Italian adventure: our days in Venice

We left Friday night for Venice. It was one of those days. My cousin Ann, who was coming with me on a 10 day Italian adventure, got locked between my front door and our inner door, which resulted in a broken window and a few cuts and scrapes to get back in. At the airport, the flight was delayed by 45 minutes and when we hit the ground in Venice, we missed the bus to town by a minute so had to wait 40 for another.

But it didn’t matter. We were in Venice and about to start 10 days of touring, eating, walking and trying a bit of the local wine. We were greeted off our boat (the local transport is all on water) by Andrea who led us through the winding streets of Venice to the apartment we rented for 3 days. It smelt of old and stagnent water but as it was the smell of a majority of Venice we quickly got used to it. But we had a fridge, stove, a sitting room and bedroom with a very powerful fan. We were set.

We decided to immediately look around Venice and get something to eat. Crossing the Rialto Bridge there was a couple drinking wine over a candle and looking lovingly in each others eyes. Other couples were stopping to snuggle and stare out across the canal. Ann and I being both related and interested in men, did not stop to be romantic, and made a bee-line for the first open-looking restaurant. It wasn’t open but I did get to see a cat size rat scurry out of the restaurant and disappear into the darkness surrounding the canal. Maybe it was a good thing it was closed.

After another failed attempt, we stumbled upon XIXI where Ann had some bread disguised as pizza and I had a glass of red wine (being allergic to cheese, pre-made pizza will never be doable). Very tasty for me, very bready for her. We took a bottle of red and two large pastries to go and wandered back to our home for the next three days. Wine, pastries and a movie ended our night way too late but we were giddy! Italy awaits!



The next day, the skies were onimous. But it didn’t bother us. Why would it rain on our vacation? That’s silly talk. First up, coffee. Expressos for 1 euro in a beautiful Italian bakery. Now time to explore….



We made it to the first canal and the rain hit. After 20 minutes standing under a bridge, we bought umbrellas - I went for black, Ann for blue (which was unfortunate as the dye ran and dyed her hands a beautiful shade of blue). We did St Marks square and had a wander, ate over priced food (don’t ever, ever eat too close to the square - you are garanteed to pay too much) and took tons of photos while trying to hold an umbrella.

[caption id=”attachment_1355” align=”aligncenter” width=”168” caption=”Wedding pictures in St. Mark’s Square”][/caption]

We headed home for a quick refresh and had a long nap instead. Walking through Venice, we discovered a tiny restaurant tucked away in a back street. Turns out to be an award winning one (name to follow when I can find their card) and had a meal to die for. Mixed fish for two and grilled vegetables. Thanks to that place, I’ve fallen in love with Monkfish. They fit us in between sittings and we saw them turn a lot of other people away after us. Definitely book a table there if you can and say hi to Luca and Stephan from us.

We tried to end the evening in their favourite bar but as it was also a top restaurant and the owner looked like a chicken without a head, we didn’t drop Lucas’s name and instead wandered. We found the local hospital (always good to know where you can get local medical attention) and the rows of ambulence boats that were docked nearby. Never thought about how they would deal with emergency services, but that would make sense to have on an island that was mainly water.



Night ended with a series of photos taken on my night setting and another glass of wine overlooking another canal.

Sunday was our last full day in Venice. We stumbled upon a church and listened to part of the Italian service. We thought our Grandma would have liked that as she’s Catholic and it was a Sunday. Something to tell her when we got home.



We then went to the Beinnale before heading back to St. Mark’s Square for an hour long walking tour and a gondola ride. Now I’m not usually one for going on walking tours. I like to do it myself but it was only £3 more for the walking tour as well so we booked it. less than 20 minutes in we realized this was not a deal at £3 - we would have been better off just hitting the gondolas. Ann took her earpiece out so she didn’t have to hear the woman drone on. In future? No walking tours.

Gondola was as expected. We got to ride with two Italian grandmas and two teachers from the states. Our driver was an unimpressed Italian. As was expected.

Our last morning in Venice ended on a sad note. At 6 in the morning I woke up to a number of texts from back home. Call me. Call me as soon as you get this. I did and in the bathroom of a small apartment in Venice, I found out my grandma was dead. It was sudden and unexpected. I told my cousin the news as we stood facing each other in the middle of the living room of our Italian apartment. Now we had a day to wait to find out when the funeral would be and then we could figure out how we could get home.