OT - My Excellent European Adventure Day Seven
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Buckwirth
Member Posts: 1,258 Member
We rise in the morning, and prepare to check out of our hotel. After packing up we make our way downstairs and place our bags in the lobby, then a last meal in Verona. Today we go to Venice!
The group comes down in bits and pieces, but eventually we are all there, waiting on our bus, and a quick trip to the train station. We are about an hour early, so we grab our bags, find our platform and park near a bench to wait for the train. There is a snack machine next to the benches, and a young man stands in front of it, staring for about 10 minutes. It was long enough that a couple of folks in our group began to think he was stalking our bags. Eventually he either realized we were on to him, or he made up his mind on what to get, either way, by the time the train arrived he was gone.
Overall, Italian trains are very nice. Hi-Speed, the trip to Venice took less than 1.5 hours. Upon arrival in the Venezia station we could see our guide holding up a sign for us. She led us first to a boat that would transport all of our luggage to the hotel, then she took us to the dock where we would board a Water Taxi. Our hotel was the
Palazzo Sant'Angelo sul Canal Grande, which, as the name implies, right on the Grand Canal. From here St. Mark’s Square was a mere 20 minute walk, and the Rialto Bridge was in sight of the hotel.
Everyone took 30 minutes to get settled, then back to the lobby so we could find lunch. We went just a few blocks, and found a nice pizzeria, with tables outside in a narrow alleyway. We ordered individually from the simple menu, including wine and beer, and enjoyed some the best pizza of the trip.
After lunch, the group was supposed to meet a tour guide for a “walking” tour of secret Venice. Since I was not in great shape walking wise, I chose to split off from the group and headed to St. Mark’s on my own. Our waiter at the pizzeria had supplied a simple map, and I was able to follow it directly to the square, resting whenever I needed to.
St. Mark's is big, and it is under renovation, so some of the sites are not as clear as they should be. I wandered around, window shopping (more 150 Euro tennis shoes), people watching and occasionally buying some gelato. It was wonderful. I soon became tired, so off to the docks to find transportation back to the hotel. Not having acclimated, I decided to just spend the money on a taxi, which wound up being 40 Euro to get from the square back to the hotel.
When we had checked into our room, the first thing I did was open the windows. Our room looked out onto one of the city streets (alleyways?) rather than a canal, but the view was beautiful, and there was a wonderful breeze blowing into the room. Upon my return, I immediately crashed onto the bed, looking up at our ceiling, where I noticed a large swarm of mosquitos. Now, my lymphedema was pretty severe, and everything I read on it included a warning about avoiding bug bites, so off I went to the lobby to ask that someone deal with the bugs in my room.
It took a little coaxing (“we are by the water sir, there will be mosquitos”) and a bit of playing on the cancer card, but they did send someone up to the room to investigate. He too was initially dismissive, but when he came back out of the room (I refused to go back in) it was to a different tune, and an offer to spray.
I took them up on the offer, along with a little electric mosquito trap, and was back in the room napping in about 10 minutes.
I slept about 30 minutes, and Kathy returned to the room. Turns out the walking tour was a bit of a disaster, with the idea of secret Venice being the shipyards outside of the canal zone, and the group realizing that the time needed for the walking tour would run right through the hour scheduled for our dinner that evening. As a result, they rushed the guide, took a quick stop at St. Mark’s and headed back to the hotel.
We produce a Chianti (Tuscany) and a Pinot Grigio (Della Venizia) in this region, and the owner of the winery we work with was our host for this part of our trip, he was also our benefactor at the hilarious dinner the previous evening outside Verona. He met us (along with two attractive assistants) in our lobby, and told us that the restaurant was just a short walk from the hotel, and off we went.
Try as I might, I could not keep up, and I have to say that our hosts were initially snippy about it, saying “you need to walk in Venice and your feet may get a bit sore”, a reaction that made me a bit angry and caused me to be a bit snippy in return, informing them of my disability. Oh well, they meant no harm, and were more than pleasant the rest of the trip.
