I'm in heaven. Truly. I feel overwhelmingly fortunate to be spending such magical days here in such a beautiful city with such great company. What an adventure!
Yum yum in my tum tum
One of I'm sure dozens of canal selfies to come
Like I said...dozens
St. Marks
I've pretty much gotten by knowing just this word and "grazie"...we'll see how far this and some awful pantomiming carry us.
Sunny and beautiful
Fun little exhibit
Duh, Bangladesh = wayyyyyy more authentic Italian
More please
We've all been there...
Across from the train station
🇮🇱
Just cruisin
Pretty buildings
Nap time ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz
Scott was a little peeved we left him in the suitcase today, so I let him out for some fresh air on the canal this afternoon.
Shrimp and tomato spaghetti
Ravioli please
How...palatial...
Where did everyone go?
As tired as we both were last night, sleeping was a bit tumultuous, as would be expected. Maddie sounded wide awake at around 4am, and I grumpily told her to shhhhhh while I tried to go back to sleep, reaching for that elusive window back into dreamland. Neither of us seemed to have much luck until around 8:30am, when our natural circadian rhythm started to kick in. Fighting that urge and putting our intrepid traveler game faces on was a challenge, but nothing our included room service breakfast couldn't help ease! Rolls, croissants, cheese, yogurt, juice, and hot tea made for a lovely start to the day.
After snapping a couple photos on the balcony, we were ready to hit the canals. On our way out, our lovely host took the time to give us recommendations for things to do and places to eat, which was much appreciated. Within minutes on our way to the Rialto Bridge, we found ourselves in a lively fish and produce market next to the grand canal. It was warming up and it wasn't long before both of us started wishing we'd worn shorts, but it never got unbearable, so we kept pushing.
The walk to Saint Mark's Square was expectedly busy, but not in an unpleasant way. The trinkets and shops were fun to look at, and the smells emanating from the innumerable restaurants were enchanting. The lines for the big ticket attractions around St Marks were a bit too long for us to wait out in the sun and broil, so we meandered down the waterfront along to what I think was the place I stayed when I visited here years ago with my family. Not sure. But it was a pleasant, sunny walk, and we eventually decided to cut in to one of the many narrow side streets for a break from the sun. These less crowded, more residential alley ways and canals offered a shady respite from the main drag, and we just delighted in the ambience of it all. Not much map consultation, just peaceful wandering. In one strikingly in-crowded campo, we stumbled in to a free church where a modern art exhibit was being held. What a neat little gem! It featured artists using recycled materials and the works, which hung from scaffolding in front of the native churches intricate paintings, mimicked ancient works but depicted such robed figures in silhouettes taking selfies, putting up scroll phone towers, and sporting Facebook and Skype logos. It was a very cool little exhibit that gave us both a laugh, and they were really quite impressive.
Soon enough, we had worked up an impressive appetite, and aimed for one of the pizzerias our host recommended in Campo San Polo, the second largest public square in Venice, apparently. Reading its wiki article on my map, you'd expect it to be more crowded than it was, but I guess everyone really does tend to flock and stick around the St. Marks area, as our lunch was incredibly tranquil, with the perfect amount of breeze to help us re energize.
Lunch presented us with our first dine-out experience on the trip, and we followed convention and ordered pizza, the easiest and best decision we've made so far. One margherita for Maddie, one with fresh basil and cherry tomatoes for me. Thin, chewy, crusts with the perfect degree of char around the edges. Divine. And as our host promised, prices were more than reasonable for the quality.
