O2K----is there a money change storefront or bank near the hotel? I have enough euros to start but, at rising exchange rate, will need more once I get there........
Can we pay the restaurant on Saturday night by credit card?

No hair conditioner???!!! What am I going to do?

There are change places all over Venice, including at the train station which is not very far from the Ai Mori. As far as I know, no bank in Italy is connected with the Bank of America network. However, maybe you will be lucky and find an Italian branch of Deutsche Bank or BNP.

Different restaurant for FT Meet!!
 

Great news!! Found restauarant which is 5 minute walk from hotel. We had dinner there last night and it was wonderful. Returned today with Marco Musco to discuss FT dinner on 11-20. Owner charging 35Euro PP for 5 course meal, and this will also include mineral water, Prosecco wine, coffee and dessert. He is giving us the restaurant for the entire evening. We will have the entire restaurant just for the FTrs. This is a phenomenal deal and I am certain that everyone will be very pleased (even Dov & Punki). The name of the restaurant is Osteria Bea Vita. I suggest that those FTrs not staying at AI Mori meet at Ai Mori at 7:30 in the bar and we can all walk over there together. Reservation is 8:00 PM, dress is quite casual. I feel very good about this place and the decision to cancel Vini da Gigio. If you recall, Vini da Gigio was charging 52Euros pp and did not include water, prosecco or coffee. IMHO, the food at Bea Vita is as good as Vino Da Gigio.

WOW!!!! You are the BEST, O2K.

Can we sprinkle seeds and water on your head and call you a "Chia"-ster?
You should be sprouting a green Afro by the time I leave Sunday am.... :D

A house that puts the Prosecco on the table is wonderful, completely endorsed by me and I am certain that it will also be enthusiastically endorsed by a person of my close acquaintance that managed to get herself mostly snookered on the stuff last night in NY. I'm sure that the food will be good, but to her, it really won't matter very much as long as the Prosecco is flowing.

On a more serious note, we are all indebted to o2k for the hard work on this affair, for I know that once you take on the responsibility of helping find the site for the Meet, you almost feel like you are doing the hosting and really don't relax until you you see that everything is going well. Thank you o2k.

o2k is a class act. ^

Any house that puts Prosecco on the table is liable to have dancing on the table before the night is over! Hunki and Punki , maybe?

In view of the excellent news from O2K vis-a-vis cancelling the creepy-crawly things from the sea restaurant, I decided to announce here the method of payment.

As noted by O2K, the price will be 35 Euro per person, but not everyone will pay that amount. Instead, it will be on a pro-rated basis.

To determine what your share will be, just add up the number of points you have and multiply Euro 35 by that amount. (Eg: If you have 90 points, you pay Euro 31.5 but if you have 200 points you pay Euro 70).

Each person starts with 100 points and then makes the following adjustments:

Being a member of TalkBoard: -25 points.

Being a Vietnam veteran: -15 points.

Being an Israeli Army veteran: -10 points.

Being a Delta Forum moderator: + 10 points.

Being a Community Buzz moderator: -5 points.

Being a Travel and Security moderator: + 20 points.

Living in Milano: -75 points.

Voting in a "Blue" state: +25 points.

Voting in a "Red" state: -25 points.

Being born in Brooklyn: -15 points.

Having moved to Marietta, GA: + 50 points.

Being old enough to remember when "I Love Lucy" was broadcast live: -25 points.

Not being that old but still being old enough to remember when "The A-Team" first aired: -10 points.

Not having been old enough to stay up to watch "Friends" in its initial season: + 50 points.

Having "Platbrown" in your user name: +25 points.

Having "gal" in your user name: -25 points.

Having "gal" in your user name and being drop dead gorgeous: -50 points.

Having "gal" in your user name, being drop dead gorgeous and disappearing with Dovster for an hour without the UIG finding out: -100 points.

Shamelessly promoting your hot sauce at the meet: +100 points.

Letting Dovster pay for your hamburger in Boca Raton: + 20 points.

Getting one of your Marcos to give us a great deal on a hotel: -50 points.

Even thinking about bringing us to a creepy crawly sea food restaurant: +5 points.

Having flown coach class to the meet on a paid ticket: + 25 points.

Having flown coach class to the meet on an award ticket: - 10 points.

Having flown Business class to the meet on an award ticket: - 50 points.

Having paid full Business class fare to get to the meet: + 100 points and two years required psychiatric treatment.

dedehans....PUHLEASSSSE!! I haven't yet had my first cup of coffee yet this morning....:eek:!!

Further Change Of Schedule:

Breakfast will now be at the quaint Ai Mori hotel known for it's ambience, charm and the fact that, surprisingly, breakfast is already included in the very reasonable room cost. :)


This certainly works for us....great find, O2K!!

This restaurant could the the greatest "find" I have ever found. We just returned from lunch to be sure that it was as good as we remembered last night. The food is so lovingly prepared. The Baccala was as better than we have tasted anywhere. My Gnocci was as good as that served at Fiaschetteria Toscana, Dr.O2k's mixed seafood platter made him one happy guy. This place is a treasure. As a bonus, they put a bottle of their best Grappa on the table, with their compliments (it was an Amarone). That sure was good. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have discovered this place. It looks like a hole in the wall from the outside. Inside, is very simple but quite warm. The entire family, including other friends and relatives will be cooking for us and serving us.

And my last question for o2k is whether the hotel has drycleaning service and whether there is a laundromat or service laundry nearby.

Laundry and dry cleaning all available thru hotel. Just a note on star ratings of hotels in VCE. This hotel would be a 5 star hotel if it had a restaurant. As it only offers a breakfast buffet, which is really good and no full service restaurant, it only qualifies for a 4* rating. IIRC the Monaco & Grand CAnal also is a 4 star hotel, I have stayed there and the service at AiMori is better and the rooms are prettier.

Best Wishes for a great time
 

I just wanted to add my wishes that you all have a great time. My buddy monitor had been poking me all summer about coming over for the meet. (I like to do things on the spur of the moment as well). I was actually working with US to get my wife and I seats on *A carriers to make the meet, as we had decided we were coming if I could have snagged a pair. I planned on surprising him and Franny. I truly wanted to meet several of you as I feel like I know you already. A couple of you I have met and I could do with out that again, but you were going to be there anyway. :p

In any case I've been grounded from flying until the second week in Dec, so we could not make the trip. I will be thinking of you and hoping all have a safe and fun time. I too would love to see some photo's of the trip. My guess is monitor will be smiling in all of them as well. I don't know what Franny does to make him smile all the time, but I hoping she will one day have the chance to share it with my wife. :D

Sorry you cannot join us, L4P. Glad to know that you are feeling well and recovering from your healthscare. In case you get the green light from your Doc, please note that, contrary to what Dov posted, reservations are not closed for the Meet. We can accommodate about 6 more, as we are chartering the restaurant and it holds about 40 persons.

What l4p did not tell you in his post above is that the problem that he encountered is something that we all need to look out for, the infamous DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) which is also known as the "traveler's stroke."
Thanks to the man above, it appears that Greg (l4p) will recover completely, but let us all make sure to get up and walk around a few times on our long flights this week, since something that we had only read about has now hit someone in our community.
It's really too bad that Greg needs to miss this meet, because I would certainly love to be at the table when longing4piedmont meets the Dovster. I could probably sell some tickets for that one to anybody who knows them both.