Catching Up - Venice Day 1: November 27, 2009

Venice!

We arrived in Venice the night of the 27th and were quite hungry after our long train ride. However, our first order of business was to find our hotel and drop off our luggage. Thankfully, our hotel was especially easy to find since it was located directly across the grand canal from the train station and there was a bridge very nearby.

After our experience with the first hotel in Rome, we were a bit nervous about our Venice hotel which Woodley had also found online. However, we were pleasantly surprised in every way possible! The room was lovely, the staff was very helpful, the breakfast was decent and it didn't smell a bit! Here are some photos of our room:

The view from the door.

The desk.

The bed.

The restroom.

After admiring the room and unpacking a bit, we headed out to find dinner and to see Venice by dark. We ended up eating at a restaurant recommended by the hotel. It wasn't our favorite place, due to the loud music, but the seafood risotto was very good and we were thankful to finally be fed.

After dinner, we continued our walk towards St. Marco's Square which Woodley was eager to locate and show me. The signs around Venice were sometimes quite odd (check out the signs on the left and right):

Before we left Venice we even saw t-shirts for sale with two signs on top of each other giving directions to the same place but directing you in opposite ways so I suppose the locals find it amusing as well.

One of my favorite things about waking around Venice was the beautiful shop windows which often had been simply stuffed full of glittering merchandise. It was often quite impressive how much could be fit into one shop window.

After many twists and turns through all sorts of narrow windy streets and alleys we finally made it to St. Marco's Square. Since it was late, there wasn't too much going on and it felt quite peaceful.

On the way back to our hotel we went by a little restaurant which opened out onto one of the canals and looked very romantic.

After my first walk around Venice I decided that I liked it quite a bit and I was excited to discover more in the days to come! I especially enjoyed the absence of motor vehicles and exhaust!

~ElizabethRose~