Our final day in Venice proved to be quite the experience. We began by venturing out in the rain, umbrellas in hand, rain boots on our feet. A huge thanks to Stacy, the owner of our lodging, The Chef's Wife B&B, for the boots. I can't imagine our day would've been half as enjoyable without them! Although it was raining, we took our time getting to the Rialto Mercato. We took in the sights and smells of the city as we went. The smell of fresh baked bread filled the streets as children took their sweet time getting to school. We found a bookstore Stacy recommended, but they didn't have the book I'm looking for. I swear this city was made for me...a shoe store and a bookstore across the street from each other! Anyway, we finally made our way to the traghetto when another downpour began. That meant we had to walk in order to cross the canal. The plan was to walk across the Rialto Bridge at some point during the day, so why not now? It certainly was a sight to behold! It's amazing to build an entire city on pyles...but to build a bridge with shops along the entire length of it in that same city is quite a feat! From the bridge we made our way to the market. You know the happiness you get in your tummy when you walk into Wegman's and the first thing you smell is the ripe strawberries? OMG imagine that, but 20 times better! We made a snack out of fresh strawberries, apples, and parmigiano reggiano cheese. We perused the rest of the market, which was mainly seafood. There certainly were some interesting sights considering our lack of tastebuds for things that come from the ocean.
Once we finished our snack, we began to explore without much of a plan, just a general direction and final destination: the Frari Church. Along the way, we stumbled upon an amazing candy shop. John got a coffee and we got some candy to share. We haven't eaten all of it, but what we've had is to die for! Amaretto, and lemon and cocoa jelly candies...mmm! We continued the short walk to the church, and as we arrived the rain finally stopped. What a beautiful church! We listened to the Rick Steves audio tour, and it was definitely helpful. Since most of the display explanations are in Italian, it was a lifesaver! The tombs in the church were purchased by the wealthy, and boy is that clear...some of the altars are bigger than our house!
After we left the church, we just plain got lost. The intent was to know where we were in relation to certain landmarks. That went out the window awfully fast! A lot of time (at least an hour) was spent wandering aimlessly, just hoping to stumble upon somewhere to eat or find a restroom. That was probably the best lesson learned from this excursion...when you find a restroom, use it whether you need to or not! Those things are well hidden and hard to come by. Anyway...we eventually found a place to eat with some stromboli-like dish and it was just what we needed. After much brow furrowing, we ended up at the Accademia and gathered our bearings.
The remainder of the day was spent in St. Mark's Square. Because we spent a little more time than expected being lost, the afternoon was a little haphazard. First was the visit to St. Mark's Basilica. The basilica is stunning, with its intricate, storytelling mosaics and gothic architecture. The view from the balcony was beautiful, but nothing compared to those we were about to see!
From the basilica, we went straight to the Doge's Palace. I think this was more interesting for John. (And by this time my feet were killing me from walking in rain boots all day!) I digress...the palace was ornate and over-the-top (as we've found many of the sights are in Venice) with an enormous courtyard and detailed frescos. We also toured the prison. Pretty much what you would expect...stone walls and floors. Some prisoners were lucky enough to have wooden beds and chamber pots; others just the cold stone floor. The palace and prison are connected by the Bridge of Sighs. In the eighteenth century, the bridge was romanticized. The story goes that as prisoners made the journey from their sentencing in the palace to their time in the prison, they would stop on the bridge and sigh, as that would be the last they would see the beautiful city and sunshine.
We continued to the Correr Museum. It was interesting, but the best parts were the books and bookcases. I wish photos would have been allowed in there. Maybe my dad could help me build the floor to ceiling bookcases with glass doors, beautiful columns, and detailed carvings. Yeah, right! Back to the trip...from the Correr we traipsed across the square to the Campanile. The Campanile is the bell tower in the square. Lucky for us, the only way up and down is the elevator! As you can see, the view from the top was breathtaking!
Time for dinner! Thanks to RS, we ended up at Ristorante Antica Sacrestia. The food was delicious, but there was so much! The lasagna was interesting. I've never had meat lasagna with peas in it before. From dinner we went to find another bookstore, but when we finally found it (only slightly lost this time), the store was closed. Boo! This means I'm still searching for my book! Bonus points for anyone who can guess which book I'm hunting!
