Venezia, Italia

Venice, Italy is a beautiful city. We loved the architecture of the buildings along the narrow streets and the winding canals.

The part of the city we were staying in does not even allow cars. Everything is by foot or by water. Even the "bus" that we took around all day was actually a small ferry boat. The weather was cold and windy, but it was a beautiful day.

We had arrived at the train station at 7:30 am on a sleeper car from Munich. It was odd trying to sleep on the train, but was a unique experience. I don't think I want to do it again. It's worse than sleeping on an airplane because you have to change speeds and sometimes even stop as you go through the towns along the way.

Our hotel in Venice was less than a block away from the train station, so they let us check in and leave our bags there, even though our room wasn't ready yet. They gave us a map and directions to the big tourist things to see.

Side Note: All the hotels we stayed in until Switzerland were 4 star hotels that I booked at really good rates on www.hotwire.com.

So we bought a 12 hour bus pass for the ferry boats and set off to explore the city. We saw the big Piazza San Marco which has some amazing buildings. We saw the opera house, and just enjoyed walking around the city and looking in the shop windows. We wouldn't have dared go in the stores... they were all Gucci, Dulce and Gabbana, and other high end shops. Barry had fun throughout our trip looking at all the high end watches (Rolex, Tag Huer, Cartier, etc).

We ate pizza at a late lunch at a restaurant by the main canal. Then we went back to our hotel room for a much needed nap and shower. We went to a small restaurant for dinner that was recommended by our concierge.

Thankfully, we've been in Europe long enough that we weren't surprised by the menu layout or the prices. They always list:
Appetizers 6 - 10 Euros
First Course - soup or pasta - 8 - 12 Euros
Main Course - meat or fish and a side dish - 12 - 15 Euros
Cheese plate - 8 - 10 Euros
Dessert - 5 - 10 Euros

You can see how this would add up quickly as a 5 course meal for 2 people. Usually we would get a first course and a main course, and sometimes dessert. We only got an appetizer if they were cheap and we weren't doing a first course. We were so American! But the waiters never seemed too surprised at our orders. And everyone spoke English very well.

It was a long but beautiful day in Venice. We enjoyed the respite from having to dodge cars, and we enjoyed the small town feel of this big city.