308765 5 Location 484209 <p>We arrived at our hotel via&nbsp;the Grand Canal by water taxi, walked though&nbsp;St. Marks Square and&nbsp;on to another adventure. As we looked at&nbsp;our directions and tried to read the signs, Brent ask&nbsp;a Gondolier&nbsp;for directions, and even though he didn't understand one word of what he said, he&nbsp;understood his finger pointing. We went though many small streets (alley size), over a couple of canals' and arrived at the Locanda Orseolo Hotel through an iron gate. </p><p>Our first impressions were overwhelming, with Gondolas, accordian music and even a Virtuoso.&nbsp; Bruno greeted us by name and we were shown to our wonderful room, with a view of the canal and the sounds of music and singing. As we returned from lunch, which was recommended by Bruno; we were&nbsp;then greeted&nbsp;by Barbara and Igor, two more folks at reception. Both of them again let us know they knew our names.</p><p>Igor is taking care of dinner reservations tomorrow night for Brent's 65th birthday and I'm sure, our own Gondola ride.</p> 2006-03-12T10:27:03-08:00 589299714 2006-03-26T16:00:00-08:00 0 18 190092 1079988 308765 0 195261 0.0195723671240377 2006-03-23T16:00:00-08:00 Published 13.0 2006-03-24T10:31:41-08:00 99710 0