Venezia - Simonsen Christmas Travels P3

It was time to head northeast in Italy to a place many of us were curious about and eager to see.....Venezia (aka Venice).

First we had to head north to Milan then switch trains and head east to Venice.  We found it .....interesting (?? perhaps not the most accurate word here) that only 2 hrs north of Genoa we ran into....SNOW!  Yep!  There it was.  Little (well actually they were pretty large) white flakes sprinkling the ground and pelting the train windows.  Now I know we were near the mountains, and that snow IS possible in Italy, but it was still a little shocking to absorb that here it was, following my family from Canada to give us a white after-Christmas.

Leaving Milan

Needless to say, the snow continued with us almost all the way to Venice, but then changed to rain which was real fun to navigate in once we got to the Venice train station with suitcases galore.

Fun fact: Venice is a culmination of small islands connected and to get to it the train must travel across a bridge.  Mom told us this as we got close to our destination, but seeing it was a whole other ball game.

Crossing to get to Venice

 Also, which makes sense in hindsight knowing what we now know, there are no vehicles in Venice.  It is only water and foot traffic.  So of course, trying to get to our rental place meant either a walk in the rain following an unfamiliar map or taking a water taxi.  We chose option no. 2 only to find out that a 10 min water taxi ride cost us 60 euro. Apparently that was a flat rate.  Had we known, we would have gotten him to take us the long way around.

Water taxi fun. Low ceiling overhead.

We made it to our apartment which was VERY small but super cozy.  After a brief relaxation combined with warming up and drying out, we headed out to get groceries and find a place for supper.  Luckily our booking agent, aka Whitney, had us in the Frari Church area which had a couple nice restaurants just a few steps away.  This location was great considering that the snow had now followed us to Venice and there was a good inch on the ground on our way to supper.  I think this was the first time I saw, and admittedly used, umbrellas as snow buffers.  Venice was prepared for weather situations such as this since there was a man salting the streets when we returned from supper.

Best part about this first meal in Venice: the food was not solely Italian at this place. I thoroughly enjoyed a flavorful meal of curry chicken and rice.  After having lived here in Italy for awhile and traveling where eating out is the main option Italian food can get a little cumbersome (especially for a lactose intolerant, seafood avoiding person such as myself).

Holiday cheers!

The next day we headed out for a leisurely day of sightseeing.  With no real plan in place we grabbed a map and headed out to see the city.  Good thing we didn't have a plan or desired location to get to hurriedly as....well....navigating Venice is hard!  The 'streets' (term used loosely as the only traffic on them was by foot) are narrow and windy, with many turns, nooks and crannies.  One can easily, and did, get lost.  One of the most beautiful things though that we discovered on our walk was that Venice has many bridges and the views from them are magnificent throughout the city.

Frari Church

Tyler found a statue he liked and requested 

a picture with it. :)

We eventually made it to St Marks Square, the main square in the city which is wide open and lined with various shops.

After a stop for an Italian lunch, followed by not one but TWO complimentary shots of lemoncello (a lemon liquor that parts of Italy are known for) we meandered around before our evening event.

Mom ordered a seafood platter to try. As the saying, "When in Rome..." or

Venice as this case.  Probably won't be something we order again lol.

Calzone was a little larger than expected.

Lights along the walkway perimeter of St. Marks Square.

My sister had wanted to go to an opera in Venice while we were there, but alas it was sold out when she went to buy tickets.  Nonetheless, the show loving family that we are, she got us tickets to a little live theater production about the history of Venice.  We got there early as it was rush seating in an Italian crowd (I had visions of a messy entrance) and after fighting, literally, our way for a good spot we thoroughly enjoyed learning about Venice's history and how masks and carnivale came to be an important part of the city.

Our night ended with a walk home over the infamous Rialto bridge.  Many photo ops were taken here and the ambiance of the night was capped off with music playing classic songs such as Stand By Me, as well as more cultural ones, as we took in the view off the bridge.  It also gave us a chance to get our dance on as Dad took Mom in his arms for part of a song, and Mom and I later grooved on down the stairs. ;)

Funky Power

The morning of the 29th marked us being on our holiday for about a week and a half.  At this point, no matter how hard you try to pack all that you need, a laundromat was a necessity.  After a quick Internet search we found one just a 5 min walk away and camped ourselves there for a couple hours.

With a fresh batch of laundry, dry even since there were dryers, at which point I hugged the laundry and reveled in this long forgotten sensation of dry, fluffy, warm clothes, we headed out to once again continue exploring Venice.  The best part about walking through Venice is that you never seem to follow the same path twice (unless very very intentional lol).

Lunch this day was again at a Hard Rock Cafe, now becoming a fan favourite. At one point during the meal, my new found (well let's say more like enhanced) use of talking with my hands caused a glass to topple over spewing wine upon the floor and parts of Dad.  Luckily a crafty, swift waitress came to our aid and amid a self created tune managed to get the mess cleaned up.  Did I say that she grabbed the paper towel end from the wall and kept throwing it on dad, reminding us of a clown taking a handkerchief that never ends out of his pocket?  SO worth the spill I tell you.

Next, the part that sums up Venice in one phrase, a gondola ride!  I was very excited for this as: a) experiencing a gondola ride in infamous Venice was thrilling, and b) this was something my Mom REALLY wanted to do with my Dad.  How romantic hey? ;)  Once in the gondola, our driver pushed us through the windy canals and into the Grand Canal.  He was terrific as he provided us with many interesting facts along our way, ie. the water in the small canals was only 2m deep whereas in the Grand Canal it was 6-7m deep, we went by the hotel that George Clooney got married in, noted historic Venezia buildings such as Marco Polo's house.

Marco Polo's house

Clooney wedding venue

I must publicly note here that it was thrilling to see the look on my parents' faces during this ride: Mom = glowing with excitement, Dad = white knuckled and a little....well let's say fearful of the water/boat but doing it for his love. Awwww!  Super proud that he made it through lol!

We ended our final evening in Venice with a water bus ride home.  During our time here we pretty much took every form of transportation available.

Once back Whitney and I scouted out the route to the water bus for the morning that would take us to the train and on to our final destination of the Simonsen Christmas Travels ..... Naples!