Ciao Dalla Bellissima Venezia!!! (Day 42 - GToE)

Hello from beautiful Venice!!!

I cannot believe that it is already December and I have been traveling for 42 days! Whew. Where has the time gone? The sun continues to be elusive and I am still being met with gray and sometimes rainy days.

I have arrived in one of my favorite cities in the world: Venice. Eight years ago, I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day wandering all over this magical city and it was amazing. I've been fretting over the past couple of months on whether Venice holds up upon a second visit. I can attest that it does! I am still in love with Venezia.

I departed (thank god!) Milan this morning - grabbing an 8:00am train and arrived at Venice's Santa Lucia train station at 10:45. I then caught a vaporetto (water bus) from the train station to the area where my hostel is located (see map above), arriving by 11:30-ish. Yeah, the vaporetto is not a speedy service, but it is lovely to travel via boat. After checking in and storing my luggage, I was back out. I walked around the area of hostel for a little bit before making my way back to the train station. Why? Because that's where the self-guided Grand Canal tour starts (from Rick Steves' travel guide). 

The Grand Canal is Venice's "Main Street" and the best way to view this main thoroughfare is by jumping to the front of a vaporetto and taking in the sites. Along the way, I saw some of the most amazing Venetian palaces, bridges and churches; for example, the Casino where Richard Wagner died in 1883, the famous Rialto Bridge, Peggy Guggenheim's former retirement palazzo (now a museum housing a collection of modern art - seeing it on Wednesday), La Salute Church, and ending up at St. Mark's Square. I snapped a bunch of photos of the Grand Canal and its sites.

When I reached St. Mark's Square, I got off the vaporetto and made my way to the Square. I toured St. Mark's Basilica, an 11th century Byzantium cathedral, which is wildly ornate. Sadly, the exterior is having some renovations so I couldn't take a good photo of the outside and inside there was no photography allowed, which didn't stop some people from taking photos. It's very dark inside so I can't imagine their photos came out well. But there are plenty of photos on the web of this church.

I then went to the Doge's Palace where I toured the courtyard, the state apartments, the armory, the institutional chambers (where all the political decisions were made), and the prison. You have walk over the Bridge of Sighs to get to the prison. The Bridge of Sighs connects the palace to the prison and is a much photographed site in Venice. The name comes from (supposedly) a condemned man would be led over this bridge on his way to prison, take one last look at the glory of Venice, and sigh. All very romanticized. 

Included with my ticket to the Doge's Palace were three other museums: Museo Correr, Archeologico, and Biblioteca, which are all located in one building in St. Mark's Square. I toured these three museums along with the royal apartments of Emperor Franz Joseph. (Yes, Franz Joseph and Sissi are here in Venice too!!) I saw some Venetian Renaissance art, Roman statues, and ancient books. All very interesting but exhausting on my legs. Again, no photos allowed, not that it stopped others. You gotta love the Italians. Tourists taking photos in the site where no photos are allowed and the Italians just sit there watching them. Must be nice to be a guard in an Italian museum.

After returning to my hostel this afternoon, I met my roomies: Jessie, an English girl, and Anya, a California girl. We bonded immediately and decided to go out for dinner together. We got to the restaurant around 7:00-ish and left after 10:00pm. You have to love the Italians. They will allow people to just sit around all night if they wanted to without actually ordering anything. It's funny because I was going to try to get tickets to see something tonight, but instead had a wonderful dinner and made two new friends.

A word of advice and caution to anyone traveling to Venice: Beware when eating in St. Mark's Square. The seagulls are particularly fearless. If you are holding any sort of food in your hands, they will dive bomb and steal it from you. In my case, two different birds took two hunks of my lunch from my hands. I'm thinking of going back with a shotgun! I also saw a seagull attack a pigeon for its food. They're vicious birds!!! 

Check out my Day 42 photos of Venice on my GToE photo site.

The night view outside my hostel window.