Cheerio England, Ciao Italia

Venice Italy

After eight years I FINALLY made it back to Italy!
And yet again, I took the bus to the airport, then caught my flight to Venice, Italy we then had to take ANOTHER bus to the train station in Venice… All worth it!
Once My best friend, Melanie and I got to Venice and changed we were ready to explore. But first, we wanted to buy our train tickets. The train tickets were more expensive than expected because we booked them last-minute. But we didn’t mind, we were ready to explore our high school playground. (I strongly advise booking train tickets in advance) We found the train’s luggage storage, we were lucky most train stations have somewhere for you to store your luggage at a cheap cost, and then we were on our way into Venice.

 

“Getting Lost”

We had already booked a gondola ride for later in the day, so we had a few hours to spare. We spent this time “getting lost”… I mean familiarizing ourselves with the streets of Venice, markets, the Rialto, and San Marcos square. We stopped at a small café where we got fruit and a sandwich to share. Through the streets, you can find fresh fruit everywhere and we both love fruit so that was a win! After enjoying this snack we went to a store to get Bellini’s and water.

I wanted to find a Murano glass bead to add to my Pandora bracelet and some other trinkets so we looked through street stores. Ultimately, I decided against getting a bead because I couldn’t find one I really liked. I did get a magnet to start my collection and a few gifts for my friends back in Atlanta.

When we finally made our way to the square I was flooded with memories from high school as well as a young child when my dad was stationed in Italy the first time. We spent time taking lots of pictures and trying to find something to eat. We got a small café pizza that was not as appetizing as we hoped for, unfortunately. This type of pizza is thicker and not typical Italian pizza. It was super doughy and undercooked.

 

 

Gondola Ride

We headed to find our gondola ride. When booking this we were under the impression that it would be a private gondola, but that was not the case. We ended up sharing the gondola with a family from Australia. Luckily, the family was very sweet and helpful, offering to take pictures and switch locations on the gondola for better pictures, although I don’t think the gondolier was happy about this. Of course, we did the same for them, taking many pictures and chatting. The ride went by fast and it didn’t seem like we were getting what we thought we had paid for. None the less it was nice to see Venice from a different viewpoint.

If you plan to go on a gondola in Venice, Italy and want a private one I would suggest calling to confirm it is private. We thought booking ahead would get us a better deal but it didn’t end up that way.

 

 

 

After the gondola we were starting to get hungry and set out to find somewhere good to eat. We found a restaurant that looked promising. I got a meal deal that consisted of salad, REAL spaghetti Carbonara, and chicken. Melanie got bruschetta and shared my salad. It was pretty good but we were still disappointed that everything didn’t taste how we remembered. My spaghetti was good but the chicken was very bland and Melanie’s bruschetta only had tomatoes, which is not typically how it is made.

They did offer us a limoncello to try. This was a funny experience because neither of us had had it before. After a sip, we were both startled by how strong it was. The waiter laughed while saying “it is only 28%”. By this time we were ready to head back to the train station to head to Florence. We paid our bill and we’re on the way. For anyone who has not been to Italy before but plans to, be mindful that most restaurants charge a fee to sit down.

 

We stopped in a few more shops picking up some more things and we noticed a place that does fish pedicures. We both thought it would be a fun experience, I justified it because my feet were hurting.  It felt funny and tickled our feet, but it felt refreshing at the same time. We didn’t want it to be over but, after ten minutes it was time to get on our train. So, we finished the walk back to the station and because we booked last-minute our only seat option was first class. We didn’t complain though. The seats were very comfortable and spacious.

About halfway to Florence, we received water, wine, and the choice of a sweet or salty snack. We weren’t expecting this, it was a nice surprise for sure. Bye-bye Venice Italy!
Next stop… Florence!

 

Check out my next travel blog post here.