File:Giovanni e Paolo 1 (69674069).jpg

This is Giovanni e Paolo, a piazza off the calle where our apartment was. It was a typical piazza except that at one end of it stood the Hospidale, whose grand facade gave it the impression of being a church, as did the main foyer. Beyond that, however, were all the trappings of your typical hospital laid out like some sort of byzantine maze. When I broke my ankle (on a bridge in this piazza) I first went back to the apartment, thinking it was a mere sprain. Later that night, when I realized it might be broken, I went by ambulanza to the ospedale. Quite an experience.

Very late that night Sandy and I got tired of waiting for the ambulanza to take me and my now immobilzed leg home again and attempted to simply walk (or in my case hobble) out of the hospital. It turned out the main entrance was locked and every "USITA" (exit) sign kept leading us deeper into a maze. Every time we thought we had found a way out, it turned out to be a walled-in garden. Finally, after about an hour and a half of wandering, we found a USITA sign next to a porter's office. He was. of course, asleep, but the USITA did at last let us out onto the sidewalk by this canal. We hobbled home and, thankfully, to bed.