We headed back to St. Mark's Square for the RS walking tour of the square itself. The space is grand, to say the least. In the lantern light, it's even more beautiful than before! Throughout the tour, we came across the world's first digital clock (which keeps time in 5 minute increments). And for our fellow Penn Staters...are you ready for this?! The winged lion (found everywhere in Venice-flags, statues, labels, etc.) was St. Mark's symbol. Venice adopted the symbol in honor of him. There's a statue of a lion in the square which everyone has their picture taken with. Young and old wait in line, just for a picture with it. Sound familiar? So yeah, we totally did it! Unfortunately, the For the Glory flag was not on hand (another lesson learned). Again, we ended the day with some gelato. John got strawberry, which was delicious! Definitely no imitation flavoring, just fresh strawberries. The chocolate chip was good, too. The salted caramel from Grom is still the best. So, even though we're so far away, we still had great reminders of home today. After all, what's better in Happy Valley than ending the day with some Creamery ice cream and a walk on campus to the Lion Shrine?
In the end, we didn't get to do everything we had planned. We missed a museum, and no gondola ride for us...just not enough hours in a day! All in all, the city was everything we had hoped for, and so much more.
Our first day in Venice was a resounding success in which we soundly defeated jet-lag and had a productive day with only a few minor changes to our originally planned itinerary. Our flight landed at approximately 09:00 local time (six hours ahead of Eastern time) and we briskly went through customs, rode the bus to Venice, walked to our B&B, and arrived at approximately 10:15. After an extremely helpful briefing from Stacy, the B&B owner, and quick showers, we were on our way by noon. From wheels down to sightseeing in three hours after an international redeye is what I call a success.
Our first stop was for a quick bite to eat. There is a small cafe outside the B&B which we stopped at, and it was totally uneventful. The food was edible, but that's about all that I can say about it.
Next was our "Venice Orientation". We hopped on the vaporetto (essentially a water bus) and popped on our headphones for Rick Steves' "Grand Canal Cruise" audio tour. Rick Steves is a name you will hear frequently throughout our blogging, as a significant part of our trip planning was based on his guidebooks. The audio tour was a narration of the 45 minute ride from one end of the Grand Canal to the other. It introduced most of the major sights that line the canal and allowed us to get a strong sense of direction for the city (all while getting to rest and relax on a boat). To the right is a view of the Rialto Bridge from the vaporetto.
We departed the vaporetto near St. Mark's Square and wandered about until we ended up at La Salute Church, a beautiful domed church with a number of altars inside and gorgeous architecture. In the picture to the left, you can see the church in focus behind us. From there we visited the Gallerie dell'Accademia, which housed an incredible collection of Catholic paintings depicting mostly Saint Peter and Mary. For some reason, the fire alarm went off during the last half of our time there. It was quite bothersome.
At this point, we were both running out of steam and looking for dinner. Our only criteria was that it had to be nearby. We needed some fuel before more walking. Luckily, a restaurant listed in the RS guidebook happened to be right outside the Accademia. It also happened to be right along the Grand Canal, which made for nice views (seen to the right). The food was better than lunch, but we still hadn't found any culinary masterpieces... until after dinner.
With our batteries recharged enough for a bit more exploring, the new goal became gelato. RS recommended a place called Grom, which was not too far from the Accademia. We got there and hemmed and hawed over the flavors which were only listed in Italian. Once we sucked it up and just picked something, we tasted success. This gelato was pitch perfect, and a sorely needed treat to wind down our day. We had intended to take a gondola ride after the gelato (around 20:00), but jet-lag finally got to us. We hopped back on the vaporetto and headed back to the B&B. We will need to charge our batteries well, because a gondola ride has just been added to the already packed itinerary for tomorrow.
It's been two plane rides and less than 24 hours since we left. The flights were smooth, but sleep was a little more difficult to come by than we had hoped. It's like being a five-year-old the night before Christmas. You know you should sleep because, as Effie Trinket would say, tomorrow's going to be "a big, big, big day!" But the combination of the less than comfortable seats, the occasional crying baby, and anticipation of the adventure ahead keep you just restless enough from falling into a deep sleep. Regardless of the amount of sleep we've gotten, it appears as though we may have been fairly successful in adjusting sleeping patterns with the time zone changes. I suppose that's something we'll truly find out when it's time to go to sleep (or before, you never know).
The Alps (left), Beautiful Italia (right)
We're looking forward to an exciting first day!
