Venezia

We're redeeming ourselves with this blog post.  I hope you have about 30 minutes because this is a long one.  It is full of pictures from our latest day trip.  After moving into a new hotel (one with a kitchen!!), getting through a week of airborne jumps, and kicking a cold, we decided to relax and take a train to Venice for the day on Friday. 

The train pretty much dead ends right into Venice.  Right outside of the station you're greeted with a canal and water taxis to take you to your next destination.  Thankfully we had two friends with us who had both been to Venice before.  They showed us where to buy tickets, how to validate them so you don't get stuck with a huge fine, and taught us about the different stops we could get off on.  I'm so thankful we were traveling with them because neither one of us would have known what to do. 

Venice is hands down the most peculiar city.  It is so weird to see water going right up to doors. 

I was a little disappointed that I never heard a gondolier singing.  If I had paid upwards of 180 euro for a gondola ride, I better get the complete package.  Gondolas must be painted black, unless they belong to a high official, and cost around $35,000 to build.  All gondoliers are male, and while there used to be upwards of 10,000 gondolas in Venice, there are only around 400 today.  How's that for Venetian trivia?

We got off of our boat at St. Marks square.  The St. Marks Basilica is a beautiful Roman Catholic church and had the most amazing detail. 

This is above one of the doors at the enterance of the church.  We didn't go in because the lines were very long, but just the outside alone was outstanding. 

Behind us in the square is St. Marks and the base of the bell tower. 

Here is another detail shot of St. Marks.  I can only imagine what it took to actually build this. 

We did stand in a short line to go to the top of the bell tower in St. Marks square.  From the top you could see the entire city of Venice and some surrounding islands. 

Birds eye view of St. Marks Basilica

The Grand Canal is like the main "highway" separating the two sides of the city.  This is where the bigger taxis and boats drive.  Down the side canals is where you'll find more gondolas and smaller fishing boats.  The large bridges that connect the two sides often have markets on them, where you can buy anything from leather goods to venetian masks. 

We walked around until we got out of the tourist area.  We found a quiet area towards the perimeter of the town.  It's worth it to venture off the beaten path in cities like Venice.  Everything around the Grand Canal is loud and touristy, so it almost cheapens the experience.  When you venture out a little bit you can always find good food, cheaper prices, and a great atmosphere! 

You can see a smaller canal behind us, where the houses and buildings are almost like those of Charleston.  The colors and architecture on the side canals are exactly what I imagined Venice to be like.  Laundry hangs from house to house, basil and herbs flow out of window boxes, and little boats wait to carry their owners to other quite parts of town.

For dinner we found a restaurant with a traditional Venetian menu.  John Ralph and I still hadn't had a typical Italian meal yet, meaning we hadn't made an event out of it, so we decided to go all in and order the real deal.  For starters we got prosciutto and melon, which is always a crowd pleaser.  This was followed by the pasta course.  John Ralph got sphaghetti cooked traditionally with squid ink.  Surprisingly, it was pretty good.  Think of all the smells and tastes of the ocean, and thats what the sauce tasted like. 

I got spaghetti with seafood sauce.  It was a tomato base with shrimp, clams, mussels, and squid.  By far the best pasta I've had in Italy.  I am a huge seafood fan.  I would eat it over any other meat, so this was a meal made for me. 

After the pasta, we were both stuffed, but we weren't quite done.  The final dish...or should I say fish...came out whole.  The waiter cut the head and tail off and got all of the bones out for us.  Much to my surprise, I was totally fine with having a fish head looking back at me.  It was the most delicious sea bass I have ever had.  Actually, make that the most delicious fish I have ever had.  It was cooked perfectly and had a ton of flavor. 

Once we were done with our dinner event, and stuffed full, we started walking back towards the train station.  The strap on my purse had broken earlier in the day, and I found that to be a perfect reason to buy a new leather purse.  This was only 18 euro, and I consider that a steal.  Friends:  you now know what you're getting for Christmas.

John Ralph's big purchase of the night was a little plastic toy that you shoot into the air and it spins back down like a helicopter.  He haggled with the sellers and got a deal, only paying 1 euro.  And no, he didn't work up that sweat playing with his new toy, he had actually just gotten back from the gym when we took this picture. 

Over all, our trip to Venice was a blast.  It's definitely going to be a town we visit again.  Next time I plan on coming back home with a lot more leather, some Murano glass, and a little bit of hand made lace, just for good measure.