We crossed the Rialto Bridge, walked past al l of the tourist restaurants lining the canal, and ducked down an alley and into a family run restaurant.
Once again it was a Prix Fixe menu, but this time it included squid eggs, in one dish, and squid ink in another, as well as clams.
I had a steak.
As dinner was going on, one of our group began telling the story of the previous evening, to which a couple of us quickly began drawing our fingers across our throats and holding them to our lips. Not sure if he did any damage, but it was quite funny that he had no clue that he was complaining to the folks who had footed the bill (except of course for the water
)
As dinner came to a close, and we prepared for the return journey, our host recommended Kathy and I take the “bus” back to the hotel, so, one of his assistants took us to a stop on the canal, where we boarded the Canal Bus for a quick trip across to the hotel (which has a bus stop right next door). Had I known this I could have saved 30 Euro on that earlier taxi trip. (For a view of the bus stop S.Toma look on my Expressions page)
We did save some money on the trip across, according to our hostess we traveled in the Italian tradition, without paying for the ticket…
Coming on Day Eight: The Islands of Venice
The group comes down in bits and pieces, but eventually we are all there, waiting on our bus, and a quick trip to the train station. We are about an hour early, so we grab our bags, find our platform and park near a bench to wait for the train. There is a snack machine next to the benches, and a young man stands in front of it, staring for about 10 minutes. It was long enough that a couple of folks in our group began to think he was stalking our bags. Eventually he either realized we were on to him, or he made up his mind on what to get, either way, by the time the train arrived he was gone.
Overall, Italian trains are very nice. Hi-Speed, the trip to Venice took less than 1.5 hours. Upon arrival in the Venezia station we could see our guide holding up a sign for us. She led us first to a boat that would transport all of our luggage to the hotel, then she took us to the dock where we would board a Water Taxi. Our hotel was the
Palazzo Sant'Angelo sul Canal Grande, which, as the name implies, right on the Grand Canal. From here St. Mark’s Square was a mere 20 minute walk, and the Rialto Bridge was in sight of the hotel.
Everyone took 30 minutes to get settled, then back to the lobby so we could find lunch. We went just a few blocks, and found a nice pizzeria, with tables outside in a narrow alleyway. We ordered individually from the simple menu, including wine and beer, and enjoyed some the best pizza of the trip.
After lunch, the group was supposed to meet a tour guide for a “walking” tour of secret Venice. Since I was not in great shape walking wise, I chose to split off from the group and headed to St. Mark’s on my own. Our waiter at the pizzeria had supplied a simple map, and I was able to follow it directly to the square, resting whenever I needed to.
St. Mark's is big, and it is under renovation, so some of the sites are not as clear as they should be. I wandered around, window shopping (more 150 Euro tennis shoes), people watching and occasionally buying some gelato. It was wonderful. I soon became tired, so off to the docks to find transportation back to the hotel. Not having acclimated, I decided to just spend the money on a taxi, which wound up being 40 Euro to get from the square back to the hotel.
When we had checked into our room, the first thing I did was open the windows. Our room looked out onto one of the city streets (alleyways?) rather than a canal, but the view was beautiful, and there was a wonderful breeze blowing into the room. Upon my return, I immediately crashed onto the bed, looking up at our ceiling, where I noticed a large swarm of mosquitos. Now, my lymphedema was pretty severe, and everything I read on it included a warning about avoiding bug bites, so off I went to the lobby to ask that someone deal with the bugs in my room.
It took a little coaxing (“we are by the water sir, there will be mosquitos”) and a bit of playing on the cancer card, but they did send someone up to the room to investigate. He too was initially dismissive, but when he came back out of the room (I refused to go back in) it was to a different tune, and an offer to spray.
I took them up on the offer, along with a little electric mosquito trap, and was back in the room napping in about 10 minutes.
