Venice

We spent Friday on the ship vegging out and recovering from a very busy few days. We had to be up and off the ship EARLY on Saturday. We packed up the night before and only had a carry on worth of stuff with us. We had to be off the ship at 8:30am so we got off,  claimed our luggage and caught a cab to our hotel. Although it was too early to check in they held our luggage so we could head beck into Venice.

Turns out my bff from High School Gina G has been to Venice many times with her college and recommended our hotel. IT was nice to know we would be staying at a nice place and she gave us some tips on getting around as the hotel was on the main land not the Island of Venice. The train station was across the street from the hotel. The train was a short ride into the city so we made it to Venice by 9:30am and had a full day to spend there. 

 

Our first trip in we were defiantly in awe and it all seemed a little un real. We went in search for the sights making our way to St. Marks Square, which was mobbed like woah! We didn’t pay to go into the cathedral we just walked around the square. We saw lots of people feeding birds and had I not had a fear of pigeons I would have been tempted to do the same but I passed.

 

                                                                           

We also saw the Rialto Brige which again was crawling with tourists but was quite a sight. It is the main bridge that connects the grand canal.

In our wanderings we stumbled across some markets and a few street preformers.

And we of course got some galeto along the way!

 

We also found an idea for a future Family business that would incorporate my Italian and his Iranian cuisines

After a full day we headed back to the hotel to take an afternoon nap. While Ryan slept I took advantage of the hotels free wi-fi and caught up on Face book.  It was then that I saw a close friend had experienced a loss of a family member and was both shocked and saddened. I can’t put into words my feeling was I couldn’t immediately process the news. After an hour or so we headed back into Venice, while I had a heavy heart It made me appreciate the experience and time with my husband all the more. Its times like these that you realize how precious life is and how blessed we are just to have our next breath not to mention all the other blessing we have in addition.

This time I made my Map loving husband get lost! Everything I read stated that the best way to really see Venice was to get lost. Take as many turns and side streets as possible and just wander.  So that’s what we did. We saw so many quiet streets and locals slowly walking about. It really gave us the real feel of the place and as the day turned into night it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.

We went to Al Vaporetto for dinner  were I finally got my pesto Pasta which was unusually hard to find! And Ryan got some sea food Risotto. Both were very good! We continued walking around a little more as the night grew darker and the street lights slowly lit up, watching the streets transform into another dynamic of romance and beauty.

As our energy began to wane we made our way back to the train station and waited for our 9pm train. After waiting about 10 minutes and seeing no activity on the tracks we heard a murmur in the cowed “strike” hummm sounds interesting. We made our way over to a crowd that had formed and another tourist who spoke some Italian confirmed that the trains were indeed on strike. As the realization made its way throughout the station everyone began to make their way (aka a mad dash ensued)to the bus station . . . we bought our ticket and waited for a bus that we could squeeze into, finally making it back to our hotel in once piece.

What is so amazing to me is that each street and every building seemed to be an attraction.  It is like another world. The sights, the smells and the sounds all intertwined take you into another place and time. I couldn't take enough pictures!Here are a few of my favorite scenery pictures.