um on the train came to serve us little glasses of bubbly. Okay, so we all take one and we're excited because we're like, oh, champagne. And the grandmother, I'm gonna call her Nona because I think that's what Italian grandmothers are called. Um, at least that's what Netflix told me on a movie that's on there. If you haven't seen it, it's really cute. Um, but so we'll call her Nona. She looks at us and just shakes her head and she's like, no champagne. I was like, oh, champagne's universal, you know, doesn't matter what language you speak. We all know champagne. But champagne also only comes from that particular region of France. And she corrected us and she said prosecco. And so it was our first taste of prosecco, and it was such a cool experience. And just so you know, Smith does not like bubbly like champagne drinks, but dude love some prosecco. I think we might have mentioned that last episode. But anyway, so that was our first experience with that. That was really fun. And so we had a little cheers moment with her, and it was really cool. So back then we get to Venice and it's quite the adventure. I can't tell you how many times we got lost because you know, back then there we didn't have cell phones. So we sure as heck didn't have, you know, Google Maps. And uh, we're going by paper maps, and they were all wrong. It seemed like us and any of the other Americans that we ran into, or even sometimes some of the kids that we were kind of traveling along with, we would look at each other and we're like, the maps don't work here. Like, what's wrong with Venice maps? Because like they're totally wrong. It was really kind of funny. So I was really happy to have Google Maps this time around because that did work pretty

Gondola Ride With Prosecco

SPEAKER_00 6:47

well. While we were there, we did all the touristy things that you would think of. And one of them that we did decide to splurge on because they're expensive, by the way, is the gondola rides. You know, the famous gondolians is what we called the guys. Um, I know that's not what they're called, but um, we played around with um a gondolese language while we were there. It's kind of silly and dumb, but we had fun. So um we decided one night, I think it was the last night that we were there, that we were gonna pull our money and we found a guy who would give us a deal. And uh, and so we decided we're gonna we're gonna go for it. But right before we got on, we decided, like, hey, let's uh let's go see if we can find a bottle of prosecco. Well, apparently it was later in the night than I guess we thought, but most all the shops were closed. But we did find a restaurant that was open that very graciously did sell us a bottle of prosecco and uh and a couple of little plastic glasses, and uh, and we took that on the little gondola ride with us. We hop in the boat, and you know, these just like the streets there, the canals, there are some that are larger and there are some that are quite small. And so watching this guy navigate these canals um in the dark. And these boats, y'all, there's a whole like heritage thing behind them with families where they're passed down and they are taking, they take extremely good care of them. It's a it's a big, big deal over there. And then you watch how many near misses there are, and it's it actually it gets kind of interesting. But so you have like your your certain level of like one of the most cheesy kind of touristy things that you can do, but also like there's an entertainment value there as well. So one of the things that Smith and I used to do when we were um dating early on in the early years, we would just ask each other questions back and forth. And so we started doing this on the ride, and um, and then he surprised me. He was quiet for a minute, and then he asked, um, so are you are you planning on d dating anyone else? Like ever? And at that point, the old me, you know, uh, the one prior to Smith would have probably tried to like turn and run, except I'd have been locked in a boat and that probably wouldn't have worked very well. But luckily, um, I paused for a second, not too long, and I just said, No, you're kind of stuck with me now. And, you know, as seemingly uneventful as that little question and answer session was, that was kind of a big deal for us because that kind of set it in stone that, like, you know, you realize like, all right, you're my person, and now we're together. And um, and that was it. That was like our big moment. So nostalgia. I guess that's what we can say is the reason, you know, why we went back, you know, to go back and and celebrate the place that like that kind of pivotal shift happened for us and uh that we did in fact make it, and that, you know, these 25 years later, you know, we're still each other's person, and that's kind of cool. And because of a sweet Nona on the train telling us what we were actually drinking, Prisecco was the bubbly beverage that we served at our wedding. Thanks, Nona.

