Canals are really cool

It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice.   There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop.  Luckily the train attendant didn’t feel like kicking us out when he was checking tickets.

Though even the name Venice sounded beautiful, I had heard that Venice canals were actually a bit ugly and smelly.   So I had reservations but after we got on the ferries to go to our hotel, I was blown away about with the Venetian architected houses right on the canals.   The canals didn’t smell. It was a bit cloudy but there weren’t any trash that I could see on it.   With the wind blowing in my hair and riding a boat on the canal, it was just one of those “ah” feelings.

Gotta get to the water to get anywhere in Venice

We got on land in the heart of Venice.   There were lots and lots and lots of tourists.   Everything is just about tourism there – I can only see restaurants, bakeries, tourists shops, and a handful of necessity shops like super/mini markets and pharmacies.

The streets are really so narrow.  They were definitely only 2 lane walking streets.   Given that Rome is made up of 117 islands, there were many very cute crossing bridges along with the streets.   It wasn’t too hard to find our hotel and it was a cute one.  The hotel had a “shabby sheek Venetian” style to it.  So a bit dated but definitely cute and clean.

We had lunch and figured out what coddle fish was.  It’s squid and the way the Venetians cooked it was delish!   They used this dark, almost black sauce on it.   Ken kept having these big black lines around his mouth.   I had their mixed seafood special and it was a great way to experience the seafood specialties of Venice.

We decided here that we were not museum people, meaning if we didn’t want to look at one more marble art work or oil painting inside the museum or a chapel in the short term.  Venice for us was about just walking the streets, finding interesting architecture,, taking photos, and just getting the vibe of the city.  Oh and of course, lookin for good fridge magnets from a location.   That might be the theme of most of our vacations from now on. 

We did want to see the grand Piazza San Marcos and the outside of the Basilica di San Marco that we’ve heard so much about.  It was really beautiful and one of the “wow” moments for us.

I was torn at this point, in that I was really starting to miss home but also really

Wow Moments:

San Marcos Square and Basilica

The pope!

Walking into Vatican Square