Italy: Venice Part 2

I'm finally getting around to writing the recap for our final days in Italy from our trip in January. I really did save the best for last. Of the three cities we visited (Rome, Florence, and Venice), Venice was by far my favorite.

The canals are beautiful and so picturesque. With all the little bridges, you could really wander and enjoy the scenery.

Venice experiences something a couple times a year where the tide rises and the city floods. It's called "alta acqua" and the water can rise a few inches to a few feet. While we were in Venice, they experienced one of the more severe floods with the water rising as high as 12" in the streets.

My mom thought I was a little crazy for bringing my rain boots, especially since we were traveling with carry on luggage only. I am so thankful I had them. My husband on the other hand had to buy these weird thick plastic shoe cover things to keep dry. I was able to run splash wade through the water without worrying about getting wet.

Yup, I was one of those crazy people!

Since the city is used to the tides rising, they are able to prepare and put out wooden walkways. In the busy parts of the city, it's funny to see all these people shuffling along, almost like a ride line at Disney.

The tides splashing up onto the edge of the walk ways.

We stopped for lunch at a little hole in the wall. On the way there, my husband was giving us directions- "Make a right. Then another right. And another right." After the third one, I gave him the side eye since it seemed like we were going to go in circles. But in Venice, apparently that's how you get places!

The Rialto Bridge at night.

Hand-blown heart shaped glass balloons from Murano Island in Venice. I opted for a little green/teal colored one.

I really wanted to buy a ton of them to recreate this in our house, but that just wasn't in the budget.

 Photo from the Rialto Bridge with the Grand Canal in the background.

We saw a Disney Store and of course I had to take a picture. Mickey was all ready for the upcoming Carnival festival.

Overlooking Doge's Palace and the Grand Canal.

Inside the Basilica at St. Mark's Square. Millions of little gold tiles are used in the mosaic inside. It's ok if your mouth hangs open a little while you gaze at it, everyone else's are. ;)

Although I really wanted to take a gondola ride while in Venice, the rain kept us away. Apparently these people didn't mind!

All'Amarone Vineria

We ate at a little wine bar we found just a couple blocks away from the apartment we rented. On the way home after a few glasses of wine, we did have a few moments of "Was it a left? Or a right? Does that building look familiar?"

The walls are lined with little shelves that empty bottles and notes from the folks who enjoyed them. It was fun to read what other people had written.

The best bruchetta I have ever had.

Cheese platter. They always serve the cheese with honey- so good!

The next day we had to wake up at 4am to catch the water bus to take us to the airport to head home.

Even though it rained most of our time there, we both agreed that we'd love to return to Venice. Hopefully with better weather. :) 

Italy : Venice Part 1

I left off on our second day in Florence. You can read my recaps of Rome (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) and Florence (Part 1, Part 2). 

We headed out early to Venice the next morning. Taking the trains were by far the most stressful part of the trip. The train stations are huge with at least 20 tracks/platforms all going to different places. The platforms update with the destinations only 10-15 minutes before, so you really need to pay attention and then hustle to get to your train. On top of that, all the intercom announcements are in Italian. But once on the train, you could literally see the stress relief on my husband's face.

Once off the train, we took a water bus (vaporetto) to get to our apartment.

First views of the canals of Venice!

We got in pretty late and spent the evening getting settled into our apartment. For dinner we wandered down a little street and picked up some locally made tortellini, pasta sauce, wine and cannolis.

The next morning we went out exploring.

Such a beautiful view, can you imagine it in summer? Breathtaking.

The Rialto Bridge

The oldest bridge to span the grand canal in Venice. It has stairs on both outer sides as well as in the center where all the shops face.

A fountain in a square.

We stopped at the Rialto market early in the morning. One of my favorite parts of our trip.

Fresh local seafood!

Pig shaped salami?

Venice is truly a city where wandering is mandatory. We found this little square/area near the market that led us to the grand canal. The tide was rising, during a time they call "acqua alta" or high water. 

It's a little hard to tell, but I'm actually standing in the rising canal water. Yup, I planned ahead and brought my rainboots! 

I'm pretty sure I said "Omg! I'm standing in the venice canal!" Haha :)

Stay tuned for our next day in Venice!

Italy : Florence Part 2

I'm recapping the trip to Italy I took in January. 

You can find my recaps of Rome here (Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3) and Florence Part 1. 

The Accademia Galley

The Accademia is home to Michelangelo's David, the real one, not the replica. The statue is huge (17 feet tall) and sculpted from one piece of marble. I'm pretty sure I stood there with my jaw hanging open. Kinda incredible that Michelangelo was able to sculpt so much detail so many years ago without the tools we have today. This is really a must see in Florence.

Santa Croce Square

We wandered around this cute little square while on the hunt for a taxi stand in preparation for the next day's travel to Venice.

Up next... a cappuccino and pastry break! 

We needed some extra energy for our next adventure.

Florence Cathedral

The Florence Cathedral is the biggest and most notable cathedral in Florence. It consists of different buildings, including the Baptistry, Bell Tower and Duomo. One of the unique things is that you can climb to the top of the Duomo and take in Florence from a different view. It's 463 steps to the top of the dome, hence the need for coffee beforehand.

It's all fun and smiles... until you have to climb all those stairs...

 A view of the inside of the cathedral from ground level.

 The passages were very narrow while climbing to the top of the dome. Some past visitors left their memoirs.

About halfway up, you go back into the dome and can look down in the cathedral.

See those people down there? That's where I took the other photo of the cathedral.

Every so often, there were openings where you could see outside. See the tall tower towards the right? That's the Uffizi!

The steepest stairs to get to the very top.

We made it!

The top of the dome has space to walk around with a few benches. There are about 6 arches that go around the little viewing area.

There's still so much detail in the architecture, even at the top of this huge cathedral.

 View of the Bell Tower from the dome.

View of the Bell Tower from the ground.

Santa Croce Square (where we were earlier in the day)

Check back for my recaps on our final Italian city: Venice!