When I booked this beautiful Italian hotel just outside Venice, I wasn’t aware that in addition to free wifi, breakfast and parking it would also include an emergency hotel evacuation at midnight. When you are woken out of a dead sleep to an overhead announcement on 4 different languages to leave at once you put on your jeans, grab your purse and of course iPhone, while leaving things like passports. Having to pee is another great concern, up there with having to go badly while at the border with no change. The pale skinned older guests linger at the entrance, brown people on the 2nd floor decide what to bring and never fully exit the premises, while we sit in the car. The Asian tour group we have not seen yet at all as I didn’t hear their language on the tape. Hmm. Yawn. No fire trucks, no cops, and no sleep.
And, then 4 hours later we woke to the 5.9 earthquake 130km away. And thanks to my hotel choice, we are fine! Almost evacuated, but then the shaking stopped. Had passports this time. Tell you more later.