Monday in Venice, Murano and Burano

After another great breakfast at our hotel, we headed out to see the Campanile - a huge bell tower on Piazza San Marco.  The lines to get in have been really long whenever we've been in the area, so we wanted to get there early.

The Campanile is the tall red-brick building

Dark skies over Venice and the Campanile

On the way over we saw lots of people loading onto gondolas for a ride.  We were glad we'd had our gondola ride a few days ago when the weather was good.  These folks were either with a cruise ship or some other kind of big tour, and they really had no option but to take a ride in bad weather.

Gondolas rides, even in the rain!

It was cloudy and sprinkling on the way over to the Campanile - only 5 minutes from our hotel.  The Piazza San Marco looked very different in bad weather.  No one was sitting at the cafe tables, and the souvenir carts were having a hard time keeping the T-shirts and postcards dry.  I saw a waiter in a white dinner jacket squeegee off the tables out in the rain at one of the cafes.

There was no line at the Campanile, and we got right in.  We waited only a few minutes for the elevator to the top. The observation deck was open to the elements, and when we got there the wind was blowing, and it was cold.  The view from the top was great though, in spite of the cloudy skies.  As we walked around taking pictures, it started raining.  Not a fun place to be in the rain and wind.

San Giorgio Maggiore across the lagoon from St. Mark's

The rooftops of St. Mark's from the top of the Campanile

A view of the city from the top of the Campanile

When we got down from the tower, we did a little souvenir shopping along the piazza.  We've seen so many gift shops in Venice, selling much the same thing - glass, leather goods, lace - that we wonder how everyone makes a living.  We talked to an older woman, a local, outside of a Tabacci (tobacco) shop along the piazza, and she told us the prices on Murano glass at that shop were very good.  It's amazing that even the tobacco shops sell fine glasswork.  I understand that the locals have a little harder time finding the basic necessities of life, among all of the gift shops.  There seem to be lots of clothing stores too, both  high-end designer shops, and just regular stores and boutiques.

Our hope was to see the islands of Murano and Burano today, but the weather was rainy.  Laurie said, let's just go and see what happens!  We walked over to the waterfront to catch the ferry.

Colorful umbrellas going over a bridge 

The weather improved some, and it turned out to be a nice day for the ferry ride over and a walk on the islands. The island of Murano is famous for glass-blowing factories.  We saw plenty of signs on factories along the water approaching the island.  The island was scenic and very touristy.  It was still raining periodically.

Rick, Emmett and Kathy on a bridge on Murano

A canal on Murano

We had a nice lunch on Murano, and along with lunch Laurie and I had bellinis - a drink made with prosecco and apricot nectar.  The bellini was invented in Venice, and we were advised by another tourist to be sure and have one while we were there.  We're adding it to our list of favorite things in Italy!

Rick's seafood salad at lunch.  He said it was great!

We wandered through some of the shops, and the church.

The glass holy water font at the church on Murano

Then we were on to Burano, the island famous for lacemaking.  We saw lace shops along the canals, but the real attractions of this island are the colorful houses and shops.  They are an artist's delight!

Our first view of the colorful houses in Burano

The streets of Burano

We stopped for a spritz at a bar with wi-fi because I absolutely had to reserve seats for Rick and I for our homebound flight tomorrow.  British Airways won't honor seat requests more than 24 hours ahead of departure unless you pay a hefty fee.  Ridiculous.  The waitress at the bar very kindly typed the 14-digit password into my Ipad so we could use the wi-fi, and take care of this chore.  Just what every traveler wants to worry about on a trip!

Back to Venice proper on the ferry, where we enjoyed our last evening in the city with a nice dinner in our neighborhood.  We had tiramisu for dessert, and the last glasses of grappa Rick and Emmett would enjoy in Italy.

The streets were quiet on our way back to the hotel, far from the lights and crowds of the Grand Canal.

Easter Sunday in Venice

Breakfast at the hotel was great.  Even scrambled eggs, but who has room for eggs when there are so many other tasty choices!

Part of the breakfast buffet at Hotel al Codega.  Little cups of tiramisu were a big hit with us!

It was Easter Sunday (Pasqua), and Emmett, Laurie and I planned to go to 9:00 Mass at St. Mark's Cathedral.  The Piazza San Marco was almost deserted when we walked through at 8:45.  The church was closed to visitors all morning while Masses were scheduled, but anyone attending the service could go in.  We had front row seats, in one of the most beautiful churches in the world, on one of the most holy of days.  It was very moving to be there.  We all knew the parts of the Mass, of course, all having been lifelong Catholics,  so whether it was in Latin or Italian, we could at least recognize the different parts of the service.  I wish we could have understood the homily, because I'm sure it was a good one, on this special day.

Scaffolding covers some of St. Mark's

Detail over one of the doors at St. Mark's

Only one person got up and wandered around during Mass, and was chastised by one of the other priests assisting with Mass for doing so.

When we walked back through the square after Mass it was getting more crowded.  The weather was nice, and it was a holiday.  Most of the stores seemed to be open.

We saw stacks of these around Piazza San Marco and wondered what they could be...stages for an Easter festival?...dance floors to cover up the cobblestones?  Silly tourists, they're the raised sidewalks used to get around the city when it's flooded!  We saw them all through the city, but luckily we didn't have to use them.

We picked up Rick at the hotel, and headed out to find lunch.  Not a problem in a city where there are, what seemed like, 10,000 restaurants.  Oh no, maybe it's 10,000 mask, leather goods and glass shops and only 1,000 restaurants.  At any rate, we didn't have to go far to find food.  We ate near Piazza San Marco, and had a good lunch.  Laurie and I had spritzes, but when we asked the waiter if they shouldn't be more sparkling, he took them back to the bar and made us each another one himself, shaking his head about the bartender's inexperience.

