We woke up around 7:30 a.m. and formulated a game plan. Today, it's all about Venice. We showered, unlike most Europeans, and got ready for the day. I feel better today wearing shorts and a light weight shirt.
We went down to breakfast where we just had cafe latte for about €3 each and I had some water as well because I was dehydrated from the night before. We also had about 11 hours of sleep last night and that helped.
Leaving the hotel, we headed to the train station across the street and bought round trip tickets to Venice again for a total of €4 euros.
We caught a train at 8:44 a.m. into Venice. From the train station we headed to a little market that we stopped at yesterday, it was near canale di caninaregio, because they have the 1,5 L bottles of water for €1 euro.
From there, we headed to the most famous square in Venice, Piazza San Marco or Saint Marc's Square. Instead of taking a water taxi or boat we walked along the northside of Venice eventually turning south to reach the square. There is a really famous church in the square that everyone goes to, but it was full of tourists and that is not the experience we are looking for. So, we took lots of pictures of San Marco, then walked around the pier area near the square. We also got the obligatory picture of the famous bridge between the prison and that other famous building. I didn't check up on my history before we came. I'll fill that info in later (maybe).
From there, we headed to the most famous square in Venice, Piazza San Marco or Saint Marc's Square. Instead of taking a water taxi or boat we walked along the northside of Venice eventually turning south to reach the square. There is a really famous church in the square that everyone goes to, but it was full of tourists and that is not the experience we are looking for. So, we took lots of pictures of San Marco, then walked around the pier area near the square. We also got the obligatory picture of the famous bridge between the prison and that other famous building. I didn't check up on my history before we came. I'll fill that info in later (maybe).
After that, we tried to get back to the same are awe had lunch yesterday, but got really lost. Liz thought that we were somewhere completely different then we were. Thank god, literally, for churches. If you need to find your way around in Venice, don't rely on street names, use churches as posts, and there are a lot of them.
We crossed a bridge after getting our bearing and landed at Tre Marie on the Accademia side for lunch. We had a starter of, well, I had a salad and Liz had a plate of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. For an entre, we had another pizza, but this one was called Speck E Brie for €8,50. It had mozzarella, speck, brie, origano, tomato, mozzarella, smoked ham, and origan. It was delicious. The smoked ham was so thinly cut, it was almost like bacon. I love the pizza here, it's so different then American pizza.
We crossed a bridge after getting our bearing and landed at Tre Marie on the Accademia side for lunch. We had a starter of, well, I had a salad and Liz had a plate of tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. For an entre, we had another pizza, but this one was called Speck E Brie for €8,50. It had mozzarella, speck, brie, origano, tomato, mozzarella, smoked ham, and origan. It was delicious. The smoked ham was so thinly cut, it was almost like bacon. I love the pizza here, it's so different then American pizza.
There was also a street musician with a guitar across from the restaurant playing great guitar music and weird Italian songs plus classics like Fly Me To The Moon. It;s about noon now, we really don't have a plan for the rest of the afternoon, but we may check out the galleries of Accademia, if it's cheap, but everything so far has been cheap. Lunch was expensive about €40,40.
(2:01 p.m.) - Venice Time
After lunch, we walked some more aorund Venice, just kind of looking around, not really paying attention to where we were going. We ended up at a port which lead no where, so we had to turn aroudn and go back to Accademia. When we got back there, we headed north, stopping to visit shops.
(2:01 p.m.) - Venice Time
After lunch, we walked some more aorund Venice, just kind of looking around, not really paying attention to where we were going. We ended up at a port which lead no where, so we had to turn aroudn and go back to Accademia. When we got back there, we headed north, stopping to visit shops.
I even saw a shop selling DVDs of bot American and Italian films. I saw the movie Serenity on sale for only €7,90 which I almost considered buying. Eventually, we made it back to the train station. We thought about walking further north, but then we felt really tired. So, we hopped on the train and went back to the hotel for a quick shower and relax.
I forgot to mention in my last entry that Liz ordered a dessert for lunch. It was great! It was a two layered ice cream, one side was a great vanilla, the center was a dark mocha bordering on mouse, topped with coffee powder. Them, they bring you espresso shot that you pour on top. It was amazing! Time to relax until dinner and maybe celebrate being a married couple.
(4:20 p.m.) - Venice Time
This afternoon, we took a nap for a couple of hours. I don't know why we are sleeping so much, maybe because of an exhausting morning, but more likely because of all of the lack of sleep during the week before the wedding.
After the nap, Liz and I went down into lobby of the hotel to read and relax. We got some info from the front desk about places to eat in Mestre for dinner. It sounds like there some great places around the corner from the hotel. We also got info on getting a taxi to the port tomorrow.
We had some cappuccinos from the hotel bar while reading. That helped us wake up from the nap. I love European coffee. I don't know what it is about their coffee, but it's so much less bitter than American stuff that you get. I would probably drink more coffee if it was always like this. We will go to dinner soon.
(8:54 p.m.) - Venice Time
We went to dinner at Al Piron d'Oro (translation pending) where we looked at the menu, there was so many options, we finally decided on the special menu of the night at €22 per person. It included a two-course dinner with bread, wine, and water. Remember, you have to buy water in every restaraunt in Europe. So at €22, it was quite a deal. The first course was a meat-filled tortenilli covered in olive oil and parmesan mixed with sage. The second course was an Italian-version of chicken and chips. It was a chicken thigh and leg crispened in thyme and potatoes wedges that were lightly baked. It was all great and the house wine was good too.
I forgot to mention in my last entry that Liz ordered a dessert for lunch. It was great! It was a two layered ice cream, one side was a great vanilla, the center was a dark mocha bordering on mouse, topped with coffee powder. Them, they bring you espresso shot that you pour on top. It was amazing! Time to relax until dinner and maybe celebrate being a married couple.
(4:20 p.m.) - Venice Time
This afternoon, we took a nap for a couple of hours. I don't know why we are sleeping so much, maybe because of an exhausting morning, but more likely because of all of the lack of sleep during the week before the wedding.
After the nap, Liz and I went down into lobby of the hotel to read and relax. We got some info from the front desk about places to eat in Mestre for dinner. It sounds like there some great places around the corner from the hotel. We also got info on getting a taxi to the port tomorrow.
We had some cappuccinos from the hotel bar while reading. That helped us wake up from the nap. I love European coffee. I don't know what it is about their coffee, but it's so much less bitter than American stuff that you get. I would probably drink more coffee if it was always like this. We will go to dinner soon.
(8:54 p.m.) - Venice Time
We went to dinner at Al Piron d'Oro (translation pending) where we looked at the menu, there was so many options, we finally decided on the special menu of the night at €22 per person. It included a two-course dinner with bread, wine, and water. Remember, you have to buy water in every restaraunt in Europe. So at €22, it was quite a deal. The first course was a meat-filled tortenilli covered in olive oil and parmesan mixed with sage. The second course was an Italian-version of chicken and chips. It was a chicken thigh and leg crispened in thyme and potatoes wedges that were lightly baked. It was all great and the house wine was good too.
After dinner, we stopped at a local grocery store for some beers and back to the room. It's now 9:19 p.m., might be a late night, but we have nothing to do until noon tomorrow and that's getting on the boat.
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