Europe - Venice: The City and The Lagoon

We flew in to Marco Polo airport in Venice (after the unexpected stopover in Cologne, Germany). I'd never flow into Venice, but armed with our handy "mapme" app and the location of our AirBnB, we began our trek into the city.

One thing we had to figure out about Venice was that this city has been in the tourism industry for a very long time - it's been a "grand tour of Europe" stop for some, like, 350 years. And man, does the local economy have making money off of tourist dialed in to a science.

Our first experience was the fact that the bus from Marco Polo Airport to downtown Venice is a whopping €8 per ticket (about a 35 minute ride). Since we REALLY didn't want to spend that kind of money on a bus ticket from the airport to our AirBNB flat, we decided to walk the 3 miles. It was a beautiful day, we weren't at risk of the sun setting on us, so off we went - each with our backpacks. W figured the added bonus was the chance to work off some of our German breakfast feast! The road was narrow and not really designed for pedestrian traffic the whole way, but it was a lovely introduction to Italian countryside for Gabe. We passed little vineyards and very old towers in the middle of wheat fields, and small Italian farm villas and tiny chapels. We found our AirBnB host with no problem outside our rental flat, and got settled.

After a run to the grocery store, we were set for meals, so we went to bed early so we could start touring the next day.

Unfortunately, jet lag caught up with me about 3am and I was wide awake, but I got up, did some laundry, made our packed lunches, made our breakfast, and woke Gabe.

That was our Venice day - we wandered through the streets, sometimes in back alleys and sometimes on the tourist drag. When we got thirsty, we stopped at public fountains and drank. When we got tired, we slipped into a church to sit down on the pews and try to decipher the artwork. When we got hungry, we sat on the steps of some building to eat our fried egg sandwiches we'd packed for lunch. We stopped into coffee bars to buy an espresso (€1!) as an excuse to use the shop's toilet, since Venice charges €1.50 for public toilets.

We basically walked our feet off! And then we headed home to cook up pasta and fresh vegetables and fall asleep early.

The next morning, Sunday, we had planned to catch an early train out of Venice and stop in Siena for 6 hours before continuing on to Rome Sunday evening. However, with our delay in arrival, we'd lost the only chance on our original schedule for Gabe to go to Maniago to see the Lionsteel knife factory. We decided to bite the bullet and
stay at our AirBnB place in Venice Mestre another night (Venice Mestre is on the mainland and is essentially the "modern" city of Venice. What it lacks in canals and romantic charm, it makes up for in price as the AirBnB spots in Mestre we spotted were about half the price to the ones on the islands). Then we could go to Maniago first thing Monday morning when the factory was open, and catch an afternoon train directly to Rome - Siena, obviously, got sacrificed.

So we went to an Anglican Church service (since it was in English AND it was raining anyhow), and after the church service ended, the rain had stopped, so we hopped onto a vaporetto (water bus)to the islands of Murano and Burano. Murano is known for it's fabulous glass-making, and Burano's commercial heritage includes fishing and lace making.

Gabe loved them. He'd enjoyed Venice, but the islands especially tickled his fancy since they were so tourist-free compared to the crowds of Venice. The buildings are paints bright, beautiful colors, and the canals weave through the little island town, and you can see real-life Italy happening around you - Dads taking their kids for an afternoon stroll, and Moms pushing their child on the swing set. By the time we got back to the Venice city, it was time for a final vaporetto ride up the grand canal as the sun set behind a thick layer of clouds, and home to pack up.

The only frustrations we had with Venice was how EXPENSIVE it was there - we'd ordered pizza marguerite (i.e. Cheese pizza) that was listed for €7 and a cup of coffee in order to get wifi at a restaurant one afternoon, and somehow our bill - with various taxes and fees - cost €20! We didn't really bother doing any of the major tourism things with the goal that we could save the money on entrance admittance.
- Dani