Apparently I forgot about Venice...how could I?!

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Venice…where do I start! First of all, it took me an entire day to get there! I was supposed to arrive around 5pm but one of my trains was delayed and made an unexpected stop, at least unexpected to me, so I missed two of my connections. Once I arrived at the first station in Italy they told me I had to go back to France to exchange my ticket! Thankfully the first stop in France was only 15 minutes away, so I made my way there and they told me they couldn’t do anything because it was an Italian ticket! Ugh, come on, someone needs to help me here! So I went back to the Italian station with the intention of just buying new tickets and moving on. But I decided to explain one more time what had happened and they said all I had to do was board the train and I would just have to pay a change fee. Thankfully it was only 8 Euro, instead of 90 which is what new tickets would have cost! I got shuffled around a little since I didn’t actually have an assigned seat, but as long as I made my connection in Milano I didn’t care. Once I got to Milano I encountered the same situation. I was sent to about 3 different “information” desks before I finally told someone my train in France was “retardo” which means delayed, so that‘s why I missed my original train. Once I said that they understood, stamped my ticket and I was on the next train to Venice. Finally! It was about 11pm once I arrived in Venice and attempted to find my hotel. I stopped at 4 or 5 restaurants along the way just to make sure I was headed in the right direction. Not even GPS would have helped me here…literally, it just doesn’t work in Venice. I finally found it, checked in, dropped off my luggage and walked down the street to a café that I saw on my way to my hotel and grabbed a sandwich and some water and called it a night. What a day! All I can say is Venice at night is beautiful!
The next day I enjoyed breakfast at my hotel and then headed out to wander the streets, and canals, of Venice. What a beautiful city! Although it’s very easy to get lost, it’s so worth it, you just better hope you’re wearing good walking shoes! I made my way back to the train station to get a map and a vaporetto (water bus) pass for the day. I hopped on the first vaporetto to Saint Marc’s Square and just enjoyed the ride. I loved watching all the boats, water taxis and gondolas go by, and of course admired the wonderful, old, architecture of all of the buildings. I admired Saint Marc’s Square, took some photos and just wandered a bit, as usual. I then found a tour office and booked myself a walking tour through the Saint Marc’s area. I didn’t go inside Saint Marc’s Basilica because the queue (line) was close to 3 hours long. Another lesson learned, always pre-register for tours! My walking tour wasn’t for a few hours so I continued to wander and found a café to sit and have lunch. I sat for a little over an hour, enjoyed my lunch, and just watched the people go by. As I made my way back to the tour meeting point I stopped for some gelato and window shopped along the way.
The tour was great. The guide took us through a lot of small side streets, or calles, as they call them in Venice and I was able to see a lot that I know I wouldn’t have if I didn’t take the tour. One of my favorite things we saw was this amazing spiral staircase. I’ve seen it in Venice guidebooks, but they always say it’s really hard to find. It’s unbelievable! Each step is made of 1 large piece of marble, each stacked on top of the other to form the spiral staircase. I took some close up pictures to try to capture how they are stacked. The attention to detail in this town, all over Europe actually, is just incredible. I am really admiring the architecture here. I’ve always loved it, especially since my Mom was an architect, but now that I’m being exposed to such a rich history of it, I’m appreciating it more and more.
The tour lasted about an hour and half and it was great to learn some history of Venice. I walked back towards the vaporetto stop and hopped on the next boat. I got off at the first stop on the other side of the Grand Canal and wandered past the Galleries of Accademia. It was closed already so I couldn’t go in. That was ok, I was really enjoying just exploring the city. I started heading in the direction of my hotel, or at least I thought it was! I got lost, of course. But there’s really only so far you can go in Venice before you reach water so I just walked until I found a vaporetto stop and took the next boat back to the train station and then back to my hotel for an hour or so. I was exhausted, my feet hurt, but I was hungry so I found a restaurant not far from my hotel and enjoyed a small bottle of wine, pasta, and tiramisu. I went to bed as soon as I returned to my hotel so I could get an early start to my day, and not miss my train to Florence! I had breakfast quickly at my hotel, finished packing and made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare.
I am now in Florence and once again the city is amazing. My train ride was very uneventful, thankfully, and I took a short, cheap, taxi ride to my hotel, which is a wonderful 3 star hotel just a few steps from the Arno River. I won’t make this entry any longer…Florence will be next!

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Comments

[Teresa]

I'm addicted
I don't know about anyone else, but I am addicted to your travel blog. I can't wait for the next set of pictures and the play by play. Super fun to be traveling with you.