Day 1 – imob tessera

I had decided on Saturday that Sunday’s focus was going just to be getting what is called an imob. This is a smart card that you load with vaporetto rides. It was introduced , as far as I can gather, about 1 ½ years ago for Venetians and has, about 6 months ago, been changed to allow non Venetians access to it - at a price. It is quite cheap for Venetians, costs a bit more for residents of the Veneto and costs E40 for everyone else. It lasts 3 years. The thing is, without it, a vaporetto ride costs E6.50, occasionally E2.50, but with it, E1. 8 rides and I’m ahead. Another problem is that at most of the places where you can buy it, you apply and then you have to go back quite a few days later to collect it. I had read that at the Tronchetto office you can get it on the spot. Trouble is, Tronchetto is about as far away from where I am staying as is possible. I could always catch a vaporetto and pay but that was against the day’s rules.

The day started with a big ‘small pleasure’- I got my clean undies out of a drawer, not my backpack! Then when I set off along my street I saw the gentleman I had talked to the previous day. We chatted away – he has family in Melbourne who make gold jewelry. He kept telling me that Tronchetto was way too far to walk. He was 80 – I told him I was young! I stopped at the first transport office that I came to and asked if there were any places other than Tronchetto that I could get the imob on the spot. I was told the Piazzale Roma – a small fraction closer. I wandered on, had a cappuccino and croissant in a backstreet bar, talked to a spruiker for the gondoliers waiting to give tourists rides. He said the water level there was about 1 1/2m at the moment. At the height of the aqua alta it was 4m. I wandered on, took a few photos, looked in a few windows – saw a lovely jumper with a sale sign , but I’m afraid E500 is more than my budget. A few shops later I saw a lovely pair of shoes. They came in their individual little leather bag. I finally got to the transport office at the Piazzale Roma. It was a small office with 3 windows each apparently selling different sorts of passes. You pressed the relevant button in a machine (Medicare style) to get a number and then waited for your number to be called. There were about 20 people waiting, one irate gentleman pushed in and rapidly asked the lady behind one window something. Not if I don’t have to, I thought as I walked out. Where I had to go was off the edge of the map I was using ( good as it is, thank you Helen) and I saw an information office over the road. I went there and looked at the map on the desk and talked to the lady. She said that the machine for dispensing the imobs at the Tronchetto office had been broken and she did not know if it had been fixed. She was not sure that the office over the road issued them on the spot and I could not find that out without queuing. So, I set off for Tronchetto and began to realize why people do not walk to Tronchetto. I walked through a large building site, next to a large car park building and past some industrial looking places, but passed noone in about 2 kilometres. Not the most sensible thing to do. When I got there, it was a bright airy office with 2 attendants and noone else. The whole process took about 5 minutes. I had gone armed with a passport sized photo and was a fraction worried that they might query an Australian address and a British passport but they never asked to see any identification.

I stood there deciding what to do. I had been so focused on getting the silly little card that I hadnot thought past that. It crossed my mind to go back and tell the information lady that the Tronchetto office’s machine was now working, but only fleetingly. I caught the next ferry that came along and delighted in waving my card in front of the machine. I walked home another few kilometers . On the way I walked past a restaurant and tried to explain in Italian to the spruiker who spoke some English that I did not want to go to a restaurant that had a menu written in English or someone out the front trying to get customers. Neither my Italian nor his English were up to the challenge. I did find a place that satisfied my criteria and had a nice lunch.

I have tried to work out how far I walked, but the same map seems to have 2 different scales. More thought required.

I have just been out – it is evening and raining – in most of my clothes and that wasn’t enough.

I am sure I will get tired of writing of such inane details.