Venezia

We’d heard mixed reviews on Venice and hadn’t really put it on our list because people said it wasn’t that great, dirty, smelly, etc.  Well we definitely learned it is wise to make your own judgements because Venice is AMAZING!  It is truly a city on water with so much history and Italian charm.  There are multiple little islands and in the main part of the city where we stayed there were no cars and there really wouldn’t be a place for them.  You rely on the water buses or residents have their own boats. 

I was in Venice by about 3:30 Friday afternoon and a few of us that were working in Padova last week came in for the weekend instead of going back to London.  True to form, I hadn’t planned anything out and the Google map I’d printed minutes before leaving didn’t suffice.  Once we got out of the train station, I headed to San Marco, the famous square at the heart of Venice, on a water bus.  Then I realised my Venice map sucked but I found an information office, got a real map and someone to lead me in the right direction.  Jim didn’t get in until about midnight, so after settling in at the hostel and finding the local supermercato I decided to ride around on a water bus for about an hour and a half.  Who cares about gondolas when you have the water bus!  It’s awesome because you can stand outside and travel down the Grand Canal and get a boat tour of all the gorgeous buildings lining the water.  That night I met a girl from work for an outside dinner along a canal and learned about her life in Kenya/London.

It rained/poured Friday and Saturday, but was a blast nonetheless.  Me and Jim took the water bus to the island of Murano and spend most of the day wandering around and looking at all the glass shops.  Insanely gorgeous art and unfortunately you can’t take pictures of their stuff to explain why it is famous.  I’ve already picked out every light fixture I want for my house that doesn’t exist.  Owning a Venetian Murano glass chandelier is now on my life goal list.  Meaning we’ve decided that we will come back here someday.  We figured the best way to spend the evening after being wet and cold was to find a cosy Italian restaurant and get a bottle of red wine.  It was perfect.

Due to the expense, we passed on doing most things like gondolas (€80), museums and tours.  Sunday was beautiful sunny weather and we walked aimlessly through the tiny (think alleys) city streets and over bridges until we wore out our feet and camera battery.  We stopped for a great lunch along a canal with white wine and Quattro formaggi gnocchi (my third time of four, yum!). 

I think September was a great time of year to come here with a few less tourists and not hot so you don’t smell any algae.  Lesson learned; learn some Italian before buying said chandelier and attempting to do any more accounting audits.  I’m really looking forward to one more week in Padova and figuring out how to communicate with Donatella. 

Ciao!