It seems like we bought most of our trip souvenirs in Venice, since our days of hopping trains with our luggage were over.

 Animal masks in a Venice shop

More of the masks in the shop

There were cruise ships in the harbor, and lots of people had signed up for gondola rides.  They were crowded onto the gondolas like sardines, but were having a great time, nonetheless.  After all, they're in VENICE!  On a GONDOLA!  On a CANAL!  In VENICE!

Tour groups on the gondolas

  Gondola parking.  Each boat has custom decorations and is different from all the others.

We asked our gondolier how many gondolas there were in Venice, and he told us there were over 400!  It seemed like they did a good job of spreading out so that you never saw more than a handful at a time.  A great marketing ploy, I'd say.  

Just a few gondolas making their way through the back alleys of the city

Emmett got some info from the clerk at the hotel desk about where we would catch a water shuttle to the airport.  We needed to go over to the Grand Canal to scope it out.

Happy hour was in our room, and then we headed out to dinner.  We ate at another neighborhood place, and had a good meal.

We walked down to the Grand Canal to see if we could find the dock for the airport shuttle, and stayed to enjoy the lights of the city.

Laurie and Emmett on the Rialto Bridge

The Grand Canal

Goodnight from Venice!

From Verona to Venice

We had another great breakfast again today, along with Simone's signature tasty and healthy smoothie.   We're leaving Verona this morning, and I feel like there was so much more to see.  Hopefully, we'll be back.

Simone gave us directions to get out of the hills and find the main road to Venice, our next destination.  It wasn't a long drive to Venice, but we missed the correct exit and went some miles out of our way before we could turn around.   We were dropping the car off right outside of the city of Venice, and the traffic got pretty congested the closer we got to the rental office.  It was located near the train station. From that point on, it's just boats.  No more cars, buses or trains, so almost everyone is coming into the city at that same point, unless they're coming from the airport, which is in a different direction.

We saw the Europcar office, but couldn't figure out how to get to it without going into an area we weren't allowed to enter.   A policewoman was directing traffic.  We explained that we needed to get to the rental office, and she nicely allowed us to go through.  We were directed to park the car on the 10th floor of the adjacent parking garage.  This was Holy Saturday, and a few other people were in town too.  Parking was crazy, but finally we found a spot and got the car checked in.

There was a water bus (vaporetto) stop very near the rental office, and we hopped the boat.  It took us down the Grand Canal to our stop, the Rialto.  And there, straight ahead of us, was the famous Rialto Bridge.

This was actually taken from a gondola, but you can see the bridge as well as three of the vaporetti

Catherina and Marco preceded us to Venice, and stayed at the Hotel al Codega while they were in town.  We were staying at the same place, and got to the hotel by means of what Catherina calls "girl directions".  When using this means of giving directions, no street names or numbers are ever used.  Directions are based on landmarks that we can identify with, like, for instance, turn right at that cute nail place.  Or, turn left at the place I got that horrible perm.  Or, turn at that place with the good shrimp salad.  Or, in a strange city, we'd use names of stores, rather than the streets where they're located.

So we followed Catherina's directions to the hotel by turning right at Goldenpoint Leggings, left at Guess, keeping left at H&M and turning right at Giorgio Armani.  No problem.  We used those landmarks every time we left our hotel for the next three days!  What street were we on?  Who knows!

We got checked into our hotel, the Hotel al Codega, which was a very nice, small hotel.  The rooms are nicely decorated, with all the modern conveniences, but the building is old, and located in a quaint little square.  It's a peaceful little corner in the busy city.  The staff was very friendly and helpful, and knew what rooms we were in every time we stopped at the desk, from the minute we checked in.

The Hotel al Codega.  It was early in the season, so they were just putting flowers in the window boxes.  The little bumpout isn't the entrance, but a tiny chapel in the courtyard.

A narrow lane in Venezia

We had a good (late) lunch at Ostaria a la Campana, not far from our hotel.  The place was packed with locals, and the pizzas looked great, so that's what we had.  I hate for you to think we ate pizza so often, but it was such good pizza!  Always thin crust, and they always seem to be baked in a wood-burning brick oven.

We walked over to Piazza San Marco after lunch.  The weather was warm and sunny, and the square and the streets on the way over were crowded.  As I mentioned before, it was Holy Saturday, and there were plenty of visitors in town.

Near Piazza San Marco

We went back to the hotel to put our feet up for a few minutes, and decided this would be a good day to take a ride on a gondola.  The cost was 80 euros before 7, and went up to 100 euros after 7, for a 40-minute ride.  A singing gondolier costs a bit more.  It was about 7:30 when we stopped at one of the bridges where some gondolas were gathered.  It must have been a slow time of day, since the gondolier offered to take us out for daytime prices.  He didn't sing to us, but we had a fun ride through part of the grand canal, and along some of the smaller canals.  We really got to see what it would be like if your front door opened right onto the canal.  We passed a few hotels and restaurants where the entrance was on the canal.

Bucket List: A ride on a gondola, in Venice, on the Grand Canal.  Check.

Museum on the Grand Canal

Another gondola on the Grand Canal

We stopped at the Ristorante al Teatro Goldoni for a light supper on our way back to the hotel.  Dinner was good, but nothing amazing, but they did bring us each a little glass of limoncello afterward, on the house.  It's the little things that count.