I am going to have to work my own schedule around the following:

1. I arrive mid-morning on the 18th (Thursday). I immediately go to the hotel and make certain that I have gotten the very best room of those set aside for our group. (Okay, O2K and Doc O2K will be there before me, so I will have to settle for the second best room).

2. I am not certain what time Monitor and Franny arrive, but Dorlee and Leonard will arrive at the hotel about 6 p.m. I think that the 7 of us will go to dinner somewhere and plan nasty tricks to play on Cholula. If I am going to go to the Casino, it will have to be either that night or the next.

3. Belle, MsEverywhere, KLC, and Dedehans arrive at the hotel around 10 a.m. on the 19th. I take them all for coffee/cake/Coke.

4. Cholula and Mrs.C arrive around 3 pm that same day. I immediately take Choula to a Grand Canal pub for some vino. On the way, I point out to Mrs. C where there are some very nice, expensive, shops. That night we have our initial drink meet in St. Marks. I get to show Mrs. C where there are shops even more expensive than those she saw in the afternoon.

5. On Saturday (the 20th), I will be free in the morning to give a walking tour (sorry, I still need those maps) but Bianca will show up in the afternoon and I don't know how much walking she will be able to do.

6. Saturday night, we have our big dinner.

7. Sunday and Monday morning I can not make any plans -- that will depend very much on Bianca who will not want to be stuck in the hotel but has more or less ODed on Venice.

8. Monday afternoon, I will return with Bianca to Milan.

9. Tueday, I will meet with the group in Verona for our tour of the city. I believe that Marco (hotel Marco, not water taxi Marco) will set the schedule for this.

I agree with you, Chlolula . Those who opt for the Saturday opera matinee will miss out on a Saturday walking tour, but I am sure there will be lots of time for that on the other days.

This is just going to be so great!!

T'ain't no reason that it gotta be one or the other.

The walking tour can be in the morning and, depending on what time the opera begins, we can pass by La Fenice and leave the opera buffs there or they can return later in the day.

Of course, by taking the walking tour on Saturday morning, I will be forced to miss Synagogue services -- but seeing as I have missed them every Saturday for the past 45 years, I guess one more won't hurt.

God, as he/she understands you, will surely pardon your absence in knowing that you must guide those less fortunate in Venetian Geography...As candidate for the FT Board I noted you said in your Platform/Motto section that you have "A more serious goal is to establish a forum for religious travelers. I, myself, am not particularly religious but I see a real need for this. It would not be for any one particular religion, but for any person, of any religion, who wants to get or share information in this area."
Well, Nearer to God, my dear..... ;)

As you may know, Hunki and I are old folks. Sad, but true.

We are under very strict Doctor's orders to work out everyday, which we do in our room, following a DVD we play on our laptop. We e-mailed Marco who assured us that we would get a room large enough for two olk folks to do aerobics, simultaneously. We don't care if it is the best room, but we really do need it to be big.

Of course, we could always work out in a bigger room of a fellow Flyer Talker, very early in the morning. :D :D

What time can we pop in Dovster?

Not too early. After all, on Sunday and Monday mornings you might disturb the UIG -- and on Saturday morning you wouldn't want to wake up Belle!

Dovster....you're certainly on a roll this week! Your
comments at Milepost 23 of the referenced thread still have me :D.
Rodney Dangerfield may have passed on but we all appreciate you filling in the void.

La Traviata: Bad News
 

I received the following e-mail from Marco Musco this morning:
Dear Vilma,

I apologize to inform you that there are no more tockets available for la Traviata. I tried so many times but no way.

I am sorry.

Please send my apoligize to all flyertalks I did my best.

Love

Marco

That is bad news. :(

I feel very bad for Monitor and the others who truly were looking forward to going but have the sneaking suspicion that Cholula is actually relieved!

Unfortunately, it is much too late in the year for the open-air opera in Verona but still not late enough for the season at La Scala, so I can't even suggest any substitutes.

I know that Marco really did try his best. Marco, as some may know, is from a fine Venetian family and he was born and raised in VCE. Thus, I am sure that he is connected to just about everyone. I have great faith in Marco. If he could not get the tickets, I doubt that anyone could have. Perhaps, the true opera-philes will be able to garner last-minute tix. I know that I am disappointed and, as well, I am sorry for Monitor and others..well, maybe not so sorry for Leonard or Cholula....Anyway, we can always find a performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. No matter when one goes to VCE, t here is always a performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons playing in a museum, church or square.

Well, if I bring my La Traviata DVD...
 

We could borrow Punki's DVD player and go watch it in Dovster's over-sized suite! Pyjamas party, anyone? :D

Indeed! As was discussed in some earlier posts on this very forum, for example:

Violins in Venice

^ String concerts at San Vidal

Actually, I doubt my room will be any bigger than anyone else's. We will all get large ones (at least by Venice standards, where hotel rooms tend to be the size of postal stamps).

What is important is the colors of the drapes and bedspreads.

Okay, I know that makes no sense to anyone reading it, so let me explain.

Just as we are travel freaks, concerned about which zone we are going to board with, or if there is 31 or 32 inches pitch between coach seats, the UIG is a color freak. She is especially big on Renaissance colors.

Last year, when I went to Venice to meet the O2Ks, the UIG stayed in Milan. When I told her about the furnishings in the room -- especially the colors -- she became desolate that she hadn't come with me.

If I don't get a room equally as well appointed this year, the UIG may well join all the other women at the Meet in rejecting my lewd advances. :( Even worse, she might well pull a Bobbitt on me, leaving me in the same condition as Cholula.

No sono felice
 

No tickets to La Fenice in advance is definitely bad news. However, I will be there a day before everybody else and will try to scrounge up some tickets.
If anybody else would like me to try to include them in the scrounge, please let me know exactly what your limit will be on price, and I will try my best to get some for you. Also let me know if a scattered single is OK for you. That is probably the best chance for this kind of thing.

O2K and DocO2k arrive on the 14th. Dorlee, Leonard, and I all arrive on the 18th, the same as you.

What is this "before everyone else" stuff? What do you think we are -- Italian chopped liver?