A few posts ago I wrote how Dan Ruiz and U2 could teach us a thing or two about rewards. Basically, I said that rewards come with a price. And usually that price is hard work and patience. 

 

My daughter Veronica read the post (she is one of my few readers) and said it wasn’t always true, sometimes you get lucky... and then she asked me if I remembered hearing “Sting sing”!

 

Let me explain what happened.

 

Our recent cruise ended up in Venice. We sailed into Venice early on a Thursday morning. It was truly one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. Veronica, Francine and I were alone on deck as we glided by Piazza San Marco.

 

Later that day we visited La Fenice, Venice’s beautiful Opera House that was destroyed by fire in the 90s. It was the subject of a great book by John Berendt called City of the Falling Angels. Afterwards, we visited the Penny Guggenheim Museum. The museum is situated right on the Grand Canal in her former home. She is buried in the garden along with all of her beloved dogs. Penny Guggenheim was a big patron of the arts and helped bring artists like Jackson Pollack to the attention of the world.

 

We had a great day and walked slowly back to our ship for our last night on board. Veronica stayed out till the early hours with all the new friends she made on the cruise while Francine and I had a quiet evening. The next day, we disembarked and took a water taxi back to Piazza San Marco because my wife, Francine (who should have been a travel agent) had arranged things so we had one more day and night in Venice. We spent the day exploring Venice. We walked walked and walked some more! We did the obligatory gondola ride and had lunch in a quiet piazza watching all the people go by. 

 

During the day, we noticed posters publicizing a concert that Sting was giving with La Fenice Symphony Orchestra that night in Piazza San Marco. The concierge at our hotel laughed when I asked if tickets were still available for the concert. Apparently, they had sold out within a few hours. He did suggest that we go to back to Piazza San Marco and see if we could make a dinner reservation at one of the restaurants as you would be able to hear the concert.

 

So around 5pm we did just that. We went to Piazza San Marco. The orchestra was on stage rehearsing for the evening’s show and we watched for a few minutes. Then Francine started making the rounds of the restaurants. Most were fully booked but one wasn’t and she started negotiating with the owner in Italian. Veronica and I did what we normally do when Francine starts negotiating with someone - we walked away! 

 

Suddenly, the music swelled up and we heard someone who sounded like Sting singing an “Englishman in New York”. At first Veronica and I thought it was a recording but then we realized, no, it was Sting! There he was, dressed in a blue jogging suit rehearsing from center stage before the orchestra! Francine joined us and for the next 90 minutes we had a command performance with Sting only 25 yards away!

  

I told Veronica she was right, sometimes you can get lucky with a nice reward! But then I reminded Veronica about the morning after Sting…

 

 

Francine had really wanted to visit the Doge’s Palace and San Marco Cathedral. But the line ups were horrendous on Thursday and Friday. So we decided to get up really early on Saturday morning and be first in line. And we were rewarded… there was virtually no one in Piazza San Marco... not even the pigeons!

 

So I rest my case… most of the time you have to work for the things you want!