Euro Trip Part 2: Venezia

VENICE

Reason # 56094509 we were glad to have Jodie with us for our trip: we would have skipped Venice.  

During the planning of the trip, I came across several internet reviews of people saying that Venice was "over rated," "the food is not good," "blah blah I hate puppies blah blah."

Buffoons.

Lies! All lies!

Do not skip Venice.  I repeat DO NOT SKIP VENICE!

Anyways, we departed from Verona after a sufficient amount of sleep and checked into our hotel just outside of Venice (after battling road construction setbacks.)  

Another thing we'd have never known without Jodie is that cars/buses/trains do not happen in Venice.  You either drive or are dropped off at specific locations and if you've booked a room in the actual city of Venice, you're forced to lug your clunky rolling suitcase quite a distance.  We did not have to do that.  Score for us!

Mmm pastries.

Here we are in front of St. Mark's Basilica and in the surrounding square.

Loved the details of all the buildings.

Venice was my favorite part of our trip.  Everywhere you looked there was beauty.  It also felt safe.

I was also able to check a life-long dream off of my bucket list.  

Gondola ride.  

Oh yah baby!

Make note though, not all gondola drivers sing.  Our driver apparently was not of the singing variety.  

Maybe he was shy.  

Perhaps if he'd known that we were going to pepper him with a million and one questions, he would have chose singing instead.

Riding on the gondola, it felt like we were being let in on a  secret about Venice.  A secret that you'd never know unless you rode through those tiny canals.

And here's the Rialto Bridge.  We actually have several photos of it via land, but it was crowded up there.  Our water pictures turned out much better.

We literally walked around all afternoon and evening.  I think Venice was the latest that we stayed out over the course of the trip.

  

Jodie showed us a pizzeria that she frequented during her days as a student in Venice. We ended up eating pizza on a little bench in the middle of square filled with locals, off the beaten path if you will.

  

I can still close my eyes and picture it.

Next: Bologna, the Ferrari Factory, and Florence!