Viva Venezia!

We arrived in Venice on Wednesday around 4:30 after our long drive from Munich. The arrival was confusing – the “giant parking lot” where all cars headed into Venice obviously had to park was hectic and unclear. Eventually we ditched the rental car in the right spot and grabbed ourselves a water taxi to head to the hotel. The parking lot begins at the west end of the Grand Canal and our hotel was at the exact opposite end – perfect opportunity to see all of Venice from the Canal. We enjoyed beautifully clear weather during our entire stay in Venice, and our ride to the hotel was no different. I stood up in the back of the taxi armed with my camera the entire time. Venice is an extremely interesting and incredibly beautiful city – the colors and architecture of the buildings are quite unique and add some great flair to the city (not to mention the fact that the roads are canals…)

On the way to the hotel

Awesome architecture!

We walked into our hotel to find that it is a very old building (yet we unfortunately still don’t know how old) with ornate decorations. We make it up to our room and reenergize, eager to explore the city. We get ready for the evening and head down to the hotel bar to chill out and enjoy the scenery (patio right along the canal!) before heading out. From there, we begin to meander. We’re armed with a map, but it’s only a precaution - we don't want to find ourselves hopelessly lost. The city is made up of small streets, some relatively wide and some extremely narrow, that wind without a pattern between narrow canals filled with gondolas. 

Narrow canals and gondolas

Along the streets are small restaurants, cafes, bars, and shops and we begin to hunt down a good restaurant for dinner. We find ourselves meandering the little streets, crossing bridges and stumbling upon small piazzas. More than once we found ourselves along the Grand Canal, but who knows where… Eventually we begin to walk back towards the direction of our hotel, finding some familiar-looking streets. We find a small restaurant and relax as we eat some (supposedly) delicious Italian food. The appetizers were not good – it did not bode well for the rest of our meal. Luckily, the entrée was a bit more enjoyable (though still not great), and we headed back to the hotel soon afterwards.

The Germany v. Spain game was on in the hotel bar, and I went to go check the score -  the bar was packed, so we ended up watching the last 20 minutes of the game in the room. It was disappointing for sure. Guess we’ll just have to wait until 2014 for some Deutschland glory (looks like Sportfreunde Stiller has to change their song… again).

The following morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel (my first scrambled eggs in Europe! Not as good as home, though). We then walked over to Piazza San Marco and checked out the basilica and the Doge’s palace. We went to the top of the campanile in the square, which was beautiful. The weather was perfectly clear and we could see the whole city. 

View from the campanile - our hotel was right across from that church

The breeze at the top of the tower was also quite welcome on such a warm day. Afterwards, we got online for the basilica. I was evidently “indecently dressed” so I had to pay a euro to get a stupid paper shawl to wrap around my legs. It made for a less-than-ideal church visit but the mosaics in the basilica were certainly impressive. We made our way to the balcony that looked over the square, which was a nice view as well. Afterwards, we grabbed a quick pizza lunch (delicious!) and then shopped around for some carnevale masks. My mom and I got some pretty sweet ones! Who knows what we’ll do with them, but they were cheap and fun to get. We then walked back to the hotel to recharge and drop off our purchases. From there, we walked around the city again and went to a hotel that had a roof terrace bar (and a cool view). Afterwards, we walked towards the famous Rialto Bridge and crossed to the other side of the Canal, where we grabbed dinner at a cute outdoor café. 

View of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

The food was amazing and served in perfect portions – I had lasagne and it was some of the best I’ve ever tasted (still can’t decide if it was better than the one at Café Barfuß… I thought that one would be hard to beat, but this one is definitely giving it a run for it’s money). After some rich chocolate gelato, we meandered back to the hotel and enjoyed the evening on the hotel’s patio along the canal.

This morning, we headed out at around 10:15 am to get to the train station. We’re off to Roma! It’s the last leg of the journey, and definitely going to be a busy few days. It’ll be great to see some of the awesome sights again (ancient Rome, Colosseum, Pantheon, Forum, the Vatican, etc), as well as some new ones (Villa d’Este and Pompeii)!