Venice -- Another day in Paradise!

After a good breakfast and coffee we started our way toward the train station. We purchased our train tickets to Venice when we arrived in Florence to avoid having to wait in line on the day of our departure. Our train arrived on schedule and we were off. I just want to mention that sleeping on the train is easy to do but you should have someone always keeping an eye out for your stop. Two hours and we were there! Not to down play the remarkable sight we saw immediately leaving the train station - we had to find the correct vaporetto (water bus). Finding it was fun as we were running back and forth to find the right one. Happily safe and secure on the vaporetto, we were off! I didn’t have my camera out and ready because I just wanted to take the whole feeling of Venice in. But I would have my turn as soon as we found our hotel and lightened the load.

I read in many guide books that the first thing you need to do when you get to Venice is GET LOST! Well in our case this was not difficult to do. Right from the start we had a difficult time trying to follow our hotel directions but happy to report we found it. As soon as we got there our room was not ready so we left our bags and ran out the door with camera in hand. We decided to first take some pictures of the Campanile and after posing for a few selfies, we decided our tummies started to rumble so we set out to find a restaurant  I had some squid ink pasta and Steve had cuttel fish pasta and salad. Satisfying our tummies we headed off to explore.  

 

Well I mentioned that getting lost was supposed to be part of the plan and I have to say we had fun at first. Roaming through small alleys and talking about all our adventure and the wonderful food and people we met along the way. We had fun wondering into a small church and taking photos of the beautiful alter and statues. There is so much culture and history in this small city. It is easy to let time get away. It started to get late and we decided to head back to our hotel and we both realized we did it! We did what the tour books said to do. We got lost! Getting lost was fun, but trying to find our way back wasn’t.  

 

We found ourselves going around in circles scratching our heads and having to laugh at the whole situation. But it started to get late and we were beginning to feel like Hansel and Gretel wishing we had dropped bread crumbs to find our way back. We had to ask for directions several times and we were happy to find our way out of the jungle of buildings, water canals and swarms of people seeming as if they knew exactly where they were going. This really leaves you feeling less then competent. We were back at the Grand Canal and found that we were pretty far away from our hotel so we hopped on the vaporetto and eased our ruffled feathers by happily taking photos knowing we would soon be back at our hotel safe and sound.

 

When we got off at our correct stop, we went back to our hotel, unpacked and decided it was time to have dinner. We decided that getting lost again was not for us, so went around the block from our hotel and had a nice glass of vino and a light dinner. Tomorrow we decided to stay close to our hotel and watch the world go by us as we sit in the piazza San Marco and sip coffee at an open café.