Venice -> Florence

Goodbye Venice:

I booked our train tickets online, and the train was scheduled to leave at 8:40am.  I purposely booked that time because I wanted to have a nice full "included" breakfast at hotel before we leave.  That way we can save money for food later on.  The hotel's breakfast doesn't open until 7:30am.  So we pretty much waited to have breakfast right at 7:30am.  After a nice breakfast buffet, we walked to the boat station to take the #1 Vaporetto Boat to the train station.

Venice's main transportation -  Vaporetto ACTV

It took me a while to figure out how to use the ticket machine, I even went to ask a local how to buy tickets.  The local said it seems like the machine didn't work.  When the boat came, I still couldn't buy the tickets, so I asked the local lady to help translating our situation to the staff.  We got on to the boat anyway, and the staff said he couldn't take the money and he just closed the gate.  The boat started moving, so we got a free ride to the train station: Venezia Santa Lucia

Venice's main train station: Venice Santa Lucia

The train station was only 3 minutes walk from the Line 1 boat station.

Venice - last night in Venezia

Last night in Venezia was even more quieter than the first night.  Having dinner right beside the canal should be quite romantic.  We weren't that hungry after the tiny snack from St. Mark's square (San Macro).  There were night gondola rides available, I heard it was more expensive.  I don't think there's much to see at night; it was so dark everywhere along the canal.  There were hardly lights, especially the smaller alleys and smaller canals.  I guess it could be more mysterious.

Display of the Venetian Seafood

bits and pieces at night

The alleys in Venice were so narrow, the most narrowest street in Paris couldn't compare.  The government did such a good job to preserve all the buildings and streets so vintage.  

The vending machine for cigarettes.  No ID needed.  How convenient for the smokers.  I'm glad they don't have this anymore in Canada.

During our walk back to the hotel, we saw a group of young people doing crazy things for their bachelor party.  I saw this guy who wore a big paper sign with a hole in it.  I believe he didn't wear a pant.  I didn't really walk closer to have a closer look.  I was too distracted walking by a dead rat right in the middle of the road.  I didn't know how the rat just died in the middle of the road, I wonder if it was stepped by someone, because it looked like it had been pressed and there were no cars nor bikes in Venice.  

There were millions of bridges in Venice, they were all nicely built.  So arties.  We got hungry again and we didn't want to spend that much money,  so we just walked back to the hotel's snack room and filled our stomach with their snacks.  Their selection of drinks was pretty awesome.

One thing I should have done and I missed it: I should have tried their Tiramisu.  I heard the Venetian Tiramisu is quite unique, and all Italian cities have their own unique ways of making Tiramisu.   But I find all restaurants have different textures and taste of tiramisu in Italy, because they all have their own homemade recipes.  But Tiramisu and cappuccino are must try when you travel to Italy :)

Venice - Piazza San Macro

St. Mark's Square:
Here we are!! the St. Mark's square!  We almost missed this part, so glad we found this.  We basically just followed the street signs and then after turning out from a narrow street's corner...we were like wow.... nice view....and lots of pigeons flying around :)

Tips to avoid lining up at St. Mark's Basilica:
I booked a time slot to the St. Mark's Basilica for 10:45am, but we decided to sleep in instead, so we missed the reservation time.  If you want to avoid the line up, you can go to their website and pay 1Euro/person to select a time slot to visit.  That way you can save up some time from lining up.
Information: web site; Tel. (0039) 041-270-8311

Admission: Admission to the Basilica is free, but visitors should expect to pay entrance fees during holidays or to special parts of the basilica complex, such as the St. Mark's museum, Pala d'Oro, and the Treasury. You can book your free reservation (for a 1 euro service fee) on the website venetoinside.com.

The ambience was quite amazing and romantic.  There were live bands performing for the outdoor tables.  But you gotta pay for what you get.  Menu was quite expensive and there was a cover charge for 6 Euro per person for the live band.  But I'm telling you that it was well worth it :)

World known piazza + live classy music + good singer + ok food + pigeons flying around + waiting for sunset.................munching on the olives .....taking a sip of the white wine....How much more could I ask for?..........Gosh I miss that moment.

I mean when the bill came, it wasn't that bad: We ordered two glasses of wine and we shared ONE dish of panini...Chips and olives were "complimentary".  The bill included a 18% gratitude...so it ended up to be approximately 46 Euro in total?  

