Venice
Hey. Get on the boat...
Ya gotta love public transportation. I really don't understand why more American cities don't make it easier for visitors to get around them.
We bought a day-pass today to Venice's system of public buses, both land and water. 24 hours and you get to ride any line as much as you want.
So we got on the bus that stops right outside our hotel, which took us to a water bus stop where we caught the line that goes past Piazza San Marco and then all the way up the Grand Canal.
The guidebooks were right: take the #1 all the way through the canal. It stops literally everywhere but it gives you a chance to see everything on both sides and get a sample of the various attractions in each part of the city.
But the point here is we bought one ticket and used it over and over again.
Now, some American cities have a similar offer. I've bought weekend passes in Chicago and Washington, but they tend to be just for the express trains or the subway. This pass covered everything we got on. (Though we didn't try any traghettos, the gondola-like ferries across the Grand Canal. But, since you can jump on any #1, they aren't really necessary, though the pass might have worked for them as well.)
So, back to the day's activities. We went up the canal, found nothing interesting at the bus station at the end of the line (though the glimpse of the causeway that connects the island-city to the mainland proved it existed and reminded me how noisy and smelly cars really are) and jumped on the "fast boat" (#82) back through the canal to the Accademia bridge for our day of art galleries and fine food.
Through the window of the museum, we saw my parents finishing their lunch (since we didn't get started until around 10, lunchtime came rather quickly). We joined them and went on our first gelatto hunt of the day. Then we went back for lunch.
Don't hate me, but I had pizza at an outdoor cafe under the Accademia bridge over the Grand Canal. "Quattro Stagioni" they call it. "Four Seasons" we believe it translates. Proscuitto, mozzerella, mushrooms and artichokes. Quite tasty.
The afternoon was spent wandering to the Guggenheim modern art gallery, the Salute church (built in 1630 in thanks for the end of the plague; Salute means health) and then the elevator ride to the top of the Campanile on San Marco.
(Now you might note that the combined admission fees to those museums — the Salute is the only one of the above without one — would buy quite a few bus rides. But that isn't the point here.)
The view from above is quite astonishing. I suppose if nothing else it reminds that with all of the wandering you've done, you still haven't visited the entire city.
Even though the day was much cooler than the previous two, we grabbed a Granite (think fruit-flavored Slurpee) while waiting to meet our parents for dinner.
Jen had the arrancio (orange) again while I tried the mente (mint). Very strong. Good, but strong.
Oddly enough, when we went wandering for dinner, we wound up at a place we had walked past, mentioned it had a strong odor at the time (and I noticed a bunch of flies). Smelled very much of fish. Of course, it was a seafood restaurant.
After a glance at the menu, we decided to eat there. I'd tell you how to get there, but I'm not sure that would work. (A lot of restaurants are like that. Just wander, you'll find a good one and cause a lot less stress on your travelling companions. Trying to find an exact place or address based on a guidebook can be difficult.)
Rather than getting dessert at the restaurant, we decided to come back to our home island of Lido and go an another gelatto hunt. Though some wanted to make it a Tiramisu hunt.
After a successful dessert expedition, we came back to the hotel and found a number of our compatriots on the front porch with the bottles of wine the tour company had arranged to be placed in our hotel rooms. Seems most hadn't consumed them already.
Over the course of working through way too much chardonnay and merlot, which I must confess to not liking all that much, we also got a fireworks show and the passing of the largest cruise boat we have ever seen. Right there in the laggoon not 100 feet away from the retaining wall. It was quite a sight.
sections