| Glenn's Venice Journal #1 4-01-02 to 4-03-02 Monday morning in Milano, our plan was to take the train to Venice. This was our first experience with the train system in Europe so we left the hotel early as not to miss the train. Of course, this was after we had breakfast (the free breakfast the hotel offers and the best one we had had so far). The train ride was relaxing and beautiful. The train took us through many smaller towns, and some not so small, including Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, and Padova, before reaching the end of the line at the Venezia Station. This was also our first stop that we had absolutely no accomodations prepared ahead of time. We walked into the station and went straight to information. Waiting outside information was a gentleman offering hotel rooms for rent. We were a little unsure, said no thanks, and went inside to the information booth. We obtained information about hostels and hotels and realized that Venice would, also, not be cheap. The man was waiting patiently outside the booth while we gathered data. Upon departing from the information booth we stopped to listen to the man about his hotel. The price was right and we could go see it before we committed to staying there. He was even nice enough to make sure we got on the right boat and knew which stop to get off at. The ending is, we went, we saw, we stayed. Now we are staying at the Allegro Casa Linger in Castello. Conveniently this is just west of the major district of San Marco. Of course, with a little map reading 101 class, everything is within walking or boating distance. There are no cars here due to the fact that Venice is built on 117 small islands and has some 150 canals and over 400 bridges. The first night in town we strolled around the Piazza San Marco, taking in the spectacular architecture, and quaint shops everywhere. We then walked up to the Rialto, one of the few bridges to cross the Grand Canal. Let me remind you that we did not walk far in distance from A to B, but quite far to get there. Have you ever seen a map of Venice? Without a decent map of Venice you could easily get lost before going 100 meters. The map we bought has been our friend!!! Tuesday we went searching for the different opportunities Venice had to offer. We picked up information about different tours, priced Gondola rides, more hostel information, and more about the museums and outer islands. We bought a multiple museum pass and started in the Palazzo Ducale (or Royal Palace). We spent many hours touring through enjoying the paintings, sculptures, and the overall presence of the Palace. From here we played with the pigeons that cover the Piazza San Marco square. Erin held bird food in her hand while I took pictures. We also took a little time to check out a hostel in town. We visited the Foresteria Valdese. What a wonderful place with very helpful people, but unfortunately it was already booked for the week. We could have stayed there even though the price was not any better than the hotel we were staying at. We are missing out on meeting more traveler's though. We then spent a few hours at the internet cafe. Our timing was excellent as we found both my parents (in Florida) and my sister (in Hawaii) on line. We quickly entered a chat room and "talked" for a while. We also found Rob, a friend from Seattle, on line and chatted with him as well. We spent 2 hours at the internet cafe and still did not spend time on our web-site. We will devote all of our time next time to our web-site. We then ran off to dinner (around 9:00 p.m.) and off to bed. |
| Wednesday we wanted to explore a different part of Venice, so we took off for Dosdoro and San Polo. The goal was to see 3 museums (as part of the multi ticket we bought yesterday) and another part of Venice. After getting a late start, finding our way, losing our way, and having to stop for lunch, we finally found our first museum of the day. We enjoyed the Museo del Settecento Veneziano Ca' Rezzonico (Museum of the Venetian Eighteenth Century). Again, another spectacular place where we spent many hours enjoying the artwork of many famous artists of the time. By this time it was 6:00 p.m. (time flies by fast when you are having fun!!) and we were deciding what to do for the night. We passed a gentleman wearing costumes from the Renaissance period advertising the Orchestra de Venezia. We were both interested and quickly decided to get tickets for the show for tonight. The show was at 8:30, so we quickly headed home, had dinner while watching the sun set over the Palace, then changed into something a little dressier. (We did bring one set of somewhat dressy clothes just for these occasions). We jumped on a water taxi back to the S. Toma drop off and enjoyed an extraordinary night at the Orchestra. The Concert was the '700 Musicisti A Confronto with excerpts from Bach, Mozart, Corelli, Vivaldi, and a few other famous artisans of those times. We truly enjoyed ourselves. We took the water taxi home and here I am writing this journal. |
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| Above, a gorgeous San Marco sunset. Below, several palazzos along the Grand Canal |