On the right hand side of the photo is the Doge's palace, this is located beside the St. Mark's Basilica.

It was quite remarkable to chill around the Piazza San Macro :) so memorable... Hope I would come back some day.

Venice - Some beautiful venetian's artworks

Haven't been updated for a while......getting lazy....

you can't miss the venetian masks in venice :) they are beautiful!

Venice - strolling around in daylight

Many postcards looked like they took the photos here, across the water was the Santa Maria della Salute.  It was a very quiet corner with a lot of gondolas parked.

The weather was clearing up, nice clear sky and sunny.  Perfect day to stroll around.  Venice was quite small, so it was quite easy to access the whole island in one day.

Nice clock tower in the middle of a piazza

Some kid was the "Godfather"'s theme song with accordion, that was one of the best moment: strolling around Venice with accordion as background music...just like some romantic movies.

Venice - Lunch under/beside the Rialto Bridge

Having lunch right beside the Grand Canal:

Lobster Linguine with nice view right beside the Rialto Bridge 

After our gondola ride, we found this restaurant right beside the Rialto Bridge.  We had a very nice view right beside the Grand Canal.  The water kept coming up the stairs, the table was two steps away from the water.

Restaurant right beside the Ponte di Rialto 

Tuna Carpaccio with mustard dressing

I heard Venice is well known for seafood, so I ordered Tuna Carpaccio for lunch.   The tuna was quite fresh, the texture was good.  The mustard dressing kind of blend in with the Tuna, but i think it took away the taste and freshness of the Tuna.

Lobster linguine

This dish of lobster linguine was quite good.  The price was a little overpriced (approximately 16-20 Euro/main course...to be honest, not so bad). :)  When we were in Venice, everything was quite expensive.  It is Venice, so I think it worth to pay a little extra for the view and the romantic ambience; just enjoy the moment.

Enjoying cappuccino and writing postcards :)

Cappuccino was about 4 Euro per cup; Expresso was about 2,90 Euro.  It was always good to enjoy a cup of cappuccino or expresso after a meal.  Again, having cappuccino after lunch? You must be a tourist.

Expresso in Venezia

Buying postcards was easy, but finding stamps to mail them out was quite hard.  It was hard to find the right store to get stamps.

A real post office box that doesn't look real

Finding post office boxes wasn't that hard; just that we first thought it was no longer in use.  

In the end, only two out of three postcards were received.

Venice - Gondola ride

our gondola ride along the Grand Canal

Our gondola ride:
We approached a gondolier near the Rialto Bridge for the price of getting a gondola ride.  We didn't bargain or anything, he asked for 80 Euros for approximately 30-40 minutes, but it ended up to be only ~25 minutes.  It was around 12pm, the gondolier said it would be the best time for the gondola ride because everyone went for lunch and there would be less traffic.  We agreed on the price and got on to the gondola.  I just searched online that the standard price should be 80 Euros for 40 minutes, I guess we got ripped off.  But then the Gondolier was right, there was less traffic during lunch time, because it was super crowded in the afternoon (shown below).

Traffic jam in the afternoon, but I guess that way you would enjoy a longer gondola ride.

      

Some canals are very narrow; just when the traffic sign showed "No entry", I thought the gondola would not fit in there.  In fact, it fit right in :)  The buildings looked old, but they looked nice though.  It was a super hot day, the gondola ride was very refreshing.  

The Gondolier spoke very good English, and he told us a lot of history about the different buildings.  He pointed to us where James bond's Casino Royale was filmed, the scene where the building collapsed and sunk in Venice.  He also told us a lot of interesting things; he was a pretty good tour guide.

Our gondolier :)

Becoming a gondolier?

Being a Gondolier is one of the oldest and most respected job in Venice.  It's limited to only 400-500 licenses.  The income should be very decent as it is pretty much guaranteed to have tourists paying for the overpriced but unique experience.  80 Euro for 25 minutes? Imagine how much you could make in a day, in a month....in a year.  However it is very difficult to become a Venetian gondolier from an outsider, especially when one is not born within the gondoliers' families.

Some facts about Gondolas:

- "A gondola is like a luxury car.  Although black is the official color, many are ornately decorated and have comfortable seats and blankets." - (reference: goitaly.about.com/)

- A gondola is flat and made of wood.  All of the venetian gondolas should be standard size: 11 meters long, weights 600kg and are hand built in special workshops.