Bellies at just the right amount of fullness, we ventured north to the train station to get the lay of the land for Sunday--I like to do this so I'm not winging it the day of, and it makes things easier. From there it was a very short walk east to the Jewish Ghetto, a very interesting part of the city. We almost opted for a synagogue tour, but were enjoying our walk too much to stop. It's funny because for our two year anniversary, I gave Maddie a Murano glass necklace I picked up in a store here. But my indecisive, one might call obsessive, nature meant that the search for a perfect anniversary gift for her was a tedious process. My parents still give me more than my fair share of grief about my compulsion to look inside every store for the "perfect" present. I'm now realizing how much ground you can cover in a day when you aren't slave to such a quest. Maddie's aversion to decorative souvenir-like items also makes window shopping go at a little bit of a quicker pace. Between her expediency and my wanderlust, we go at a very good pace. Balance is key.
Walking through the shops of the Cannaregio area was one of the cooler areas, we thought, until we happened upon that symbol of everything you don't want to see while on vacation in a charming historical city: McDonalds. Clearly I wasn't the only one perplexed by its presence near the canal, as several people snapped photos. I was curious to find out how much they were charging for a Big Mac--not to consume, mind you--so I ventured inside. I was about to take a snapchat when the feisty woman behind the counter scolded me for trying to take a photo. What was I thinking? You can't take pictures in plenty of historically significant cultural buildings in Europe, so why would Micky D's be any different? How foolish of me! And by the way, the Big Mac was 8 euros.
Humiliated over my display of irreverence inside the Holy House of Ronald, and with the heat wearing at our stamina, we looked for the best pick-me-up we could think of, gelato. My dad's heart just fluttered as he read that word, I just know it. Mango sorbetto in hand, we rounded the corner and stood waiting for a gondola ferry to cross the grand canal. We figured spending 4 euros to ride in a gondola (we got ours to ourselves!) across the canal gave us the vibe of the longer ride without us having to shell out 20 times the number of euros. And indeed, it was fun, one of our skippers even singing a little tune toward the end.
Dare I say, more delightful than a bottle of wine, a summer salad, and the film Chocolát with Johnny Depp...but just barely
WE'RE ON A BOAT
Our ferry dropped us a brief distance from the BnB, so we decided to take a page out of the Italian playbook and reward ourselves with a little siesta. We had to have walked over 7 miles by that point, so an air-conditioned nap was definitely the right call.
If I'm being honest our "brief" siesta went a little longer than anticipated, but in retrospect, anyone who knows Maddie's napping habits won't be the least bit surprised. After discovering our first choice of restaurant was booked solid for the next few nights, we opted for the nearby Osteria Mocenigo, also recommended by our host. So far she is two for two, as this place was delicious. Spinach and ravioli, black pasta with shrimp and tomatoes, warm bread, and a glass of wine. Perfection. When we left, smiling and full, we walked right into a drizzle, a very pleasant, warm drizzle--like in Hawaii but not as humid. Hustling back to the apartment, we made the decision to stick to our original plan of wandering arguably the workd's most romantic city at night. Armed with umbrellas, we set out toward Saint Mark's to see what more the evening had to offer.
The walk was pleasant, and surprisingly warm. As we approached the Rialto bridge and St. marks areas the soft glow of the street lights and the plastered walls of buildings made the whole city feel like some sort of enchanted amusement attraction. I guess that sounds a bit cheesy, but regardless, it was gorgeous. At St. Marks the rain really started coming down and ushered what relatively few people there were into the cover of the adjacent buildings and walkways. This left Maddie and I, umbrellas in hand, to wander about the square almost alone at times, marveling at the painted facades and delighting in the numerous small orchestras playing in the square. In fact, at one point as I was alone in front of one orchestra, I turned to see Maddie smack dab in the center of the square, with the entire expanse to herself! As the deluge retreated, we walked hand in hand around the square, satisfying the romantic in me, watching boat go by on the water, before turning back to call it a night.
We couldn't have asked for a better, more magical first day here! As for tomorrow, Maddie mentioned getting up for the sunrise, which I informed her she would likely be doing alone unless I'm magically awake at that time. Regardless, we'll both be here for our breakfast at 8am, before heading to the Doge's Palace, the Guggenheim museum, and who knows what else. Beyond excited!
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