Venice - Bed #4

Our 3-night stay in Venice was fantastic, largely due to amazing weather. From our chilly and wet first 2 weeks, our 3^rd week has been unseasonably warm. High teens and even low 20’s everyday with blue skies and bright sunshine. It’s hard not to enjoy yourself with these comfortable temperatures.

The Grand Canal with St. Mark's the in background

So many places we’ve traveled to are so amazing in the pictures and then a bit of a disappointment when you get there, but not Venice. It’s just like I've seen it in pictures. In fact, I did a jig-saw puzzle of the grand canal when I was a kid and all the details I remember from the puzzle are all there. The spiral striped poles, the gondolas, the beautiful buildings rising up out of the water and the bridges. What is so magnetic about a bridge? I don’t know but it never got old to stand on them and watch the water and the boats, although you often don’t want to look too closely at the water.

It’s hard not to walk around with the Spirit of the West song “Venice is Sinking” in your head as you walk around. As beautiful as it is, it’s also crumbling in a lot of ways. It’s built on bits of soggy land, so of course buildings are always shifting and it has a few leaning towers of it’s own. The floor of our apartment slanted every which way and the floor of St. Mark's Basilica literally rolls up and down like waves of water. We stayed in a cute little 2 bedroom on the top floor. A little tight, but we weren’t there much anyway especially as the wifi only worked in the hallway, so in the evenings we all hung out there.

Our "wifi cafe." Note the router hanging on the wall. Not too classy, but it worked.

Venice wildlife

Day 1 – We started by joining a walking tour (thanks Kevin and Jackie for the advice) by a local who taught us some history and many other tidbits about the city. Then we headed back to the apartment for lunch and afterward toured around on foot for the rest of the day. Walking around Venice for me is like putting a hamster in a maze. The streets are no more than hallways and the buildings are so tall that you have no landmarks whatsoever to tell you where you are. We were hopelessly lost many times, but all the shops and cafes kept us entertained along the way. We picked up some groceries and headed back for a late supper of pasta tossed with pesto and steamed green beans. The grocery prices weren’t as crazy as we had expected and we ate well.

Our cute little Italian tour guide. "Banco Rosso" = Red Bank It was apparently the first pawn shop and it's where we get the phrase "In the red" from when we're in debt.

Aria was pretty mesmerized by the intricate geometric patterns in the floor. All mosaics. It must have taken forever. She stood there a long while. Good thing we have a long while.

Day 2 – We bought a 12 hour pass for the water buses and made good use of them. Firstly we hopped on one that takes you to a nearby island called Lido. It was a nice change of pace from Venice with wide, quiet streets. There’s an enormous beach where we ate our “faspa” lunch of raisin buns, cheese and strawberries. That didn’t quite do it so we grabbed 2 slices of “take away” pizza on the sidewalk. The margharita is always so good – just tomato sauce and cheese on the thinnest crust. Rick tried the pepperoni – a risky move with the meat, but it paid off and was yummy.

Lido Island: Who knew this was near Venice?

Lunch on Lido Island

Then we hopped a boat to Murano where they are famous for their glass. We were lucky enough to catch 2 demonstrations of glass making. One was the typical glass blower with the big furnaces and the long pipe to blow the glass. He made an amazing horse in no time at all. The shop was filled with them. Not sure who wants them, but it was cool to watch him make it. We bought a necklace to show our "thank you" for the demonstration. Then we also saw a cottage-type operation where the man used a blow torch and a stick of glass to make little hearts for earrings. We bought a couple of gifts and walked around for awhile. Murano is where they sent all the glass artisans because their hot furnaces caused too many fires in Venice. Now it’s become a Mecca for glass art. We also met up with some tourists from Minnesota and chatted for a long time, comparing notes about home and about travel. Everyone tells the girls how lucky they are when they hear about our plans. That's good for them to hear when their feet are tired.

Murano Island

Next we hopped onto another boat headed for Burano, an island known for it’s lace artisans but also for it’s colourful buildings. It did not disappoint. Not being big fans of lace, we walked right past the shops and explored the colourful town. It was like being on a Willy Wonka movie set. I don’t know how they got everyone organized and on board to paint their houses such bright colours, but it sure makes for a great effect.

Burano Island

Grand Canal at night

The journey home was a little tedious as the boat connections back to our neck of the woods weren’t great, so after boating back to Venice, we opted for the lengthy walk to our neighbourhood, assuming that we’d pass our favourite grocery store on the way to pick up some supper. Big surprise, we couldn’t find it. It was getting late and we were about to give up when we turned a corner and there it was.

This would be an example of where the girls have been so amazing. After walking and exploring all day, they didn’t complain once about not being able to find the store or about being hungry or tired. They are always helpful in the kitchen to prepare food as well. We had some delicious soup and grilled cheese and collapsed into bed. We’ve hardly eaten in restaurants as it’s very expensive and truthfully, it hasn’t always been that great. We’ve been eating like kings and queens on a modest budget, and we have enjoyed exploring all the options in the grocery stores. The cheese counter is always a joy, as is the wine aisle and the girls enjoy the produce section as you need to weigh your own items and enter a code to get a sticker printed with the price.  We generally nibble on some artisan bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar as we cook and it’ just helps to get everyone smiling. Apparently it’s not even Italian to use oil and vinegar. They just use oil, but we don’t care, we LOVE it. We’ve found some balsamic that is as thick as honey and it’s going fast.

We’re quite sure that we are on a 'Rick Steve’s-approved' vacation. We read his Italy book constantly (thanks Schonwetters) and so many of his tips we already do. We might be able to co-write a chapter on "Meals you can make with 3 ingredients or less, sometimes not knowing what they are", and sometimes very limited kitchen equipment with which to make it. We’ve learned how to flip crepes with a wooden spoon, flip eggs with a fork, make toast in the frying pan and strain pasta without a colander.

The only thing we’re hungry for that we can’t find anywhere is a good muffin. Italian culture has not embraced the muffin. I found one once – for 3 Euros (that’s over $5) so that wasn’t going to happen. I dream about all the muffins I’m going to make at home. But at home I’m sure I’m going to miss all the flavours of Italy. I’m also becoming more efficient and skilled at making espresso (who knew it wasn't expresso which is how I've been saying it for years). I’m afraid we might be creating little cappuccino addicts.

OK, it’s list time:

Least favourite things about Italy:

• Paying to use the washroom. In Venice it was 1.5 Euros per person, that’s $2.30, or $10 for our family!! We’ve learned that you might as well order a couple of treats at a café and then use their washroom if you’re spending the money anyway. Problem is that it’s a bit of a circular dilemma.
• Paying to drive on the highway. Toll-highways are fine, but this isn’t 'spare change' kind of tolls that we’re used to in the states. It cost $50 to drive from Venice to Cinque Terre which took about 4 hours.
• All the stray dogs, boohoo!! They’re so sweet and so gentle and often have collars on, which means that they were probably abandoned. There are no programs or shelters to get them off the streets. When we asked our tour guide about it she said, "Italy doesn't even care for it's homeless people, nevermind the dogs."
• No decent recycling program that people actually use. Sometimes there are bins for different types of materials but people just put garbage into them.

Most favourite things about Italy:

• Food
• Scenery
• Warm-hearted people
• Everyone and their dog has a dog. We've petted countless breeds, shapes and sizes. We miss Juno so much, so it's nice to get our puppy-fix once in awhile.

You see older women walking arm in arm all the time. So nice.