Italian Adventures, Part III: Venice, that Little Seaside Village

Venice was lovely. That may sound a little underwhelming after gushing about the historical architecture of Rome and everything in Florence, but lovely really sums it up. Recap of my two days there:


Day 1:

• The morning began with the train ride from Florence to Venice. I was fortunate enough to sit next to two charming teenage boys whose complete narcissism rivaled that of the most egotistical professional athletes out there. Needless to say, I didn't make any new pen pals during the two hours that we were fighting for foot space under the table.
• When we arrived to Venice, we were greeted with gray skies, windy temperatures, and a little light rain.

  

  'Twas a gray beginning

• My first impression of the city was that it was a quaint little seaside city that looked almost like little more than a town. 
• The hotel was lovely, though the internet was trashy.
• After two rustico alinari's, pasta, gelato, more pasta, and more gelato, early days and semi-late nights, it all caught up with me in the form of a nice little tummy ache in Venice. Thus, the day ended before it really started for me and I just slept it all off.

Day 2:

• Another gray day, though it was rater lovely.
• As I ventured out of the hotel post-tummy ache, the image of Venice as a quaint little seaside town was reinforced. It made me think of my image of Maine or the Chesapeake Bay area: watery, colorful houses, boats. 
• We rode the vaporetto (water boat) to get from one island to another (Venice is comprised of six islands accessible primarily by water boats). It's the cheaper version of riding a gondola, as the vaporetto was about 7 euro, whereas the gondola was 80.

  

  Not the exact version of the vaporetto, but they're all just
  little boats

• Venice has lovely, though smelly, green water. I'm not much of a water travel person, so the ride wasn't the most amazing thing I've ever done. In the 20 minutes that it took us to get from one island to another, I started experiencing motion sickness. 
  
• In any event, we finally, mercifully arrived at San Marcos island. 
• More cannoli purchasing (story of my Italian life).

  

  Literally 90% of my Italian diet :)

• I tried a pastry that was nothing more than an uber chocolate-y brownie. 

  

  Nothing special; just a brownie.

  
  
• Discovered that Italy isn't only known for its leather, but also the murano glass pieces that were prevalent everywhere in Venice. Purchased a beautiful picture frame! 
• Visited Piazza San Marcos, where tons of people go to feed the pigeons. I wasn't trying to encourage them by giving them food, so I tried to make sure we stayed clear of one another. 

  

  In Piazza San Marcos with the Basilica behind me

• The Basilica of San Marcos is huge and imposing.
• Lunch was nice, though nothing to write home about.
• Quick rant: do not go to a restaurant in Italy and ask for a mocha cafe! This ain't Starbucks!
• Dinner was phenomenal. We went to a restaurant near our hotel named Ristorante L'Anna. The food was dirt cheap and we were given huge portions that we could barely finish. Randomly, the bread was among the most divine that I'd tasted in Europe. The restaurant is authentic enough that most of the employees only spoke Italian and locals frequented it, while also being touristy enough that the menu was presented in four different languages. I had a delicious pasta with oil and spices. It was among the best meals I had in Italy.

  

  My gawd, this was phenomenal!

Conclusions:

• Venice is, as I've said so often in this post, lovely. 
• I could easily have spent a ton of money on the beautiful murano glass that was everywhere...if I was a baller like that. 
• Two days seemed sufficient there. I couldn't imagine spending too many more in which I'm so surrounded by water. 
• It's better to come when the weather is warmer, as being near the water at the very beginning of spring when it's still fairly cool makes it seem even colder. 
• We left Venice on a gray and foggy day that made the quaint little seaside village seem like it had been deserted after a long summer as people made their way back inland. The city is a tribute to all seaside villages. It is a beautiful tribute to the days of authentic masquerade balls and village to village water travel.

  

  Adieu, Venezia!