Venice

We traveled to Venice via a 2.5 hour train ride. The train station in Milan was massive and we had to go up four levels from the Metro, through shops and eateries, to get to the trains. We arrived with minutes to spare. The train went through alternating industrial areas and farmlands including vineyards.

Arriving in Venice you are greeted by.... Water! I (Eileen), am geographically challenged. I knew there were canels in Venice but I didn't realize the entire city was built on water and that there are no cars. Transportation through the city and various neighborhoods is walking or by water - private boats, water taxis, vaporetto (water bus), or gondolas. We used the vaporettos to get around outside of the area we were staying in. Our first vaporetto ride was from the train station to the area close to our room

Our room is not more than a 2 minute walk from St. Mark's Piazza. We are very much in the center of things, lot of shops, bars, and eateries. And lots of people. This may not be peak season but the narrow streets are very crowded in many places

We spent our first afternoon/evening getting lost in the streets. All of the tour books tell you to get out of the main areas and just explore, so we did. We walked through streets and came to many piazzas (town squares). We explored the church of Santa Maria and ate dinner (and drank wine) in the piazza. Later we rode the water bus from one end of the Grand Canal to the other taking in the city at night.Read more