A Canal Side Hotel And Slowdown

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Now, another great upgrade to this trip to Venice is the fact that we did not stay in a youth hostel. We did not have to share a room with anyone else. The things that you do in college when you're broke is all get out. It's kind of funny uh to think back on. But the place that we stayed was called the Siena Centuron Palace. I love that like everywhere in Italy is a palace. It's just a hotel, but they call them palaces. So it makes you feel a little bit more bougie, I guess. But this one was right across from the Gritty Palace. Now, if the gritty sounds familiar, it's not because of that, like I guess a little funky dance the kids do, but um, the gritty palace is actually known to be one of the fanciest places that you can stay in um in Venice there. And it's at the very end of the Grand Canal, which is like the main canal that goes straight through Venice. And um, and so we were just across the canal from it. I did look at staying there. Yeah, it's pricey. I did actually want to go over to their little terrace and um and have like a cocktail one day, but we just that kind of fell off our radar while we were there because we did a big slowdown. I'll tell you more about that here in a minute. But um, so yeah, this hotel that we stayed at, the Siena Centuron Palace, um, was across from Gritty, but then right next door to the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute. Um, it's also called uh the Salute. Now, I'm bringing this up because it was kind of neat that like after the fact, whenever we've watched any kind of travel show that uh where the show visits Venice, you always see the the salute, like this huge basilica at the end of the Grand Canal. It has one of those big dome tops, which are pretty common in Italy. But this one is kind of the only one that sits right there. So it's neat because when we get to see it and we identify it, then we can look right next door, like literally next door, and we see the our hotel and we see the little like patio that sat right on the Grand Canal where we would just sit and watch all the boats go by. And the few times where we've seen it come up on TV, like we'll pause it and call the boys in there. We're like, look, that's where we stayed. That's where we stayed. And I think it's happened a couple of times now that it's kind of lost its luster, and I don't even think they come running anymore. I felt like just getting into Venice is when everything really kind of started slowing down for us, which we needed, you know, we had uh fit in so much so quickly in Rome. And then of course we had like the weather situation in Florence and trying to fit in this Ferrari drive. And but Venice is where, you know, the rain was still there, but it was finally kind of dying down a little bit, and and we just got to slow down. So we we get there on the train and we take the basically kind of like the city bus version of a boat to uh our hotel. And it was just easy, and it's like it takes a while, um, especially because we were on the far end of the the Grand Canal there, just being able to like take in being on the water and looking at all the beautiful buildings. I mean, the colors, it's just it's so picture picturesque. And all the pictures that you'll see um do it justice, but being there is just different and it's um it's breathtaking, it really is. So we got there to our hotel, got checked in and settled into our room, and then we just decided to go like lounge in the lounge. And uh it's great because you know, whenever they take your order, they bring little snacks out, and that was kind of perfect. But um, we just decided to sit for a minute and we didn't have anything planned, which was great. Um, we didn't even know where we would end up for dinner that night, like no reservations, no nothing, just totally rolling with it. Um, but what was kind of fun though is I was sitting there trying to figure out like what kind of cocktail am I gonna have here? And y'all, I went totally old school. Um, if you were in college, like in kind of like that early 2000s, um, you probably watched a lot of Carrie Bradshaw and you probably hopped on the Cosmo bandwagon like my friends and I did. We had really gotten the recipe down pat. And um, I had this thing that sometimes you would go somewhere and you would order one and it would come out like hot pink, and it just didn't taste good. It was just it just wasn't done well. And so it became a thing that whenever I had a really, really good one, my friends knew I loved it because it was, I called it a ballerina pink. So whenever we ordered our uh cocktail and I went old school and I got my Cosmo. Y'all, when they set it in front of me and it was the loveliest shade of ballerina pink, I don't think I could have been more happy in that moment because that was the exact start to the slowdown that I wanted. Okay, I really didn't plan it this way, but it's kind of funny that the next thing I wanted to talk to you about is how my like best friend Kim, who, you know, we became friends in college, um, she's my travel agent and she was really helping me put a lot of this trip together. And so I just think it's really funny that she just happened to be the roommate at the time who helped me perfect this cosmetic recipe. So, you know, she has some stake in that as well. But anyway, I wanted to fill y'all in on some things that we were looking at because um she does such a great job in helping people figure out like what they this is an advertisement, by the way. I'm just I love my friend and I'm gonna speak highly ever. So, but she's great because like she works within like budget and parameters. And I'm not necessarily the easiest client sometimes because like I want all the things, but I don't want to pay for all the things. Um, but I want the best I can get for my dollar. So, what was really neat about kind of looking in Venice and trying to figure out where we're gonna stay is that I wanted one of those rooms that when you woke up in the morning and you opened up your double windows, like French door windows, whatever you call those, where the windows just open up from the middle. I wanted to see water and I wanted to see boats and I just wanted all the lovely things. Well, those rooms come with a hefty price bump. Okay, you can be on the Grand Canal or any other canal, and you can find really great rooms and really great prices. Um, but if you want one that like opens up to, then it's like boom, you're gonna pay a lot more. So I found a happy medium. I was like, well, you know, we're really not gonna be in our room all that much. So that's how we found like the hotel that we were in, and the fact that it had kind of like that downstairs cool hangout area and the and the patio um that opened up to the Grand Canal that kind of made it worth it. So anyway, just food for thought that whenever you're planning um a trip in Venice or most places really, like if your windows open up to the water, you're gonna pay a little bit more. In this area that we were staying in, it wasn't like a bustling, busy area, which I kind of liked. It was um a lot more like um art shops and where you got to see kind of artisans working through windows, and um, it was just a little bit more laid back, which it was that was really nice too.

