Venice

Finally, a post on Venice.  We did so much traveling and there has been so much going on with Matthew starting his new job and me working that I am terribly behind in my blog entries.  

We absolutely LOVED Venice!  It was my favorite spot of the whole trip and was a good way to start our Italian getaway.  Only downer - it was about 20 degrees each day while we were there... Matthew's first stop was to frantically buy a hat, gloves and a scarf!!

Here is a summary of our short but albeit wonderful days in this romantic Italian city...

First impressions:

• Beautiful, charming, romantic, magical
• COLD
• Italians are friendly and willing to speak to English
• Food delicate/decadent

Favorites:

• Hot chocolate
• Nutella Croissants 
• Wandering around the streets and loosing myself in all of its charm
• Gondola ride

Day 1

We landed and quickly learned part of the lagoon was frozen over, so Matthew's grand plan of a water taxi entrance was shot.  We took a land taxi part of the way past the ice and then got in a water taxi to the hotel (Europa Westin). It was so unbelievably cold outside, we were just in shock.  I was so grateful that at the last minute we decided to bring our heavy coats!

We wandered around the city the first day and took it all in.  It didn't take long for me to fall totally in love with Venice and all its charm. The first thing we did was buy Matthew a hat and scarf to keep warm and I was on the hunt for some Ugg type boots so my little toes would freeze. After a long day of traveling and a lot of tough goodbyes to friends at GS, Matthew was craving American food.  I still can't believe that for our first night in Venice we hit up Hard Rock Café. ŸWe ate what was supposed to be Nachos and quickly snapped back into focusing on Italian food for the rest of our trip.  After dinner we enjoyed a brisk evening stroll back to the hotel and called it an early night.  

Day 2

Still freezing outside!! The sun was out a little bit more and felt great on our faces. ŸWe started with a delicious breakfast in the hotel, in a room with big windows that looked out on the Grand Canal.  I ate Nutella croissants which turned out to my favorite pastry. We then took a private boat tour all around the city and even up many of the smaller less frequented Canals.  Everything was so beautiful!  We went through narrow canals, under bridges where we had to duck our heads, saw people in their watery homes and cruised up the majestic Grand Canal.  It was breathtaking at every turn.  

The remainder of the day we wandered around the streets,  checked out the shops and just took it all in. We stumbled upon this little cafe called Le Cafe and had the most amazing hot chocolate. Picture thick and creamy goodness. We tried the milk chocolate with pistachio and regular milk chocolate.  It definitely didn’t taste healthy but man it was it good!

Just as the sun was going down we took a gondola ride while our Gondolier sang songs and gave a bit of history along the way.  Afterwards we had to take a defrost break back at the hotel before our nightly stroll to dinner. My toes were practically frozen since I wasn't able to find boots, again. We ate at A Beccafico, a small and charming authentic Italian restaurant.   Matthew had the crab and lobster pasta and I had stuffed shell pasta.  Both were incredible! And the mozzarella cheese in our appetizer! So creamy! I love Italian food. 

Day 3

Temperature is still in the 20’s!  We started by taking the boat over to San Giorgio Maggiore, a small island directly across from San Marco's plaza. We went to the top of the tower at a church that was there and took pictures of the city. It had great views overlooking everything including the Doge’s Palace – Palazzo Ducale. We then came back across the water and toured the Doge's palace which included a walk across the bridge of sighs.  We checked out the rest of the sights in San Marco plaza including the top of the Campanille Tower and walked around the gold-laden ŸSt. Peter’s Basilica. After the sight seeing we decided to try hot chocolate at the famous and beautiful ŸCafé Florian that sits right on the plaza.  We were so disappointed by the quality of the chocolate we literally went right back to Le Café for one more hot chocolate to end on the right foot! That night we rode the vaparetto to the Rialto area where we ate dinner at a restaurant named Al Paradiso. We had the little charming restaurant all to our selves since a 7pm dinner is considered early for Europeans. This place had the best Spaghetti and Gnocchi we have ever tasted!  After dinner we rode the vaparetto up and down the Grand Canal at night to end our time in this magical city.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  The city just twinkles at night.  I'm so glad we got to come and experience it all first hand. The experience was unreal. 

On to Florence...