We got in at the airport in Venice just after 9 pm. We had to take a water taxi over to the island (look at a map and you can see that Venice is off the mainland a bit. our hotel is in San Marco, on the south side) which reminded me how much I love boats. It was just after 11 when we finally made it to our hotel. We were only afraid we were going to be mugged for one tiny part of that journey.
I will show you the process of finding the reception for our hotel below, but once we did find it, we found out that our room was actually around the block and up 3 flights of stairs with no lift. That was delightful. When we got in our room, we found this little staircase
which led up to this little loft
and up to these doors
which opened out onto this balcony!
At night, you couldn't see nearly so much, but the stars were pretty, and it was a cool, breezy place to eat the pizza we ran back downstairs to get.
Dane gets a little nervous when he looks down at the street.
There are no cars on the island (at least that I've seen) so all the transportation is on foot or by boat.
Ok, so when we got off the water shuttle at San Marco's square, we weren't sure how sketchy it would be to walk to our hotel. It turns out that the square is still quite the happening place at 11, and we felt much better. The street signs here are either nonexistent or hard to see, and relatively flexible in what they call the street. There is not too much concern about making the signs match the maps. However, we had our directions to follow this one street (which included at least 4 turns even though those were not in the directions) until we saw a little alley called calle de Bella (or something like that). We were also told to look for a Foot Locker, and the alley was across from that. We did not take a picture at night, because we did not want to stop moving, but this is the alley we were supposed to find. And this picture is being taken in broad daylight. With the Foot Locker clue, I never would have assumed this was a street we should walk down.
By the time we were 10 feet into it, both of us were starting to get nervous. It was super dark, smelled terrible, and there was not another person in sight. However, I was given warning that we would have to walk 50 meters into the alley before we would see the door, so we kept going. We expected there to be a sign sticking out into the alley for the hotel but no.
There was just nothingness.
And then we found the sign. You know those 5 watt night lights you can get at ikea? That's how bright this sign was.
Then to get to our actual room, we had to walk all the way through the alley and over this bridge. Oh well, we made it. It's a good story. And I'm glad all our other flights are midday.
The first thing we needed to do was find a laundrette to get some clothes washed. I had looked up where one was on the island, but decided that it would be a better idea to go and find it first (to make sure it existed, as the information I'd found was from 2009) and then go back to get our suitcase full of stinky clothes. It was a good call. Again, with the maps and bad signage and crooked streets. Eventually, though, our clothes were in the wash and we rewarded ourselves with some gelato.
Post laundry, we went to explore the waterfront a bit. We went back through San Marco's square.
There are lots of lions with wings, so I'm guessing it's some kind of symbol of the city or something like that.
The water was lovely, as was the breeze.
This is the Bridge of Sighs, and it connects the old Doge's palace/court of justice with the prison, and the name comes from the idea that the prisoners would be taken across the bridge and see Venice one last time before being locked away, so they would sigh. There are several things that are problematic with this story, but whatever.
We had lunch at a cafe by the water. Food is expensive here, and Dane pointed out that it is likely because it's so much work to get supplies to the restaurants. Everything has to be carted in manually (I'd almost gotten run over by a cart of such deliveries). The food was simple but delicious, and we concluded that they really do serve an appropriate portion of food. It's enough to make you full with stuffing yourself. And we observed that in the US people would criticize the portions for being small.
Dane is so happy when we are in the shade.
There are several people dressed up in carnivale costumes for pictures.
More cool buildings.
This is the clock tower of San Marco, It's pretty.
When we got back to the room, it made me think of the play Barefoot in the Park, with some of our clothes draped over railings to finish drying.
Dane took a nap because it's his turn being sick, and I repacked the suitcases yet again. I'm getting really good at it. When we headed out to find dinner, it was just starting to get dark, which means the lights from the shops and restaurants were starting to get more dramatic in the narrow streets. Because the buildings are so crowded together, they cut off light, so you'll walk down a fairly dark street, turn a corner, and suddenly it's shining bright. Here's an example of how narrow the streets can get.
We tried going to a restaurant that was recommended to us by one of Dane's friends from work, but they were full. Eventually we found another place, and when my sea bass came out, it was a full fish that had just been grilled. The server asked, "you clean, or I clean?" I'm glad I had both choices! Otherwise, I would have made a mess.
After dinner, we went back to the waterfront to walk around a bit and found a bench right by the water to sit and people watch for a while. It's really interesting to see so many Italian tourists here. In Rome, there were tons of tourists as well, but this is a little different. There were several musicians and bands playing along the walkway. It was an altogether delightful evening, with fresh coconut for dessert as we walked back to our hotel.
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