Venice, Ciao!

So we finally booked a trip to Venice. It is on our bucket list so when a deal came up we took it. Unknowing I really did not look at the time of year or weather at Venice.  Come to find out we are taking a bit of a gamble. Venice floods about 100 times a year, yes that's right a foot or two of water in St Marks Square. The more you push your holiday to winter the more likely the floods are.  No wonder the price was right and non refundable. 

We did our home work and booked our tours, transportation and hotel before hand. The deal came with flight (Easy Jet) should of been my first clue at the value of our trip. hotel, gondola ride, trip to Murano Island, bottle of persecco this I am sure is to cover up minor chanelleges and discrepancies in travel issues. Adventures like I have said in the past I am not fond of. Hoping we will not meet any unexpected challenges. 

The videos of Venice  made you think that the place will be spectacular with venues but do not think the people will be that nice, similar to Paris.  To many tourists. 

Well we started off by booking a hotel at Gatwick the night before so we could take an early flight. Cost savings of taking taxi from house at O' dark thirty or staying at hotel is about the same unless you screw up and not have enough cash to buy a return ticket on the air bus and have to by a oneway then that wipes out your savings, oh well travel will be travel, lots of unexpected expenses. 

By the time I started adding up all the extras, tours, water taxi, airbus, dog walker, air port hotel, food, our 500 adventure turned into an easy 1000 expense and we have not even landed.  Not to mention shopping. Yes, to good to be true but we are going to Venice. 

Took off early and got to fly over the alps, spectacular view as the sun was rising.  The further we got the shadows got higher and then the cloud cover came and washed out all the valleys making them look like they were covered with snow.  When we finally descended into Venice we were covered in mist and then broke through the clouds and saw miles and miles of what seemed like mud flats and we were barely clearing the gondola poles or navigation sticks, not sure. Few, just missed them. 

Very overcast as we boarded the Alilaguna for San Marks. These drivers are crazy slow, trying to keep tourist off the island by driving as slow as possible is my guess. Correct, on the way back to airport it was one speed fast.  As we arrived on the island we experienced the classic getting lost.  You would think over the last 1000 years they could get the maps right, but not on your life. Back in the day they use to pull up the canal markers to make it harder for invaders, well they do the same for tourist  but this is to have not many street names, although to all the big attractions there are these odd signs everywhere pointing to San Marcos Square, Rialtol Bridge...We wondered the alleys and saw incredible bridges, churches, canals and did a few circles for good luck and were completely lost. then ran into a large canal ( other side of island)and turned around and there was our hotel. Go figure. What a lovely place to get lost in. 

Left our luggage and caught a Valpretto(water bus), watched google earth as the blue dot headed down the wrong canal, oops, but not to worry you can always catch another one. Found a  local place for late lunch, fish soup, swordfish, and clam spaghetti delicious. Now we are full getting lost is not so bad. 

Da Vinci here we come, maybe will depend on how lost we get trying to find this place.  I think we are on the right island anyway. Found lots of shops along the way, found my Venice hat, what fun.

Saw the many sides of DaVinc and replicas of many of his inventions you could play with. 

We did all the main attractions in St Mark Square. The Doge had more paintings of junk than any museum I have been in so far. Stopped counting after 50, that was after one room in the Doge Palace, so glad I was not counting breasts! Would of froze to death before I got out. Very large rooms and no heat, a little chilly in November. 

Murano glass blowing was incredible, 

besides the fact that the “free” boat ride to the island and back was a pure sales pitch. 

                 What do you think, Men in Black or 007;)

 In the display room items started at €700, the one I liked was €5000, as they figured you were not going to buy the big stuff they moved you along to the not so expensive items where I spent €100, and come to find out back at the gift shops on San Marcos ,same items selling at a 3rd the cost but, yes I spent €100. That was to insure we got a boat ride back to San Marcos Island. Best historical fiction book is “The Murano Glass Blower” , it is very close to the truth as to how the technique was 

stolen by the king of France.

On our sharing gondola ride we were sitting on bench’s half the size of out butts and asked not to move. The other people got the nice seats. But I was able to get the photo of the trip so it was worth it. 

Found a unique shop with tea cups that were half eastern influence and half western , had to have a set for Grandma Browns tea cup collection. What a great find. 

My favorite cafe was at the end of the Doge Tour, after you crossed the Bridge of Sighs and wondered back across it to the palace again the tour takes you through the cafeteria and a table right next to the canal with a gondola gliding by every minute. Made a lot of faces at the gondola riders. 

Our last day in Venice we packed it in. San Marks cathedral, Doge Palace, and then off to a very intimate museum the Peggy Guggenheim. This was a highlight, Kandinsky, Pollock the contemporary artists before it went off the wall.  

Went to the Phoenix theater for a classical trio, piano, cello, clarinet, great way to end a holiday in Venice. Very ornate gold, high ceilings, lovely venue. The rain came down on the walk back to our hotel.  Good news is we did not get too lost on our way home. Hot tea and tiramisu for desert to cap off the night. 

Venice is beautiful and the people are very welcoming, but there are so many tourist even in November, and this was off season, can not believe what it would be like in high season. 

Did the classic run and wait in lines to get through water taxis, search and seizure, passport control, boarding and bathroom, endless lines. Did schedule more than enough time thank goodness as our water taxis was full and had to wait for the next one, we made all our connections and back over the alps  to cold and sunny in London. 

                                     Arriverderci!