Venice

Photos from Venice can be found here. 


Sunday, September 4

Arriving to Venice

Ruth, George, Cheryl, and Frank flew a red eye from Orlando to Paris – Charles de Gaulle. Ashley flew a red eye from Boston to Paris – Charles de Gaulle. From Paris, we flew to Venice. After arriving in Venice and retrieving our luggage, we walked down to catch a water transit (Ashley called it the water bus) over to the island of Venice. The water bus costs about 15 € per person and took about 1 hour to get from the airport to Venice. On the water bus, there were many stops and it started to get dark which did not help the fact that we were all tired. However, it was neat to see the lights on the islands and the large cruise ships sailing by.

We got off at our stop (San Zaccaria) which was very close to San Marco. After a short walk (that included getting the luggage over a bridge and asking a local for directions), we arrived at the Venice Best Western which was called Hotel Bisanzio. It was a wonderful hotel that was in close proximity to most things, close to the water, yet in a quiet area. We asked the concierge to suggest a restaurant for dinner. He suggested a little place down a few alleys from our hotel.  Real Italian for dinner with rain was threatening (but ended in a very quick sprinkle). The exhaustion had set in and after dinner we were all quickly asleep.

Monday, September 5
The hotel supplied a breakfast. George and Frank were down first and Cheryl soon joined them. This was the day they met the Breakfast Nazi (a hotel employee) that would continue to be mean to George the entire time! She did not like that they added a chair to their table for Cheryl and then when Ruth and Ashley joined, George was sitting with them and she asked if he was there to eat again (haha!). Croissants were amazing and the breakfast was delicious.

Glass making in Murano

Ruth, Ashley, and Cheryl took a water taxi over to Murano to check out the glass blowing. We were worried because the weather forecast showed bad storms all day (especially in the afternoon). It was raining in Murano but we were too busy watching the glassblowers to notice. After purchasing a few nice jewelry pieces that were handmade in Murano, we caught a water bus back to the hotel to pick up George and Frank for lunch.

We explored the multiple alleys to find a place to have lunch. We settled on a pizzeria. In addition to the pizzas, we had a Greek salad and on the salad there were fried cucumber skins that everyone enjoyed (Ashley thought they were a little salty!). After lunch, we walked to San Marco Square. We saw the gondolas cruising down the canals (a little too commercial/touristy for us, but it was neat to see).

View from the Rialto Bridge

After lunch, the guys went back to the hotel and the gals went to explore more of Venice. As we walked over to the Rialto Bridge (bridge over the Grand Canal), we did some shopping, got a little lost, and people watched. We jumped on a water bus that went through the Grand Canal and were able to take lots of pictures. Next, Ruth and Cheryl rested while Ashley went to the Dali Museum near San Marco Square. For dinner, the families split up. Tomorrow... off to Slovenia.


Tuesday, September 6 

St. Mark's Basilica

Today, Ashley headed to St. Mark’s Basilica (she made sure to wear long pants and a shirt with sleeves. Once she arrived back, it was time to catch a water taxi to go get the rental cars (The government employees were striking so there were very few public transportation boats in the water).

Oh the rental cars!!! So we decided to rent two cars (they of course were stick shift!).  Frank and Ruth were selected as the drivers with Ashley as the navigator.  When the cars were brought to us, we quickly packed and got in the car to head towards Slovenia.  Ruth, George, and Ashley were in one car and headed off.  Car 1 noticed that Car 2 containing Frank and Cheryl had not moved so Car 1 quickly pulled off on the side of the road.  Ashley jumped out of Car 1 and was talking to Car 2 (for some reason their car was not starting but it finally started).  Ashley noticed that all of George's maps were on top of the car - EVERY MAP WE HAD WAS ON THE ROOF OF THE CAR... George forgot that he placed them on top of the car and he just got in!  Thank goodness Car 2 didn't start and we had to pull off!!!

We traveled up to the interstate towards Slovenia.  For lunch, we stopped at a rest area and had a delicious lunch.  Rest stops were really nice in Italy!  Looking back, we should have reviewed the driving rules for both Italy and Slovenia before renting cars!!!