Parla Inglese? Venice Day 1

March 21st, 2014

DAY 1

Spent the entire day in Venice. IT IS A MASSIVE CITY. We were like true locals, ate a good breakfast of an amazing muffin with a plum and some yogurt drink. Hopped on a city bus and made it to the city within 15 minutes. After we got on the bus we pulled out our handy map and started to get lost. This city is beautiful and like a maze, with winding small roads that run in to dead ins and canals. I didn’t realize how intricate the canal system worked here as well, everywhere you walk you will be lead near the water, a canal, or bridge. So today we walked a lot, which is good because we have to consume the amount of delicious food we have eaten. First we walked, and got lost the right way, just wandering and getting a gist of the city. We didn’t realize how massive and maze like it was. Someone could get lost here being a local. Wandering through the canals and all the little different places was probably the highlight. This city is a place to get lost, bring a map but put it away every now and then. 

Our main goal was to find Piazza San Marco, so after some wandering we started making our way towards that area. Instead we found the Canale della giudecca, which was pretty awesome and a beautiful church. What’s also really interesting about Venice is the fact that it’s literally sinking and also tilting about a millimeter each year. Not that we everyone has to go and book a ticket and go see Venice before it sinks, but it is intriguing to see steps coming out of the water and seaweed flowing from the bottom of houses. Piazza San Marco is pretty cool, but I actually liked to just wander a little bit more, the quaintness of the alleys and the hole in the wall shops were the hidden gems in Venice. Piazza San Marco was the obvious tourist spot, and once there I felt as if I was herded. Especially inside the Basilica di San Marco, but there was a reason St. Mark’s square was the hot spot, and it was truly gorgeous. 

We also went to Galleria Dell’Accademia, which is a beautiful museum a stop before st. mark’s square over a big beautiful bridge, and inside it is housed in a building that was the Scuola della Carita, which used to be one of the first schools to study art restorations starting in 1777, the gallery houses paintings from Venice up to the 18th century, which include Bellini, Tintoretto, and so many more. The building itself dates back to 1334!

And of course the FOOD, Dana is adorable and is taking a picture of every meal she eats ( I want her to blog it, I know I would follow) sort of like a food diary, but we have eaten some amazing and also not too expensive food. Coming here with a budget, we knew some meals would be nice and some would be just fast, but even the fast meals have been amazing. We found one hidden gem that was packed with locals, all eating lunch with a glass of vino, and then we saw the pastries. So many delicious options, and Dana even made a friend and apparently had the best creme puff of her life, our new friend had even said that her choice was very good. I got orange peels covered in dark chocolate and I thought that was pretty good too. For dinner we decided to find this place we found on a blog post about great eats in Venice and we found Arte della pizza, and oh my gosh it was good, but SO hard to find. Dana got a greek pizza that they made in front of us and then placed in a VERY hot hot oven and cooked so quickly, and I got the Ratatouille pizza, I was trying to get some vegetables, and it was delicious. 

Grazie!

Amanda