Venice

OJ at the Da Vinci exhibit
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Wow, what to say about Venice. It was worth the wait. We were awestruck by our first glimpse of the grand canal after walking out of the train station. We found our hotel very easily – a one star close to the train station. We dropped our packs and headed out to explore the maze of a city on foot. With our trusty Venice map (thanks to Rick and Amie), we found our way through piazzas, back alleys, and over small bridges to the St. Stae church to see the Da Vinci exhibit. Using 'blueprints' and notes from his documents, working models were made out of wood to demonstrate his inventions. Many were very simple but totally ingenious for his time (like ball bearings, dimpled canon balls (precursor to the golf ball), pulley and gear systems, and his attempt at a human flying machine). Next, we headed to La Zucca, a fantastic restaurant slightly off the beaten path. We made a reservation for supper that night since Rick and Amie highly recommended it. Thank goodness we thought to make a reservation - many people were turned away that night! Supper was so tasty and the service was the best we’ve had in Europe. We even got the best table – outside, right beside a narrow canal.

View of the Grand Canal
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We went to Piazza San Marco – the pigeons were a bit overwhelming. We decided not to stand in line in the sweltering heat to get into the cathedral or Doge’s Palace.

We intended to do our Gondola ride that night, but since Italy was playing the US in a world cup soccer match, a gondolier was hard to come by. We postponed the ride to Sunday and joined the huge crowds of soccer fans in the piazza to watch the game. Unlike the Croatian soccer fans, the Italtian hopeful did not sing, chant, light flares or paint their faces, but they were still still very passionate and boisterous. Since Venice is a minimum 2/3 tourists, we feel that the crowd was not a true Italian soccer crowd (in fact we think their may have been as many Americans as Italians). The game ended in a 1 all tie, but Italy definitely carried the play all game.

Supper at La Zucca's
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Our second day in Venice went like this: a visit to Murano Island to watch some galss blowing/making demo, shopping, a lot of walking, a gondola ride and eating 'ciccetti' (spelling?) at a wine bar.

We peppered our gondolier with questions about growing up in Venice (his father was also a gondolier), history, the business of gondoliering, the inner wokings of Venice (ie. speed limits for boats, boat parking, etc…). We loved the ride, it was very relaxing. Afterwards, we went to a wine bar to drink spritz (white wine mixed with Campari) and to eat ciccetti’s (fancy appetizers on slices of baguettes, everything from raddichio to anchovies & tomatoes).

Glass making on Murano Island
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We loved Venice!