I slept about 30 minutes, and Kathy returned to the room. Turns out the walking tour was a bit of a disaster, with the idea of secret Venice being the shipyards outside of the canal zone, and the group realizing that the time needed for the walking tour would run right through the hour scheduled for our dinner that evening. As a result, they rushed the guide, took a quick stop at St. Mark’s and headed back to the hotel.
We produce a Chianti (Tuscany) and a Pinot Grigio (Della Venizia) in this region, and the owner of the winery we work with was our host for this part of our trip, he was also our benefactor at the hilarious dinner the previous evening outside Verona. He met us (along with two attractive assistants) in our lobby, and told us that the restaurant was just a short walk from the hotel, and off we went.
Try as I might, I could not keep up, and I have to say that our hosts were initially snippy about it, saying “you need to walk in Venice and your feet may get a bit sore”, a reaction that made me a bit angry and caused me to be a bit snippy in return, informing them of my disability. Oh well, they meant no harm, and were more than pleasant the rest of the trip.
We crossed the Rialto Bridge, walked past al l of the tourist restaurants lining the canal, and ducked down an alley and into a family run restaurant.
Once again it was a Prix Fixe menu, but this time it included squid eggs, in one dish, and squid ink in another, as well as clams.
I had a steak.
As dinner was going on, one of our group began telling the story of the previous evening, to which a couple of us quickly began drawing our fingers across our throats and holding them to our lips. Not sure if he did any damage, but it was quite funny that he had no clue that he was complaining to the folks who had footed the bill (except of course for the water
) As dinner came to a close, and we prepared for the return journey, our host recommended Kathy and I take the “bus” back to the hotel, so, one of his assistants took us to a stop on the canal, where we boarded the Canal Bus for a quick trip across to the hotel (which has a bus stop right next door). Had I known this I could have saved 30 Euro on that earlier taxi trip. (For a view of the bus stop S.Toma look on my Expressions page)
We did save some money on the trip across, according to our hostess we traveled in the Italian tradition, without paying for the ticket…
Coming on Day Eight: The Islands of Venice
0
Comments
-
Love the way you wriite ! Love your trip I'm really enjoying ittootsie1 said:Fun!
It sounds like you're having the experience of a lifetime!
*hugs*
Gail
just imagine I'm theta Bick , thank you for posting! I'm surprisse about High speed trines in Italy ,I touhgh they where not in the high speed network yet! you must come to se the Spanish AVE! gorgeous system!.
Hope for a new release soon!0 -
I so enjoy your writingpepebcn said:Love the way you wriite ! Love your trip I'm really enjoying it
just imagine I'm theta Bick , thank you for posting! I'm surprisse about High speed trines in Italy ,I touhgh they where not in the high speed network yet! you must come to se the Spanish AVE! gorgeous system!.
Hope for a new release soon!
I so enjoy your writing about your trip, it feels I like am there with you and Kathy.
Enjoy the rest of your adventure. I am waiting for the next release.
Marjan0 -
Enjoying the Trip with you
Thanks for the enjoyable description of your trip. Rainy here in Northern Minnesota so experiencing your trip through your eyes is a wonderful distraction.
NB0 -
Hotel looks great buck! is it suggestible ?relaxoutdoors08 said:Enjoying the Trip with you
Thanks for the enjoyable description of your trip. Rainy here in Northern Minnesota so experiencing your trip through your eyes is a wonderful distraction.
NB
Hugs my friend!0 -
Supose hotels in Venice must be expensive as a huge truisticBuckwirth said:Varies by season, etc
But the low end is probably about 300 Euro a night.
destination.Once i triad to boom on Cipriani Hotel ! 1000€ standard room, just imagine , at the end didn't go neither to the hotel nor to Venice , so pissed off about prices! it was a time I wanted to know some of the most famous hotels in the world, cut afore in those times hahahaha, but cipriani was too much ! Well mate, looking forward to read next release very soon ! .( you and Craig would make a good team, hahaha).
Hugs!0
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