Wandering To Dinner And Table Energy

SPEAKER_00 16:36

And that night we we really, like I said, we didn't have any reservations, so we just went by suggestions or kind of basically the the direction that uh the concierge had pointed us in. And and so we just kind of meander through all the little alleyways and everything, um, which is really cool because whenever you're not along a body of water, like one of those canals, the streets aren't really streets, they're like tiny little alleyways that connect. It's like a little um, I don't know, like a little maze. And uh nothing's straight, like everything, like you walk for a little bit and you turn, you go again, and then eventually you're at water again, and then you go over the bridge, and then you're down all these other little alleyways again. So it's a really cool place to just honestly like wander and get lost and get found again. It's just kind of neat to see where you end up sometimes. But um, the first little dinner that we had there was just honestly, it was like picturesque. You know, we walked in and everything over there, you know, in Europe is just smaller. It's not like our big restaurants that you walk into here. And this one we had a little table in a corner, and on the ceiling, there was this hand painted, hand-painted fresco on the um all over it. I mean, every inch of it. And I took several pictures and they just, you know, I tried to, I tried to be artistic. It didn't really work. But um it was such a cool place. And one of the things that I loved most is because it was really just us, and I think maybe one or two other small tables, but then there was this uh a table of like a big family, and it was right in the middle of the restaurant, and I guess they were celebrating a birthday or something, but it was just so funny because they were this um, you know, they were loud, not like obnoxious loud, but just loud and laughing and just kind of getting animated. And it just kind of made you feel like you were kind of a part of a like an Italian family there and and just the energy they were putting off because truly, like they're the ones that just kind of created this vibe in the restaurant. Like, yes, it was beautiful, the food was amazing, the wine was great, like everything, but just the life that that family brought into the restaurant, it just made me probably more excited about the moment of being there at the same time as them, uh, even more than like the actual restaurant itself. So I don't know if you've ever had an experience like that. I don't, I don't know that I have. Um, but what it got me thinking about was like whenever you have a big table of family or friends and and just the liveliness that comes from it, you know, when you have moments like that, it really doesn't matter where you're at, you know, how fancy the the decor around the house is or how, you know, perfectly set the table is, because it's more about the life around the table than the actual like space that you're in. I don't know. I don't know if you agree with that or not, but I just think that's a cool way of looking at um just hospitality and bringing people together and where it's more about the moments than the actual place. After dinner, we took our unfinished bottle of wine and we started heading back to the hotel. And it was just fun to kind of like stroll on the way back, and we we did stop in the window of one of those artisans. Um, he was a glassmaker, and you know, a lot of times when you think about Venetian glass, you think about like bigger items like a vase or something, but he was doing like tiny little bitty pieces, and I don't know if they were going to be part of something else, or um, I know he had some jewelry hanging up in the window, and so I'm sure some of it was jewelry, but it was like all this little fine, detailed work, and it was just so fun to sit there and watch him because you know, whether he's just used to people always watching or he's just so zoned into it, I don't know which, but um, you knew that you weren't bugging him when you were standing there, and it was just kind of a neat time to watch him. And then um, as we got closer back to our hotel, right before you walked into the courtyard, there was a guy who had um a really cool, funky kind of old guitar, and it probably wasn't a guitar, but it was had strings and it was some kind of stringed instrument. But he's just sitting out there like on a box or something and just playing, and the music's just kind of echoing from like all the the stone walls all the way around, and it's just the acoustics were so cool, and like everything's just kind of wet from the way rain. And then we walk through into this courtyard on the back side of our hotel, and it's just like, are we really here? Like, are we we're we're here, like we're doing this right now, and like we're in Venice, and it was just like a cool pinch me moment, and um, I just had to like soak it in for a minute.

