Day 19: Venice

Wandering through a marketplace
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Today was definitely a day of exploring.  We pretty much got rid of our maps for today and decided to just get lost in Venice.  Our hotel, situated in the Canareggio area, is not too far away from the Ghetto (the term "ghetto" is thought to have originated in Venice - - meaning to "cast off" or "throw away").  This area is where they used to make all the Jewish Venetians stay.  They were allowed to do business in Venice and then were forced to stay in the Ghetto at night.  We realized that we originally thought our hotel was far from the oh-so-touristy Piazza San Marco, and while we are not super close, we found out that with a bit of meandering, we walked from our hotel to Piazza San Marco and the RIalto Bridge in NO time.

Testing out one of the many ice cream stops
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Getting lost in Venice is definitely some of the best sightseeing we've done.  While it's easy to actually get lost in Venice, it's not difficult to always find your way back to some major landmark (i.e., Piazza San Marco, Ponte Rialto, etc.).  Our landmark, for some odd reason, was the Louis Vuitton store.  Melissa thought it was a sign =)  Wandering around allowed us to really feel like we saw ALL of Venice.  It really is the ONLY way to really see Venice.

After all that walking in the heat (today was incredibly sunny), we became hungry.  We stopped at a little restaurant that didn't have their menu in plain view.  We decided to stop anyways since we noticed that Venice's small first-course pasta dishes are usually not that expensive anywhere you go.  We sat down and were disappointed by the semi-high prices so TJ ordered the Fettucine Alfredo.  That was AMAZINGLY delicious.  Melissa, for the sake of our wallets, ordered a small mixed salad.  For a simple salad, it wasn't bad.  We didn't order anything else because we decided that instead of filling ourselves up on this more expensive restaurant, we'd simply go to another restaurant for our "second" lunch!  We thought it'd be okay since the Italians DO eat a small dish of pasta before their main meal.  We wandered for a while after our first lunch and then came across a small restaurant.  This time, the prices were incredibly affordable.  This time, TJ ordered a pizza with prosciutto and mushrooms on it.  TJ was in love.  TJ said the pizza was saucy AND cheesy at the same time (not to mention quite big).  Melissa ordered a Spaghetti alla Vongole (spaghetti with clams in a white wine sauce).  She couldn't have been happier.  Stuffed to the brim, we decided to just keep on trekkin' through the city.  We came across a great marketplace that sold everything from trinkets and souvenirs to fresh fruit and vegetables.  Later that evening, we felt that we just could not walk anymore.  So we found ourselves, of course, near Piazza San Marco again.  We just sat down in the Piazza to have some ice-cream and people watch.  People-watching is an event all on its own, here in Venice.  The fashion we saw was just - - - hmmm.. what's the word?  Interesting.  Too many older women not understanding that mini-skirts and belly shirts are not for many people.  We even saw one woman in her 50s or 60s who wore a dress where the bottom half was see-through.  TJ was NOT happy looking at her panties.  After a long time people watching and cooling down from the day's heat, we walked over to one of the city's many gondola stations to find out prices.  Yes, we expected the prices to be high... but these prices were pretty incredulous.  We decided that we'd save our wallets, skip out on a gondola ride this time and save it for some time in the future when we're nice and rich.  We took our Vaporetto (we're doin it like the locals) back towards the area of our hotel and found a nice restaurant right by the train station, which is right by our hotel.  It is called Ai Scalzi.  The waiters were great.  Nice and helpful.  We sat next to a great couple from Australia.  We talked to them for some time and found out that they were traveling through Europe for SIX whole months.  We were jealous.  TJ ordered the ravioli with mushrooms and spinach in a cream sauce and Melissa ordered the spaghetti alla carbonara.  Both dishes were exceptional.  TJ also ordered the biggest beer we have ever seen!  It was one whole liter!  Our ONLY criticism about this place (and it is an incredibly small criticism and made for fun conversation) was that we ordered the banana split to share for dessert.  Instead of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream topped over a banana, we found an interesting concoction of cantaloupe ice cream and raspberry ice cream topped over a banana.  And on top of the whipped cream?  Cherry sauce.  We were not upset in the least - - we found ourselves just laughing and trying to figure out how they came up with such a mixture.  It was still pretty good!  After a long and hot day, we decided to turn in to prepare for our next day.

TJ with his almost-finished large beer
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Tomorrow - our last half-day in Venice and then we're off to Florence!