- Gondolas hold six people and can be shared without affecting the fee, so you can save money by splitting the cost

- Gondoliers must be officially licensed.  They must wear black pants, a striped shirt and closed dark shoes.

 

Alternative option?

Another cheaper option to ride across the Grand Canal is to take the traghetto: Traghetto is an empty gondola used to ferry passengers back and forth across the canal. - (goitaly.about.com/)

Venice - Italian Meal Structure

Hosteria al Vecio Bragosso: great view and romantic ambience

We came here for our first dinner in Venice, it was close to our hotel, to other shops and Macdonald.  It was nice to sit at the outdoor terrace, beautiful night with perfect ambience.

We weren't that hungry from the late lunch, so we just went to have some late snack.  We looked through different menus, and we decided to eat at this restaurant.  While we were waiting, there was a basket of different breads, buns and bread sticks.  There was this brand new pack of bread sticks, I opened the pack, which I later found it was charged 8 Euro for the bread. :S So next time, I learnt that it would be free to just eat the bread/buns in the basket, but if you open any packs of bread sticks, it will be charged on the bill.  Or it could just be cover charge, I don't know...but why cover charge?

Beef Carpaccio as secondo, along with Murano candle holder

In North America, beef carpaccio is usually the appetizer, but in Italy, beef carpaccio seems to be the second main entree.  So it usually is more expensive on the menu, especially its a dish with meats.

Italians enjoy eating well and therefore Italian dinners usually have many courses; here is a sample of the Meal structure for the traditional Italians:

    1). Aperitivo (Appetizer) : alcoholic/non-alcohlic drinks as wine, champagne, with small amounts of food: olives, crisps, nuts...etc

    2). Antipasto (heavier starter): heavier starter such as salami, cheese

    3). Primo (first entree): non-meat dishes (include pizza, risotto, pasta, lasagnas..etc)

    4). Secondo (second entree): usually the heaviest course (include different meats and types of fish (include turkey, sausage, pork, steak, salmon, lobster, lamb, chicken etc)

    5). Formaggi e Frutta (cheese and fruits)

    6). Dolce (desserts): my favourite is the homemade tiramisu, the style and texture of tiramisu is different from cities to cities

    7). Caffe (Coffee or expresso): Italians usually drink expresso after every meal.  The locals only drink beverages with milk in the morning, because they believe drinking milk later in the day is thought to be bad for the stomach.  If you order a cappuccino or caffe latte after your meal in dinner time, it would be a giveaway that you're a tourist :)

PS:  If you want a latte, make sure you order a caffe latte (meaning expresso with steam milk), otherwise you might just get a glass of milk, because latte in Italian means milk.

Venice - First romantic night in Venice

Murano Glass Candle holders 

I think I kept emphasizing how peaceful it was at night in Venice, because it was really not something I expected.  For those who travelled by cruise or with tour groups, most of them don't get a chance to stay in Venice during night time as they usually stay outside of the Venice island.  Hence, it was really quiet without the big tourist crowd at night.

The famous Rialto Bridge - Ponte di Rialto

Rialto Bridge:

Venice is really small, you could easily reach and walk to each tourist attraction within ten minutes.  The Rialto Bridge is the oldest bridge that spans across the Grand Canal, dividing the districts of San Marco and San Polo.  It's one of the top attractions, so usually there is a lot of traffic in the day time when all the tour groups and other tourists like to gather around there.

Gondolas' dock right next to the Rialto Bridge; apparently gondola rides at night time are more expensive

Some facts about the Gondolas:
While gondolas were once regularly used by Venetians, especially of the upper classes, now the Waterbus become the main form of water transportation in Venice.  Now, it is treated more like a tourist 's trap/experience.  A couple hundred years ago there were about 10,000 gondolas but today there are only about 500, limited and licensed by the government.

The Grand Canal

Venice - Sunset in Venice

enjoying the moment

After our late lunch, we were walking around until sunset.  Very peaceful, very quiet and very beautiful :)

Venice looked a little different from what I expected.  It was actually more beautiful than I thought.  The canals felt closer and the streets were more narrower;  it was less commercialized than I thought.  The streets were very vintage.  I didn't expect there was absolutely no car, and not even bikes in Venice......It was just so beautiful.  It was nothing close to the replica in the Venetian hotels in Vegas and Macau.

Gelato everywhere