Venice/Venezia

The train ride from Milan to Venice was about two and a half hours, plenty of time to catch a nap.

Train travel in Europe is a completely different experience from the train travel in the U.S.

• You have to make sure you are sitting in the correct seat number as your ticket indicates.
• Most trains, you have to validate your ticket before getting on the train. If you don’t and the conductor finds out, you will be fined. You can’t use excuses like “I’m from out of town. I didn’t know.”
• There are different classes and amenities provided.

The train ride was uneventful. Ben napped most of the way. I have a hard time taking naps during the day and was paranoid about leaving our bags unattended. As Ben likes to say, I am a zombie and never sleep. Of course, Deanna never sleeps during the day.

Soon enough, we arrived at Venezia Mestre station. Here, we had to depart and get on a regional train that would take us to Venice. Not knowing any better, we got off the train and followed the flow of passengers. Turns out they were locals and were not headed to Venice. We followed them right out of the station and got lost for the first time. Somehow, we were at the back of the station and had to go all around the block to the front. Eventually, we found our way back, bought our tickets, validated our tickets, and headed for Venice.

The train ride from Mestre to Venezia Santa Lucia was about 12 minutes–barely enough time to take off our backpacks and to sit down. When we arrived at Venezia Santa Lucia station, we were still trying to figure out how we got lost. Being lost for a short time sort of took the wind out of our sails. We slowly trudged out of the train. Little did we know, the sparkle in our eyes would be back so quickly.

We stepped out of the station and were already on the water. I did a lot of research for the trip, but I did not look at a lot of pictures of the train stations or anything. My breath was taken away when I stepped out of the station. I was in awe of how beautiful everything looked. Being able to see it for yourself, in person. Pictures do not capture the atmosphere of the place.

Right in front of the station, there are water taxis and private hire boats available. We took a water taxi to a stop near our hotel. Now, we were absolutely giddy with excitement. Our path from the taxi stop to our hotel was winding and maze-like. Deanna ran ahead with a permagrin on her face. Here is where our backpacks were advantageous. There were cobblestones, steps, and bridges everywhere. I would not have liked to drag a rolling suitcase through the maze.

Our hotel, Palazzo Paruta & Wellness Apartments, was on a quiet piazza. There were a few carts selling souvenirs. We checked in and were then told to go to another building on the other side of the piazza. Our room was in an apartment building. Interesting.

We only had one night booked in Venice. After seeing our room, we kind of wished we had more time to spend there. This room turned out to be a full apartment with an amazing balcony. There was a kitchen, a bedroom, and a full bed in the main room. I would have loved to be able to get some fresh ingredients from the markets and cook in that place!

We dropped our bags, secured our valuables, and went searching for some local bites. Venice is known for their snacks and side dishes called cicchetti. Looking through some online reviews of places around us, it seemed like we should be looking for bàcari/cicchetti bars. We made our way through the piazzas, across the Ponte dell’Accademia, through the little alley ways, and found a little bar called Osteria Al Squero. There were a handful of people lingering outside, a ton of people inside, and plenty of locals hanging out. This is the bar where we also learned/discovered the Aperol spritz–our new drink for the rest of the trip. We ordered a couple of spritzes and a variety of cicchetti. Cicchetti are little sandwiches or slices of bread topped with various meats. You had me at bread, Venice! The cicchetti we purchased were so delicious, we ended up going back in for a second round. We probably could have stayed here all day, but really wanted to be able to see the rest of the city and see what other foods were available.

After the cicchetti, we continued our exploration of the city. We got to Piazzo San Marco and were amazed at the beauty of the buildings–Basilica di San Marco, the bell tower, and the palazzo. Just as we were about to step into the pigeon filled piazza, Deanna of course had to go to the bathroom. Of course, we did not have any Euro coins to use the public restrooms. So, we paid five Euros and did not get any change back.

The rest of our time in Venice was spent walking along the water, through the alleys, gawking at all the fresh seafood on display in the restaurants’ window-fronts, and eating gelato. We were just happy to be getting lost in Venice.

For dinner, we ate close to our hotel. It’s pretty dark down a lot of the small alleys. We did not want to get lost at night, especially having Deanna with us. We walked to Ristorante La Feluca. It was the perfect place for our first, real Italian meal. We got fresh seafood, fish, polenta, and wine. At the end of our meal, our waiter gave Ben and I each a shot of limoncello. It was STRONG. Ben had to finish mine for me.

The next day, we had to check out early, but were able to leave our bags at the front desk. Since we got to Venice the day before, we did not have a chance to do touristy things because the lines were too long by the time we arrived. So, we headed out first thing in the morning, we were able take advantage of the short lines, walk slower through the Basilica, and also take a gondola ride. For lunch, we grabbed some fresh cooked pasta from Dal Moro’s and ate along the water.

After lunch, we grabbed our bags and headed for the train station. We were on our way to Florence/Firenze!!

Itinerary (click the itinerary links below to view posts):

• JFK
• CDG
• LIN
• Venice
• Florence
• Rome
• Amalfi Coast
• Lake Como