Patio Night And A Rat Reality Check

SPEAKER_00 20:59

But we walk back into the hotel, and of course, everyone's just so wonderful, and they're like, Oh, hi, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, you're back, you know. Uh, would you like to have a seat on the patio, like on the Green Canal side? And we're like, you know what, yeah, we'll do that. And they're like, We'll get you some glasses. Well, great. So we just we wandered out there and found a spot to sit and um and just drink a little bit more wine, and we're just sitting there watching the boats. And it was really neat because like on that side of the canal of the hotel, that's where they had a little um like a dock. Um, on the far end of the little patio, you had these stairs that went up, and then you had a dock where all the um like the private water taxis, like the I think they're called veparettos. Veparetto? I don't know if I have that right or not. But anyway, it's a private water taxiing. So they could pull you up to the hotel right there and drop you right off. And of course the the gondolas and everything did that too. And so we're just sitting out there and we are just soaking it in. I think at this point we we start talking about it. I mean, just 24 years later, and how much life has Has happened in that time. You know, you've got you know three boys plus like all their friends, and building, you know, a family business and countless other endeavors and just life, you know, all the ups and downs and everywhere. And here we are, back where it kind of felt like it really started. And that, I don't know, like as I'm sitting here thinking about it all over again, it just pulls it all up again. It's like, wow. Yeah. So it was pretty damn near perfect there. But then the next moment happened. And this one is one for the books. Um, I'm sitting there at the table, and like I told you earlier, there is this um the dock, like right there to the right of us. So there's some steps that go up to this dock. That's where the private water taxis and gondolas and everything come in and let people on and off. And uh, it's sitting right there because again, everything's tiny. So even this little terrace, this covered terrace we're sitting on, um, it's pretty close quarters. And I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. And I looked and I was like, No. And so I just sat there again, just kind of enjoying the view. And something caught my eye again. And I looked again, I was like, oh my gosh. And Michael's like, what? And I was like, it's a rat. Like, not a mouse, a rat, not a little one, a big one. And he looked at me, he's like, No, because at that point, like this little hole at the far end of this bottom step, he just stuck his head out and he went back in. And then he stuck his head out again, and I was like, That's it, that's it. Then the thing jumps out and starts running straight down the step toward our table that is right at the other end of that step. And oh my gosh, y'all, I had a full-on jump in my chair moment, and then it just disappeared, uh, like slipped underneath the other side of that step, and it kind of looked like it had to like went swimming, like because it's just like the water is coming up right there at the top of the steps near where we're sitting at our table and this dock. Anyway, it's it was the craziest thing. So I'm like, okay, it either dove into the water or there's another little spot down there, but oh my gosh, I could not believe it. So that moment went down, like as our I've called it our rat tattoo-y moment because I can't believe um, and this perfect of all perfect moments, if that's a thing. And then uh we had our visitor. So not so dreamy, but it was real. It really happened. So it was neat. Like Venice was like, yep, we got them too. You know, we we might look as picturesque as humanly possible, but yeah, we got the rats too. So, you know, how perfect is perfect, I guess.

