Abbiamo lasciato Venezia

From the ferry in Venice.

Adrian and Sara on the ferry.

We have left Venice.

And now, Pisa!

(quotes for yesterday, ""careful, buttone and buttona sound similar but the meaning is very different, you don't want to call her a prostitute...."and 10 min later "shut up you prostitute!")

Standing in Line

Fabio has an app for restaurant reviews by Michelin and there was a very highly recommended place - Trattoria Alla Madonna. It had the Michelin Man next to it which means it's worthwhile to go out of your way to eat there.

Fabio called to see if we needed a reservation but they said to show up so off we went. We found the Realto bridge easily which is impressive in Venice but it took us a few tries to find the right piazza, we kept finding just the other side if the wall.

Finally we arrived to find a line, maybe 25 people waiting. It's all in the experience right? The photo is a "where's Chris" from when we were waiting in line. Just as we were nearing the door an older couple sauntered up right behind us, nearly pushed us over and managed to skip a lot of people - very Italian.

Inside was nice. I have pics on the camera. The service was so-so. Adrian and I both had fish 'In the Venetian Way', Chris had pasta with clams and Fabio had steak. Honestly, we weren't to impressed. We decided it was not worth a trip... But the build up was fun. :)

After dinner we hunted down a primo Gelataria with many flavors including....MANGO! Totally made up for dinner :D

No idea the actual plan for tomorrow but I do know we plan to have dinner in Chiusi. This is a very small village about an hour North of Rome that has one amazing restaurant in it. It sounds a bit like a place my Mom and Daisy went to in Savannah. You show up at a certain time, pay a fee and the owner feeds you. But they assure me that once she knows I'm pescetarian she will take care if me. But until dinner, who knows what we will do.

Murano

Shopping!!!

Murano is the island of glass blowing. They have demonstrations but only on weekdays :(

We had a plan. Fabio wanted to look for some glasses with a simple shape in bright primary colors. I wanted lots of jewelry.

Glass sculpture in the center of Murano.

Glass parrots in a shop.

Fabio found options, but nothing he liked enough to buy. His top choice turned out to be €72 per glass (most places the price was for a set of 6).

Glass flowers in a flower box over a bridge.

A wooden sailboat on the sidewalk outside a shop near the Fon. Nove ferry stop back on Venice.

Adrian, Fabio and Sara walking down a narrow (typical) street in Venice, near the hotel.

Now we are resting at the hotel before we go out to shop more near Piazza San Marco and eat at a well reviewed restaurant.

Una mattina en Venezia

The morning view from our room.

Us at the Rialto.

The Fenice Theater.

Gondolas in the canal.

Inside San Marco Basilica.

Now we are waiting for the ferry to Murano for lunch and shopping.

We arrived, safe, in Venice

Finally, after our delayed start, around 8pm we arrived at a garage next to Venice. We parked and found the ferry.

We already booked a room at a B&B that had decent reviews on TripAdvisor. The hotel told us to take the ferry to the Fontanette stop and, because it's impossible to give directions in Venice, they would meet us to guide us to the hotel.

Well, we had some ferry challenges (mamacita - speaking Italian didn't help, it is still a confusing system) and wound up in the other side of the island bear Piazza San Marco. They came to us anyway and thank God! Our guide was this little tiny woman (makes Megan look tall) and she walked super fast. We were winding through the passages so fast, left, right, through a tunnel, over a bridge and on and on. 12 minutes later we arrived at a dead end into water with a little diving board, on the left was a door and two flughts up was our 'hotel'. It is really the guides apartment with three rooms (one is hers) and one bathroom/shower to share. Already the bathroom is busier than Termini. (according to Fab)

We found dinner nearby around 9:30p. It was good but the desserts were the best. I had a marmalade cake with chocolate chips and lemon sauce (think super moist carrot cake) and Chris had Chocolate Gelato plopped in a warm shot if espresso. Delicioso. Our waitress was interesting, provided great conversation ;)

Again, I have pics but not on this phone :(

Now we sleep. Tomorrow La Fenice, Bascilica San Marco e Murano.

Quote for the day by Fab "eh, I don't know how to call, you know, the upstairs comma?"

