Day 4: Venice

Florence, Italy

First off – quick update of what we ended up doing for dinner last night 🙂 Still too hungry for a real meal, we decided to make a stop for crepes to end the night! Most people know, I do NOT have a sweet tooth, so you may get an extra smile from this story. We ventured in to a local chocolate/pastry shop that literally has fountains of chocolate running in the front window (our tour guide recommended this as her family’s favorite)…I found my self drooling over chocolate for the first time in my life between the display cases (picture really doesn’t do this justice), and aroma of chocolate filling the shop from the fountains. Mom & Jeff got traditionally prepared crepes with chocolate in-between and Bryan & I opted for gelato on top of our crepe (I assumed this meant without chocolate). Well, this is where I proceeded to make my first language/cultural mistake…I ordered a hot chocolate to drink with my chocolate-less crepe. I figured I’d never sleep if I got a cappuccino or espresso that late at night. Wrong! I wasn’t going to sleep from all the sugar that awaited me! 1) Chocolate still came in my crepe and 2) my hot chocolate (drink) was literally a cup full of the hot chocolate coming from the fountain/spread on the crepes and other desserts! Opps! I guess there are worse things I could have done in a different country! So, back to our lovely day spent in Venice. We boarded the high speed train in Florence and were highly impressed with the entire process, from getting your platform number, to the timeliness and cleanliness of the train itself. Our seats were in first class and made for a nice, quick (travel near 200 km/hr) trip to Venice! When the beverage/food cart stopped by I couldn’t help but laugh that the standard issued breakfast ‘sweet’ was also chocolate! Our tour guided promptly greeted us as we exited the train and welcomed us to this island/channel town. Before we wandered too far, our tour guide wanted to be sure we understood the history of how Venice got to be. A fascinating story, that many people who visit Venice never take the time to understand! Barbarians had invaded the mainland where Venetians used to live, so to protect their families they moved to the island known as Venice today. This was a ************* because they knew they were moving to a place with no resources, surrounded by water plagued with various deadly diseases. When moving to the island the social pyramid of poor and rich immediately vanished as they quickly learned the importance of having to work together. The people of Venice were very opened minded, welcomed various religions, and cared about charity/helping those less fortunate even when they had nothing. Over 11 decades, Venice transformed into they city we know today. They were able to support themselves as a merchant town specifically offering various spices and herbs. Due to their constant travel to supply goods, they often had to fight off pirates routinely. Throughout the city are various aqueducts in the middle of every few blocks which was a sophisticated water filtration system they developed under their city’s foundation to use the water deep in the clay. As we learned this background of the city, we wound through the many streets with our tour guide to Saint Mark’s Square. I LOVE the gothic architecture of this city even more than the renaissance style we’ve seen (although Venice is a mix of both). Before reaching the square our tour guide suggested a water taxi to help cut the time needed to reach the city center…for 2€/person (only 0.70€ for locals) we thought it sounded fun! And it was 🙂 we got to actually stand on a slightly larger style gondola across part of the canal. A fun little extra part of the adventure we weren’t expecting! The Piazza San Marco was very busy. A lot of things to take in at once and to be honest I really did not care for this part of the city. I found the Terrace off the Basilica to be charming (again, love that Gothic architecture); but, the touristy nature of the rest of the area near the plaza was just not for me. We did enjoy taking a walk through the Basilica. I was highly impressed by the mosaic tile floors and ceilings, and understand why it took over 400 years to construct this beauty – no pictures allowed inside (sorry). I also found it funny that the columns on/through the Basilica were actually stolen by Vientianes from their travels all over. Finally, we learned about the Doges that represented the city before they became unified (to be clear, they did not rule the city). For over 1,100 years they had 120 appointed Doges (most were between the ages of 70-90 when put into the position. I found this interesting since the average age people lived to during this time was 40-50. From here, our time with our tour guide ended and we had the rest of the day to explore on our own! We took everyone’s advise to simply wonder and “get lost in the city” with it’s many winding streets and canals. After looking at all the houses, I decided I’d paint mine yellow with green shutters if we ever move there 🙂 We chose to eat a larger, late lunch and found a beautiful patio area right off the main canal. Of course, we had to order Spritz to drink (the local sparkling wine based drink). I’m the only one who seemed to really care for this slightly bitter drink, but not shocked since I tend to love things like this (grapefruit, ginger, etc.)…everyone else did still enjoy trying the local drink! We shared two pastas (an amazing gnocchi with veal and spaghetti with peas and mussels) and all ordered a main entree with tiramisu for dessert (it was invented in Venice and we loved this style vs what we’re used to in America). I had fully intended to try the black pasta (squid ink pasta), but it wasn’t offered at our restaurant and we were too full to eat again before we left from Venice – guess we’ll have to return one day! Next, we ventured back to the mouth of the main canal (just around the corner from Piazza San Marco and got to see the Bridge of Sighs (were prisoners crossed into jail and got to see their last light of day), and the famous Rialto Bridge (oldest one, dating back to 1172). Then it was time to enjoy a relaxing ride in an authentic Venetian Gondola! I think we all agree the gondola ride was the best part! No better view of the city! It was so relaxing and really provided an entirely different perspective of the city. In the evening, we made our way back through the winding streets and took the high speed train back to Florence (we all definitely napped on the ride home). Tonight’s dinner was a bottom of wine, crackers and various meats from a local grocery! Toooooooo full yet again from a delicious lunch. Tomorrow we plan to have a lighter lunch, so we can save room for dinner! Tomorrow we’re off to see more of Tuscany: Siena & Montepulciano Ciao!