Exploring Europe 2013: Lost in Venice

Once our train arrived in Venice had to catch the vaporetto (waterbus) to where to were staying. It was a gorgeous sunny day and it was so fun to see Venice from the Grand Canal. We instantly feel in love with the place we were staying in. Not only did it have a modern European feel to the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom but it had a water window that was right on a canal. We could sit in these comfy red chairs and watch gondolas and boats go by. We got settled and some some dinner, then walked along the grand canal. We obviously had to have our daily intake of gelato, which we ate as we walked to St.Mark's Square. We decided to take the back way home, which quickly started our first adventure of getting lost in Venice. We eventually found our way home, and I can honestly say it was one of the most fun downtime we've had. There was this cafe (bar by american standards) that was about 50 feet from our door and where we could get our WiFi as well as coffee and beer and that is where we ended our night.

We went to our cafe for coffee and croissants and to catch up on the outside world. We had no real destination that we wanted to see, we just wanted to experience the culture of Venice. I decided that I wanted to see the famous Rialto bridge so we decides to venture there without looking at our map. Somehow, after a lunch stop, we ended up nowhere near. Although we did find the hotel Jordan stayed at last time he was here. We got redirected towards the bridge and look some picture on it in the beautiful sun. We thought we would walk the other side of the bridge for a while and ended up walking all the way around the base. I have no idea how we got so off track, all I know is that by the time we got to our area of the island I could not feel my feet. We had walked hours longer than anticipated, so when we got home we collapse for a little while. We decided to dress up a little for dinner, just for the fun of it. We kept semi close to our place, which was out of the main tourist area, and less expensive. We loved dressing up for dinner in romantic Venice.

I learned some new things in Venice. For one, it has the dirties water ever, I feared that if it touched me I would get a disease. One thing that is so different from North America is that you pay more to sit and eat then to grab and walk away. For example, to buy a sandwich to go could cost you €3.5 but to order and sit down would cost you €5. So many couture changes to get used to. Another thing that we've noticed in Europe, but especially in Italy, is that men are NOT subtle when checking out women. I mean groups of men will stop and look a women up and down then all turn their heads and check her out from behind. Its almost funny at times, the Italian culture.

Yesterday we woke up too early for our cafe so we walked to find a bakery to grab breakfast. By the time we got back the cafe was open for coffee and WiFi. We had to leave ours place by 11:30 but did not catch the ferry to the airport till 2:50. We actually had a ton of fun killing time, even with our travel backpacks on. People watching is fun wherever you are on the world. The ferry to the airport was really cool as we got to see the small surrounding islands. We met up in Nice, France with my parents and will be with them for the next 5 or 6 days. We are heading to Avignon on the train and it is such a gorgeous day.