Last Day in Venice

Today was a bit of a chill day. Our Vaparetto passes expired around noon so we went down to St. Marks and worked our way back on foot. The church was amazing inside, all mosaics, all gold. No photos inside so this picture is of the outside. Mom loved the floor too and did sneak some pics of it.

From there we went to the Rialto market and then on to find lunch. We wandered a bit, went over the glass bridge. Then we went to il supermercado for some dinner items. Now we're just hanging at the hotel. We're all packed up and ready for our 8:43am departure to Florence. I've been struggling with virtigo so I'll be glad to get back to solid land, all the boatrides etc have not helped.

Update on Travel Plans

We just realized, don't think we told everyone that we cancelled our roadtrip. For a multitude of reasons we decided to cancel the rental car and take the train.

We also decided to stay in Venice one more night and skip Bologna. So we have one more night at Hotel Caprera (90€ / night / double) ehich has been pretty nice, great location. Then on Wednesday we take the train straight from Venice to Florence (74€ for us both) where we stay at Pensione Canada (70€ / night / double) for one night. From there we'll take the train to Termini in Rome (52€ for us both) and find our rental apartment (B&B Boschetto 15 - 80€ / night / double) which is near the Cavour metro stop.

Then we'll have five nights in Rome before we try to fly home, hopefully we don't end up in some random country again ^_-

Finece Experience

First, please note : the earthquake was nowhere near us, so we are fine. We didn't know it had happened. It was near Rome, but not along our way. Thanks for your concern.

Now, you should know the book I read (City of Falling Angles) talks about the theatre being destroyed in 1996 for the 3rd time in it's history and the reconstruction challenges due to the Venetian government. They reopened in 2006 "comera dovera" which is "as it was, where it was". Learning about it got me really interested in seeing it so seeing a show there was awesome.

Even though they don't have cars Venice has traffic, with the evening Vaparettos full of people we had just enough time to return to the hotel, beautify and return to the Fenice for the show.

Unlike on the tour, cameras were allowed, so we took lots pictures and some video from our 3RD level PRIVATE box! We didn't have the ohone so we'll post pictures later.

The concert was all strings. The first number was awkward, like the modern art you see and say "this is supposed to be pretty?" (a good example if discordant music Megan) after that the music started to match the beautiful surroundings. The aucoustics were insane, during the concert you could hear the old man across the way breathe with a squeaky nose.

After the second set the lights came up and everyone left and we figured we got a great deal and experience. But as we went to leave Sara noticed it was still full and people we recognized were cming back in smelling smoky, it was intermission!

We returned to our private box only to open the door to find seat snatchers! A nice attrative young attendant (a guy) helped us to clear things up, by asking the imposters to leave and we enjoyed another half hour of music.

After the show we took in St. Marks square in the dark which was nice and quiet. Then it was back to the Vaparetto to head 'home' for some rest.

-Mary-

On the way to the Vaparetto MiniMama tripped for the first time, she's had much better luck than in Greece but it was inevitable, she's uncontrollably clutzy when on foreign soil. This time it wasn't even her fault, there was a huge brick out of place. :) Don't worry, she's fine.

One more day in Venice Italy, then on to Florence, Italy for the night.

~Sara~

Fenece Bound

Made it to the Fenice, is was prettier than we expected. I stole a photo of the ceiling while in the main auditorium.

Mom was so excited. She read a book about the Fenice, it's part of what made her want to see Venice in the first place. They closed early and kicked us out but I found out there is a classical music concert tonight. Since I'm a "young" (that's a first) we got decent tickets for only 20€ each!!!

We're going to a show at the Fenice!! Tonight at 8pm. Now I have to figure out how to dress up jeans ....

View of Venice

We went to San Giorgio today, an island that holds a church and nothing else. We had a picnic lunch and then went up the bell tower. Check out the view. That's St. Mark's Square you can see in the middle with the clock tower.

We tried to find a geo cache with no success. :( I discovered Venerian lizards in the process. Ew. We'll try a geocache in Rome though, we have to so that Mom can place her travel bug in one.

Burano & Mazes

Burano is another island that specializes in fishing, but most of all in lace. Their homes are painted vibrant colors. In the picture Mom is standing in front of a row on the canal.