Piazza San Marco And The Best View

SPEAKER_00 24:49

But the next day it was um an open day, and we did decide to go to um St. Mark's Square. No, the Piazza San Marco, which maybe some people call St. Mark's Square. I don't know. It's St. Mark's Basilica that's in that square. So if you ever see those pictures or videos of Venice where um it's a big open plaza and um there's pigeons everywhere, this is that place. And um, we finally made our way over there. And Smith was like, Where's all the pigeons? You know, they were not there. And maybe they were tired of the rain too. It was still a little bit drizzly, but starting to dry up. And um, he remembered these pictures that he had taken of me um in that same square. And and I I mean, I can picture the picture in my head. Um, but it's I've got pigeons all over me. And it was freaky, weird, and kind of cool at the same time. Would I do it again in my 40s? No. Did I do it in my 20s? Oh heck yeah. So um he remembered those pictures and he was really sweet about them. And that was kind of cool because he doesn't always bring up stuff like that. But he was like, oh, I don't know if he was trying to recreate the picture or something. I I don't know if I'd been down for that, but um, but anyway, they were missing. And but we're in there, and you have St. Mark's uh Basilica, and there's also this big tower, and I can't remember the name of the tower, but um, these are the kind of places, especially the basilica, because it's beautiful. You should see how ornate and beautiful it is. Um, so much gold everywhere. And um you really need a tour set up if you want to go there. Like it's not something you want to walk up to and try to get a ticket for. A lot of people do that, and that's why the lines are like forever long. It's like when people want to go to Vatican City and they're just waiting in these forever long lines. It's like you really need to have those kind of tours set up beforehand. But again, we just didn't want to be locked into a schedule for anything. And um, and that wasn't really on our priority list anyway. But he looked into it and that tower, it really didn't have much of a long wait at all. And so we actually jumped in line for that. And at first I was like, eh, I didn't really care about it. But once we got up there, y'all, I'm so glad that we did because like Venice is basically beautiful on every level. But being able to go up to the top and see that full 360-degree view of Venice, it was it was just different from up there, you know. And it's um, you know, as you're walking through the streets and you're seeing all that beauty, uh, it's great. But like, you know, getting lifted up and just seeing that like bird's eye perspective, it was just really neat seeing how all the um the canals intersect and just I mean, even the tops of the buildings are beautiful there. It's just something. It is truly something.

Chasing A TV Tip For Lunch

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Have you ever watched the TV show? It's called Um Somebody Feed Phil. I can't remember who Phil is. He's some Jewish guy from New York, I think, but he's pretty funny. He's kind of quirky. Um, the show's on Netflix, I believe, but someone suggested, I don't remember who suggested it, but someone suggested that I watched the uh episode where he went to Venice. I was like, sure. So I checked it out and I decided, like, as soon as I saw where he featured this restaurant, and it was called uh Trattoria de Arturo. It's basically Arturo's restaurant. Um, I had to go there. And here's why. So they're known, all right. In Venice, you're typically what you're gonna get there, your cuisine is your Venetian cuisine, and it's all fish and seafood, and uh, and it's great. And so when I mentioned this place to our hotel, they kind of looked at me and like tilted their head and like, what are you talking about? Like, no one serves pork chops here. Well, that's what this somebody feed Phil. Phil went to this place that's supposed to be famous in Venice and had a pork shop. And he was like, No, no one, no one eats pork chops here. So anyway, we did find it. And um, and we went in and it was again another little tiny restaurant. I mean, it's tables as soon as you walk in the door. Well, actually, when you first walked in, there was this um piece of furniture, it's kind of like a buffet, but then it had some like little shelves um right there against the wall. And it held these, what I later realized, they called them salads, but it's like um a vegetable antipasta. So it's kind of like an appetizer, I guess. And they looked delicious. And so what I learned is that uh they're made in this, it's sour style. It's I'm probably destroying this, but it's S-A-O-R. And basically it's just like a um a preservation method. I mean, like I looked, I mean, I did, I geeked out on it. And back in the day, like thousands, hundreds, not thousands, but hundreds of years ago, um, like people who traveled long distances would preserve their um their food uh using this method. So S-A-O-R. I don't know. Anyway, so these vegetables, they're like a marinated vegetable salad. So not leafy greens like we think of here, but just all kinds of different salads. And I was like, I had my eye on that. Added so much good food, but honestly, y'all, I really hadn't had a lot of just vegetables. And so that looked delicious to me. So, anyway, back to this pork shop. This was um a huge pork chop that they basically flatten and then they bread it. And then once it's finished like frying, then they uh do like this not you not that you fry something in vinegar, but they use like a uh a wine vinegar and they just like douse it in that and cook it a little bit more. It's it's uh I don't I don't know. That's just what they do. This thing is just about bigger than the plate that it's on. And I looked at Smith. I was like, I'm glad I got a salad. I don't know how you're gonna eat this thing. And so um, he actually did share. So that's that's a good thing. Joey learned how to share. And it was delicious. And it was um, it was one of those things that, like, okay, was it as great as this show portrayed it to be? I mean, it was good. It was, it was good. Um, would I write home to mom about it? I don't know. I mean, the experience, yeah. The food, I don't know, it was good, it was fine. Um, I think Michael thought the same thing, but golly, it was so much food. It was huge. But this salad, y'all, that was the beautiful thing. And I did take a picture of it because I even may have taken a video of it because I wanted to like dissect it and figure out how to make it at home. I remember talking to the guy. I was like, wait, is that grapefruit? Is that like, and he's like, Yes. And I was like, Oh, is this that's pomegranate? Yes. And so it was neat because it was these vegetables, but it had even avocado. And I wouldn't think to get avocado in Venice, but we did. It was a neat take on it. And so that that sour style that I was talking about, it's just it's very sweet and tangy, you know. You have kind of those mixtures whenever you're eating it. So it's really, it's really complex. So that was a lot of fun. So we went for the pork shop and I left wanting more of the salad. Big surprise. After our lunch with Arturo, who we did meet by the way, super nice guy. Um, we really just walked and wandered the rest of the day. And mainly we were just walking to walk off lunch because good night, it was so much fun. But it was uh it was great. And we just we wandered and we looked at everything and just soaked in all that is the beauty of Venice. I mean, you could just walk for days and not be bored because it's so much, it's like eye candy. That's what it is. It was so much

