Here Today, Gondola Tomorrow

Venice, Italy

David's photo was probably even better

Had we been keeping track, we would have celebrated our 100th day of European adventure in Venice. As it was, we just celebrated the lack of tourists. We arrived in the evening, and were enchanted by glimmering Venetian gothic façades. Our hotel was nestled in a small piazza off St. Mark's square, and we were romanced by the idea of walking there from the train station, through the narrow winding streets over sparkling lamplit canals. But, 45 minutes into our hike and a dozen staircase bridges later, we were wishing we'd opted for a romantic public water bus instead.

We only had a few days in Venice and would have loved to spend more. Still, we had a great time walking the historic areas, armed with our pal Rick Steves, playing an audio tour in unison on our iPods, chuckling as we walked in the rain through a nearly abandoned St. Mark's square while Rick told us to elbow our way through the crowds.  He mentioned that in the rainy season, they sometimes have to assemble elevated sidewalks in the square due to flooding (which they call "alta acqua"). Sure enough, people were laying them out as we walked, drenched and crowd-fee.

It seemed like a mandatory to take a gondola ride in Venice, but we stayed budget minded and opted for a vaporetto water bus instead.  It's basically the same thing, but instead of the sounds of a gondolier singing, there's a noisy engine and loud thuds as the water bus docks at each stop, and instead of cuddling with your significant other you're bumping elbows with commuters. But it still let us see a side of Venice you literally can't see on foot (there are no sidewalks for a large part of the grand canal) and good ol' Rick helped out again with an audio tour of the sights, timed perfectly with the water bus schedule. Two thumbs up, Rick.

And we hit the water again with a trip to Murano to get a free tour and guilt trip of a glass blowing factory. We lucked into watching glass blowers work on a pineapple for the first time, experimenting with colors by dipping the hot glass into different minerals with different shades of green. They took their work seriously, and were armed with a drawing of a pineapple and a real model! Our guide told us that their hands are like catcher's mitts….they hold the metal stick straight out of the fire with no hand protection at all. We walked out resisting the temptation to buy ourselves any glass fruit. 

After a few quick days of sight seeing, we were itching to board another overnight train. And to complete our V trifecta with a return to Vienna.

Best Sights:

The floor of St. Mark's church, which looks wavy because of the marshy ground it was built on.

Best Eats: 

Le Bistrot Venice, where the waiter spoke 6 languages (cockily). Our lunch special had the most impressive plating we'd ever seen and our dessert came with sugar encrusted rose petals. And powdered gold. One of our more delicious/unnecessary meals.

Osteria on Murano Island. After the glass factory, we got a recommendation from a glass store owner for a restaurant down a narrow alley where he said he ate lunch every day. The restaurant is very simple and was full of glass and construction workers. For 6 euros, you get a plate of fresh fish, battered and fried and for 2 euros more, a pitcher of wine. It was one of our most affordable and delicious meals so far. Two thumbs up, glass store owner. 

Best Brags: 

After our lunch, the restaurant spit us out on the locals side of the island. David had snapped our wine bottle opener in half the night before so we found a small kitchen supplies store. We chatted up the shop owner about bottle openers. She asked if we lived in Italy because our Italian was so damn passable. Two thumbs up, us.

*We're still working our way through our "dark period," so these photos are randoms from online. We're not claiming any ownership of these photos.