We have enjoyed a whirlwind two days (1.3) in Venice! We all had some delays/it took far longer than expected to reach the city so 1.3 is a generous estimate. Still we have made use of our time and have done a great job hitting the highlights of the city!
Daniel and I woke up at 4 am, drove to the Santorini airport, flew to Athens, flew onto Milan, took a train from the Milan airport to Milan Centrale, took a train from Milan Centrale to Venezia Santa Lucia, took a water bus to San Marco, and walked the remaining quarter mile to our hotel. Thirteen hours later we rolled into the Hotel Mercurio to find...more stairs! (A running theme of the trip). I will say - there was something magical about stepping out of the Santa Lucia station and seeing a green domed church, the unique green/blue color of the water of the Grand Canal as multiple boats breeze by - it is really easy to feel transported back through hundreds of years of time when Venice was a commercial stronghold on the Mediterranean. So easy to imagine what it was like because the hustle and bustle of the Grand Canal and the reliance on water to transport goods is still the prominent mode for movement today. While on the water bus on the way to our hotel we actually saw a grand piano being transported by boat through the canal - crazy!
The rest of the Hals had several snafus with flights and missing luggage but got in around 5:30. Both parties had anticipated earlier arrivals...but running about three hours late when flying all over the world...not to bad!
So, reunited, we headed out to a restaurant recommended by the Hals' hotel (Hotel Becher) where we could find some homemade pasta - all of us were ravenous as travel does not always lend to time to eat/edible options and we all were excited to find just what we needed. Refreshed we strolled through St. Mark's square and created monsters as we introduced everyone to gelato (another running theme of the trip as Stephanie and Michael have become quite the protoge gelato hunters!). From there we headed up the tower to enjoy a sunset view of the city. Some of the gang headed back to the hotel to shower and sleep (jet lagging) and Gary, Daniel, and I headed out for a walk across the Rialto bridge. Eventually it whittled down to being just Daniel and me and we enjoyed a beautiful, relaxing evening stroll around the city before returning to the room to prep for our first big day as tour guides.
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| The Grand Canal |
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| Enjoying a view of St. Mark's Square |
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| View from the Rialto bridge at dusk |
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