Saturday was a beautiful day to spend in Venice! Our hostel ran shuttles into Venice every hour, which was a plus! (Side note: we survived the 40° overnight temperature and the communal showers in the morning. Our hostel even had a little cafe with fresh croissants!)
Getting into Venice itself is no easy task. It involves a few different forms of transportation including a small tram, a bridge, and lots of stairs. Having experienced the challenges of getting there, I definitely wouldn't recommend Venice for a relaxing vacation/honeymoon. (Unless of course you want to hire a private escort to carry your luggage three miles and then a private boat to escort you to your hotel, then go for it!) It's very, very touristy, crowded, and not easy to navigate. But once you get a glimpse of the water and stray away from the crowds, it's a blast!
Getting into Venice itself is no easy task. It involves a few different forms of transportation including a small tram, a bridge, and lots of stairs. Having experienced the challenges of getting there, I definitely wouldn't recommend Venice for a relaxing vacation/honeymoon. (Unless of course you want to hire a private escort to carry your luggage three miles and then a private boat to escort you to your hotel, then go for it!) It's very, very touristy, crowded, and not easy to navigate. But once you get a glimpse of the water and stray away from the crowds, it's a blast!
Everything was so beautiful, ancient, and picturesque. I loved soaking it all in; the laundry hanging from windows, beautifully big and bold doors, gondoliers peacefully rowing beneath bridges, bright colors and glistening golden buildings. We successfully got lost among the gorgeous canals and endless cobblestone streets. (Checked that off the bucket list!)
It was amazing to be in the presence of such remarkable buildings so rich in history. At least we assumed they all were all remarkable, but we weren't really sure what we were looking at. (Note to self: research where you're going.) We stumbled upon a group tour and followed them for a bit, until we could no longer really hear the tour guide and people began giving us suspicious looks. Not to worry, Arianna started guiding us! Although I'm sure she was off just a bit on some facts, it was entertaining nonetheless!
Arianna trying to blend in with the group tour.
After a few more hours of casually strolling around and peaking in shops, we found an adorable cafe tucked in an alley and stopped in for a drink. Plus they had wifi, so we ended up hanging out there for awhile. We've noticed that Italians are never in a rush to go anywhere, so we fit in just perfectly. We eventually ventured out to track down some gelato because we had only had it about twice already, and soon bumped into a huge group of Italian men celebration a bachelor party. I only wish I had a video of those crazy few minutes, because it was nothing short of insane. I'm not sure even how to describe it. Once they all found out we were from California, about 20 Italian guys enthusiastically began chanting "America" and were just being routy. We sort of just stood there laughing. They were all obviously just a tad drunk, but we were still flattered by their enthusiasm for Californians. By the end of our encounter, I'm sure everyone within a three-block radius knew we were Americans.
Some new Italian friends.
Our gondola experience later that day was awesome. We just slowly glided through tiny canals where not a soul was in sight. It was so magical. When we went out into the grand canal, it was so fun waving at people on passing water taxis. We also saw no less than a billion couples making out as they passed under bridges (for good luck.) (Okay, probably less than that.) Our gondolier guy was so funny and even explained the history of many of the buildings & places (yay - received a bit of culture!) He even starting singing in Italian! We were lucky enough to catch a gorgeous sunset later that night! Sunday involved a lot of relaxing by canals and people-watching. Definitely a great weekend!
And, of course, wine and fruit was needed on the train home!
