trip day 15

 Trip Day 15:  headed home

For my last run in Venice, I decided to try to find a landmark visible from the water.  The "Building Bridges" or "giant hands" sculpture is visible from the Arsenale location and also from vaporetto rides around that side of the island.  I've seen the sculptures from a distance, but never close up.  Since I didn't do any research, I just assumed I could get close on foot.  I found a close location noted on the phone map and set off in that general direction.  Going on foot in an underwater city is not as easy as finding your way on a quad in Santorini.  The map didn't seem to understand locked gates and private property.  I did get to run a long distance on this crazy metal walkway over the water, but I did not get close to the sculpture.  In fact, I couldn't even see it.  My phone also paused my run so my distance was messed up.  After 45 minutes of running, I knew I was well over my 3.1 miles and I gave up and ran back towards known territory.

One of the cool things about the Biennale is how there are pavilions and exhibits all over the city.  This one was right under our noses outside our coffee shop and I didn't see it until the last day.

It's also interesting how you find familiar things all over the world.  I don't know if Shepard Fairey stuck this one personally or if a disciple did but it was cool to see Andre the Giant's face outside our apartment.

We got our last good coffee in Italy and sat on our suitcases to get them to zip.  Then we got on our last vaporetto ride to the bus station.

We said goodbye to the beautiful landscape.

And soon we were boarding a big tube with jet engines that would fly us over the Atlantic Ocean.  The less you actually think about that, the better.

We were stuck in the middle rows again for the long flight.  We were more exhausted this time and we both caught a few naps along the way.  I woke up once and noticed we were flying over Beth's house.  I waved.  

Then we were somehow more exhausted when we landed in Chicago.  I was disappointed that O'Hare didn't have any Cubs merch available where we were.  Blue wanted something from Chicago and I've been a Cubs fan since I was a kid.  The only merch I found was a feminine sweatshirt and a mug with the skyline on it.  Boo.

I loved my trip and wasn't thrilled about not being in Europe any longer.  I was even less thrilled that the closest thing we could get in the airport for dinner was freakin' McDonald's.  I will admit that the bacon quarterpounder was pretty good, but I was still bitter.  This was a far cry from tiramisu, cannoli, pasta and souvlaki.

I knew we were at the correct gate for Charlotte when I saw a guy with a Lynyrd Skynyrd tshirt.  There was also a dude with an American flag tshirt.  The sky was pretty, though.

Now it was time to be home.  Violet was looking forward to seeing the dogs and sleeping in her bed.  I was too, but I was sad to be leaving the land of limoncello and gelato.  We were a mere 1.5 hours away from Charlotted and then another 1.5 hours away from the dogs.  

I figured we were flying over my running friend Holly's house or at least her running route.  I waved just in case she was out.  This was the last thing I remember seeing out the window before I fell asleep.  

When we started this epic trip, I had no idea how Violet would respond to it.  She had never flown or been out of the country.  I figured it would be fine but I did worry that she would hate doing all the art things and being around all the people.  Turns out, she loved it all.  Our trip-mates did a great job of making her feel welcome and part of the family.  They helped to make her birthday very special.  

She communicates her impatience to me normally by saying, "I'm bored".  I give some sort of dad response about being creative, but it's really just a way of letting me know she's over whatever it is we're doing (or not doing).  During the 15 days we were traveling, she only uttered those words to me 4 times and 3 of the times, I was also very bored.  She travels as well as I do, so I have no complaints.  I very much enjoyed the trip and I enjoyed it even more because I got to share it with her.  The next Biennale is in 2026 and that gives us 1.5 years to talk Blue into going with us and raising a bunch of money.