Since lace isn't our thing we only stayed long enough to see a demonstration and browse a bit.

When we got back to Venice we wandered the maze a bit in search of a church, which we found. Getting from there to our hotel was more challenging. We did find a grocery store though and bought fruit and water so it was still a success.

Once back to the hotel we stayed close for dinner and plan to retire early.

Murano glass

We saw the procession this morning, it was neat to see everyone holding their olive branches and singing "andare andare christo señor andare".

From there we went to the island of Murnao to see glass blowing. The chandelier shown is all glass and features masked acrobats hanging from it.

We ate a picnic on the side of the sidewalk with our feet dangling over a canal. As we ate we watched a motor boat back in and parallel park in front of us.

After soveneir shopping we're off to Burano to buy lace.

Beauty

Down every path in Venice there seems to be somtehing amazing.

Learning to Navigate Canals

Picture is of The Doge's Palace in St Marks Square. It's one of the buildings that faces the lagoon that you see in the famous pictures. I was really impressed by the detail in the church but not so much the rest. Picture of the church to come. The square was big, there were lots of pigeons.

Because of the extra cost incurred by arriving in Venice by way of Scotland we have decided to forfeit our roadtrip. Instead we will take the more cost effective train straight to Florence for one night skipping Bolgna then on to Rome. On the upside this allows us another day in Venice which is great since there is lots yet to do here.

Tomorrow we will watch the Palm Sunday Procession involving Olive Branches instead of Palm Fronds. The procession meanders through the Dosodoro Distric's campos (church squares). Then we will explore some islands, Murano to see glass blowing and Burano to see lace making.
Then who knows.

Resting Gondolas

These were resting in a small canal off the Grand Canal.

Bascilica San Marco

We made it. It's very cool, definite Arabian influence.

Venice Finally

We Made IT!!!

After a trip down the Grand Canal and some unwanted rain we started walking the streets of Venice and caught this great picture along the Grand Canal with Santa Maria Della Salute in the background.

In the main roads there are way too many people so we're sticking to the back paths. Enjoying a slice of pizza, then in search of gelato.

Next Stop: Venezia

We made it to Milan, the pic is their main train station, very pretty.

From the plane we took a bus to a train to the city center. Then we took the metro to the train station where we managed to use the machine to buy tickets to Venice.

It's been a long day and we're tired, hungry (no time for food) and giggly but it's been a fun adventure so far.

We're hoping to arrive at the hotel with no more excitment, but we'll see.

I leave for Italy today

It's after midnight so I don't have to say tomorrow anymore! Here is the new glass bridge in Venice that connects the city-wide parking lot with the rest of Venice. NO CARS PAST THIS POINT! We will be arriving by bus from the airport and walking over it to our hotel just 500 meters down the street (is it really a street if there are no cars to drive on it?). I have no idea how far 500 meters really is, but it doesn't SOUND too far to walk. This will be the beginning of our Venice experience. Just wanted to set the stage for you visually.

The Grand Italian Plan

I'm moving next weekend, so it's hard to focus on travel, but I know the next trip will be here before I know it. Mom's been good about handling the research so far so there isn't a whole lot left.

The plan is to leave on Thursday, April 2 through JFK, arriving around 11am on Friday in Venice, Italy. We already have reservations in Venice at Hotel Caprera which Mom is really excited about. We'll be in Venice for Palm Sunday which could be cool.

We'll stay in Venice for 4 nights and check out on the 7th at which point we will go back to the airport and....nope, not a flight, we'll pick up a car.

We plan to drive South toward Bologna and spend one night in that region, then we'll continue South to Florence where we'll spend another night. On the final day we'll work our way South to Rome, maybe stopping in Montepulciano and/or Orvieto. Then we'll drop the car at the airport in Rome.

But, still no flight, we'll take the train into town. We'll stay at Boschetto B&B for 5 nights. It's right near the Cavour stop on the blue line of the Metro. This puts us in Rome for Good Friday and Easter - we're thinking that Easter near Vatican city could prove to be cool.

Then it's homeward bound, finally.

Check back for updates to see how this whole thing goes :) I'm particuarly eager to see how the whole driving in Italy part works out....

PS - Check out the map here.