3 days in Venice: Romance Capital of the World

We stepped out of the airport and negotiated our way to one of three ways to get into Venice. We easily bought tickets and found our bus to the train station. We decided against a water taxi due to cost and the amount of luggage we had and the private car ride to the train station was long and expensive. In all cases, we had a 10 minute walk after getting to the edge of the city to walk to our hotel located on the Grand Canal. We crossed the bridge from the train station and were visually struck by the true essence of Venice: the only ways to get around this beautiful city is by foot or by boat. The late day sun created sparkling reflections on the water. We stood there for a few moments to take it in.

Our hotel was in an old apartment attached to the hotel on the Grand Canal. We arrived on trash day that presented see-through plastic sacks hanging from the windows -  almost like little gift presentations with trash inside. We scheduled dinner the first night near our hotel at Antica Trattoria Alla Ferrata. We were the only tourists there. We listened to the spirited conversations at the bar and enjoyed our fresh pasta, with a nightcap of homemade limoncello. The next day we would join my sister and her husband in San Marco and pick up our friends Deb and Dan from the airport to begin the great adventure.

We ate breakfast on the Grand Canal, mesmerized by the different sorts of
cargo in the passing boats. Literally everything moves about on the water. We walked the forty minutes to San Marco Piazza. San Marco was empty when we arrived but quickly filled in with tourists. The church is between the clock tower and the Doge's Palace. We proceeded to San Marco Basilica, met my sister and her husband and we were those tourists with headsets. The explanation of the history of the church satisfied us and we quickly forgot our headset-shame. It seems that the Turks in Constantinople and the Venetians were always in battle to steal gold mosaics and columns from each other. The facade of the church held many vibrant gold mosaics stolen from the Turks during the 11th century Crusades. The reflection of the sun off the gold was spellbinding, stolen or not.

We ate lunch in San Marco square, visited the views from near Doge Palace and then left to head to the airport to collect our friends Deb and Dan. It was fun to repeat the entrance into the city to see their reaction. My favorite people were in my new favorite city. It was to be a great trip.

We dined at Trattoria Antica Besseta that evening, also near our hotel. The
food was really creative and tasty. I had a fish sandwich with radish mayo and catsup on black bread (not your ordinary fish sandwich). Dan had a seafood feast. Paul opted for pasta. Our desserts were the best part. We were among the last to leave that night and we
got our coats to walk back to the hotel. After we arrived at our hotel room, Paul discovered a strange pair of gloves in his pockets. He quickly realized that he had the wrong coat, though it was very similar to his own. He ran back to the restaurant and his coat was not there. Surprisingly, it was Paul's size, though was cut shorter, and the same color and brand. We never did find Paul's coat after going back to the restaurant several times. There is a children's novel in there about the traveling coat we think.

The next day was packed with activities, starting with an anniversary toast to

Paul, my husband of 37 years. We had a full agenda in the most romantic city in the world. I had an idea to end the day and to celebrate our anniversary with a gondola ride. We started with a tour of the Doge's Palace - a secret tour that took us to the
prison cells and hidden offices. Casanova was once a prisoner here and we saw where he escaped (according to legend). We visited the torture room and then the secret offices of the rulers of Venice at the time. We had lunch and then got on a boat to visit the island of Murano to see the glass factory. We watched the artists form the glass and we noticed many people in suits closing in around us as the "tour" ended. We were lead to the glass museum and shop and we were assigned a personal guide. We were aware that this was the opening of tourist season. Paul decided to surprise me by buying a piece of Murano glass for our anniversary. The shopping process was full of pressure, but we found a piece that would fit in our home and also fit our wallets. We left on the boat we came on and checked our pockets to make sure we still all in tact.

Ever since we decided to go to Venice, I was looking forward to spending our 37th anniversary on a gondola. I imagined a singer singing "When the Moon hits the sky like a big pizza pie, that's amore" and a ride at dusk. However, there were six of us and no room for a singer. I tried to talk Paul into singing for me (he is a great singer) - even offering to download a song on my phone so he could sing along. Cheesy and touristy, but what a memorable way to celebrate in Venice, huh. In reality, Paul didn't want to sing and held back to pay our gondolier a few extra Euros in tips if he would sing something. While he was hanging back, I crawled into the gondola seat and my sister crawled in next. They assigned her a seat next to me. We asked to trade seats so I could sit with Paul, but between the language difficulties and the unsteadiness of the boat, the gondolier refused to let us change. So my anniversary gondola ride with the "singing" gondolier next to my sweetheart was not turning out like I envisioned. Sometimes though it is the embracing the unexpected that memories are made. I hugged my sister and kissed her on the cheek while the gondolier kept singing "Volare, ah-ah-ah-ahhhh" (very off-key). We all laughed til we cried on the forty minute ride through the minor canals in Venice. Paul told me later that he enjoyed seeing me laugh with my sister and that made his day. Romantic? No. But endearing? Yes! To the end of my days, I will remember our 37th anniversary. I also have my piece of Murano glass to commemorate it.

We wandered the narrow streets of Venice that night and window shopped before dinner,
finding the custom-designed masks, trinkets, leather bags, and pastries (food porn) in the windows.

The next morning, we took Deb and Dan to visit San Marco Basilica and they went out on the balcony above San Marcos piazza.  I lingered in the Piazza and resisted the numerous gypsy beggars that were extremely persistent.We grabbed lunch and headed on the People mover to make our way to the cruise port. We were about to leave the romantic city of Venice and embark on a Mediterranean cruise. One parting thought was this: I haven't seen one set of Venetian blinds. The lasting thought was how the city of Venice grabs hold and make you feel part of it. It was much better than we could have imagined, "Volare" and all that.