Aperitivo Fix With Cicchetti And Grappa

SPEAKER_00 31:55

fun. Later that night, we still weren't hungry, by the way, but we were thinking we wanted to go and just see if we could find a place that has um, you know, some good drinks and some chicketti. Okay, so I do actually need to make a correction from one of the last episodes. Okay, I thought aperativos were like those little appetizer bites of foods. It's not. That's actually the time frame, not the food. So the um the time frame's like kind of like happy hour. It's like six to eight, um, from what I've you know could tell. And the small plates are actually called Chicetti, and that's everywhere in Italy, not just Venice. And so we found this place. It was really packed in tight, but um, as soon as we walked in, there was a couple that was getting up from a small table, a little two-top table. We started our way in there and we sat down. Now you can barely even squeeze in between your table and the person next to you. So you're pretty, pretty close quarters there. We ended up, of course, talking to this couple that was sitting next to us. And it was really neat because so he was a former rugby player and I think he was a coach or something. He worked with kids, I guess. So, and then she was a radio DJ um from Milan. And I ended up like we connected and followed each other on Instagram and everything. So she's kind of a big deal. Like, she's actually one of their like national radio personalities. It was a lot of fun because she had the best time practicing her English, because she doesn't always get to do that. She did great, by the way. And uh, and then her boyfriend, he um he just did his best to kind of follow whatever Michael was trying to talk to him about. He nodded and smiled a lot. But um, but it's still, it was, it was really fun to kind of sit there and visit with them. And they got to watch me try Grappa for the first time. Um, I immediately regretted it. So pretty much everyone got a good laugh, including the waiter, because everyone was just kind of waiting to see the reaction on my face. But, you know, you hear about grappa and I'm thinking, well, it's surely it's it's good. It's not, it's not good at all. But I did try it. It's proud of myself. But um I'm pretty open to most things. But that, yep, don't plan on trying that again.

Heading To Tuscany And Staying Connected

SPEAKER_00 34:02

Okay, so this is pretty much the end of the Venice trip. You know, we um made our way back to the hotel and um uh packed up the next morning. And then this is where we finished kind of our uh last leg of the trip. Um, we got up the next day and uh and rode the you know public water bus back to the train station and we went back to Florence because in Florence is where we picked up a car that we rented and then drove down to Tuscany. And um, you know, they say save the best for last. And I strategically planned it this way. Like I wanted to finish this trip in Tuscany. And there's a big reason because you know, the end of this trip is where it's actually like my birthday and our anniversary, and I had this amazing, amazing place that uh my Instagram stumbled upon. It was not me, it was a you know, Instagram knows apparently what you want to see because they feed it to you all the time. But this time they got it right, it was right on the mark, and it was amazing, and I cannot wait to tell y'all about it. Until then, y'all take care. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for being here today. I cannot wait to hear back from you. For you to just come tell me something good. I have no doubt that you have so much good stuff to fill me in on. And this season we have a new feature to help you do that. You can now text me by clicking the Tell Me Something Good button that's at the top of our show notes. Or if you're old school, that's totally fine. You can always DM me on Instagram at a story table. Either way, I'm excited to hear from you. But until then, have a great week and y'all take care.