Italy... here we come!

We hopped on an airplane to arrive in Venice, Italy late Friday night. We were greeted with some VERY hot and humid weather... which isn't ideal when having to take a 40 minute water bus ride with seats in a very enclosed area. But, we made it, only to get confused as to where our hotel was. We managed to walk through the Jewish Ghetto (not so much a ghetto, just the name that was given) and were met by about 100 Jewish people singing a song at a local restaurant. We finally found our hotel (after asking of course) and entered our room which was AIR CONDITIONED! What a great feeling that we haven't felt for almost 3 months! (And for those who are still confused... Europe just hasn't jumped on the a/c wagon. We don't live in a bad area of Germany).

We started the day off Saturday with walking to the Rialto Bridge. This bridge is the most famous bridge that crosses the Grand Canal in Venice. Walking in Venice is a little different than all the other locations we have been because it's so easy to get turned around in the maze-like streets. Some alleyways lead to dead ends, while others lead straight into the narrow waterways. Signs were randomly placed throughout the alleys to help lead you to the bridge (and some of the other more popular locations) which helped for the most part. While walking, we window shopped and admired the many bakeries and pizza shops that seemed to be at every corner. Once at the bridge, we watched gondola after gondola go by and what seemed to be hundreds of boats full of tourists going to their next destination.

From the bridge we headed to St. Marks Square and the Basilica San Marco. With the weather being scorching hot, I of course had my typical Florida attire on, shorts, tank and flip flops. When going into the Basilica you could not have your shoulders or legs exposed. So I had to use their paper like covers to wrap around my shoulders and waist. It was a good look, let me tell ya!

After we walked around for a little while, we decided to take a water bus to Murano, which is known as the glass island. We came across a hay bale which was made of small pieces of gold glass, as well as many vases, picture frames, chandeliers, necklaces, and rings made of glass... basically anything you can think of. Everything was very beautiful. By this time our stomachs were calling out to us so we stopped at a small cafe and enjoyed our first Italian pizza. It just so happened to have slices of hot dogs on it... which surprisingly is very good. Andrew also had a traditional espresso.

From Murano, we then headed back to the hotel for a quick breather and cool down. We decided to randomly walk down alleyways to see what we could run into, which led us to the absolutely delicious Gelateria. I had a mixed berry and strawberry flavor and Andrew had a coffee and some sort of nut flavor. I have never had something so good before, especially since I am not really a big fan of deserts. Once we were done exploring the Venice streets, we went to check out one more bridge before deciding on a place to eat. While on the bridge and looking out into the Grand Canal, we were surprised to see this huge cruise ship going through the water being towed.

In Venice when walking by restaurants, most waiters will stand outside and try to talk you into eating at their restaurant. We ended up getting caught by one of these guys and decided on one of them without even knowing the name. The next day we later found out it was called Restuarante Florida, which seems kind of ironic. Anyways, Andrew ordered spaghetti and I ordered lasagna with a bottle of their house white wine. Tables were very close and we were sat next to an older couple. They began talking to us and we ended up talking for quite a while. It was quite a different experience though because the couple was actually from France and hardly spoke any English, so we were communicating more through sign language and a few words here and there. They found out we got engaged in France and my wine glass was empty so the man ended up filling up my glass with their wine so we could cheers to it! It was actually a pretty neat. We also ordered desert and as you can see in the pics, it was quite fancy! It was very delicious as well though.

After a great time eating and meeting a very nice couple we figured it was time to head back towards the hotel. Earlier that day we had bought a bottle of wine to drink, but realized we wouldn't have any way of drinking it Sunday, so we grabbed the bottle and a couple of glasses and sat outside along the Grand Canal. About 10 minutes after we were outside it began to rain so we went back into the hotel and hung out in the lobby for a while.

Saturday was a very eventful day and we had a great time exploring Venice. As you will see by the pictures, everything is just so beautiful and full of character. Enjoy!