Friday, May 16th
ADVENTURES AROUND VENICE
Woke up around 7am & ate breakfast at the hotel (mostly cereal, yogurt, coffee, juice & rolls). We then went to Piazza San Marco. Met 2 girls from Australia on our way walking there (they were in from Switzerland where they are nannies for the year). Frank found The Disney Store on the way and had to do some shopping. The girls stayed to shop at the Rialto Markets.
Upon reaching San Marco Plaza, we went up into the bell tower, Campanile. There we met a group of cousins in town from South Carolina (no Tim, they are not from Charleston but I did ask). We also met a girl from New Jersey and a girl from Washington D.C. (No I never got their actual names). Following that, we strolled around the plaza and found the most remarkable Salvador Dali art gallery. Continuing on we walked the waterfront of the Grand Canal and turned on a street to find Harry’s Bar. This is the first American to open an establishment in Venice. Very high end but the bartenders were awesome! They even give a 20% discount to Americans due to the mortgage crisis if you eat dinner there. Frank & I just stopped for a Bellini (champaign and strawberry puree mix). They are phenomenal!
Besides that we saw a ton of canals…I know I know big surprise…It’s Venice!
A late lunch happened at Riva Del Vin. I got some mixed fish dish that was okay but not exactly what I thought I ordered. That I’m sure will be a running theme of this trip. Frank…well he is not here while I am typing this so you will have to ask him later. We did meet a great couple from just south of London, England. We discussed weather, travel, currency exchange and a few other things that I am forgetting at this moment. Stimulating trust me, however we were on a beautiful stretch of the Grand Canal.
That was it for Venice, we headed back to the hotel around 3:30pm, grabbed our bags and headed to the Venice-Santa Lucia train station to travel to Mestre Train Station to get a train to get us to Florence. That sounds easier than what actually occurred…
First, we were obviously not thinking when we got on the train to Mestre because Frank & I sat in the middle of one of the train cars with our 3 suitcases plus our backpacks. As a result, when the train came to a stop at Mestre (1st stop, not 2nd as one of the so-called locals told us). By the time we got our bags down and proceeded to the exit the train had filled with people and the doors closed as the train began to leave for the next station. So we ended up having to get off the next stop and then turnaround and go back to Mestre. That caused us to miss our 5:20pm train to Florence. We then had to get tickets for the 6:38pm train where we were not guaranteed a seat due to the train being over booked.
On the train to Florence, since we did not have guaranteed seats, I got moved 4 times by people with the seat number where I was sitting. Frank never moved. The final move placed me next to 2 groups of people: 5 from Northern Virginia and 2 girls from Boston College (one originally from San Francisco, CA). They spoke English, so we chatted the remainder of the train ride.
Once in Florence, we went to the bus stop and boarded the #14 bus. After asking a number of people if they speak English to no avail, we found a local that spoke with the bus driver on our behalf, only to find out that we were on the bus line but going in the wrong direction. We got off at the next exit then went to the correct bus stop and proceeded on to our hotel, after I had to use hand gestures in order to have the new bus driver signal us when we got to the correct bus stop. The entire ordeal took at least 2 hours in a city just about 3 miles wide.
Tired & hungry from our travels, we checked into Hotel Grifone (in an alley) at 11:30pm then went to our room and then headed back down to reception in order to have the front desk clerk give us directions to a bar where we could get some food. That bar ended up being "Jes Pub". It’s a great little bar with good kitchen but no one spoke a lick of English. In those cases, you resort to pointing at the menu to place your food order. Post dinner we headed back to the hotel to sleep (1am). Frank had previously left the window open due to how hot the room was when we arrived, so when we returned we went to sleep with the window remaining open. Not did we realize until the next morning that a thousand or so mosquitoes came into our room to feast on the two of us. I counted well over 20 bites between my face, both my arms and my hands. Let me tell you how much I love looking like I am 14 again with emerging zits in conspicuous places all over my face. NOT!
Woke up around 7am & ate breakfast at the hotel (mostly cereal, yogurt, coffee, juice & rolls). We then went to Piazza San Marco. Met 2 girls from Australia on our way walking there (they were in from Switzerland where they are nannies for the year). Frank found The Disney Store on the way and had to do some shopping. The girls stayed to shop at the Rialto Markets.
Upon reaching San Marco Plaza, we went up into the bell tower, Campanile. There we met a group of cousins in town from South Carolina (no Tim, they are not from Charleston but I did ask). We also met a girl from New Jersey and a girl from Washington D.C. (No I never got their actual names). Following that, we strolled around the plaza and found the most remarkable Salvador Dali art gallery. Continuing on we walked the waterfront of the Grand Canal and turned on a street to find Harry’s Bar. This is the first American to open an establishment in Venice. Very high end but the bartenders were awesome! They even give a 20% discount to Americans due to the mortgage crisis if you eat dinner there. Frank & I just stopped for a Bellini (champaign and strawberry puree mix). They are phenomenal!
Besides that we saw a ton of canals…I know I know big surprise…It’s Venice!
A late lunch happened at Riva Del Vin. I got some mixed fish dish that was okay but not exactly what I thought I ordered. That I’m sure will be a running theme of this trip. Frank…well he is not here while I am typing this so you will have to ask him later. We did meet a great couple from just south of London, England. We discussed weather, travel, currency exchange and a few other things that I am forgetting at this moment. Stimulating trust me, however we were on a beautiful stretch of the Grand Canal.
That was it for Venice, we headed back to the hotel around 3:30pm, grabbed our bags and headed to the Venice-Santa Lucia train station to travel to Mestre Train Station to get a train to get us to Florence. That sounds easier than what actually occurred…
First, we were obviously not thinking when we got on the train to Mestre because Frank & I sat in the middle of one of the train cars with our 3 suitcases plus our backpacks. As a result, when the train came to a stop at Mestre (1st stop, not 2nd as one of the so-called locals told us). By the time we got our bags down and proceeded to the exit the train had filled with people and the doors closed as the train began to leave for the next station. So we ended up having to get off the next stop and then turnaround and go back to Mestre. That caused us to miss our 5:20pm train to Florence. We then had to get tickets for the 6:38pm train where we were not guaranteed a seat due to the train being over booked.
On the train to Florence, since we did not have guaranteed seats, I got moved 4 times by people with the seat number where I was sitting. Frank never moved. The final move placed me next to 2 groups of people: 5 from Northern Virginia and 2 girls from Boston College (one originally from San Francisco, CA). They spoke English, so we chatted the remainder of the train ride.
Once in Florence, we went to the bus stop and boarded the #14 bus. After asking a number of people if they speak English to no avail, we found a local that spoke with the bus driver on our behalf, only to find out that we were on the bus line but going in the wrong direction. We got off at the next exit then went to the correct bus stop and proceeded on to our hotel, after I had to use hand gestures in order to have the new bus driver signal us when we got to the correct bus stop. The entire ordeal took at least 2 hours in a city just about 3 miles wide.
Tired & hungry from our travels, we checked into Hotel Grifone (in an alley) at 11:30pm then went to our room and then headed back down to reception in order to have the front desk clerk give us directions to a bar where we could get some food. That bar ended up being "Jes Pub". It’s a great little bar with good kitchen but no one spoke a lick of English. In those cases, you resort to pointing at the menu to place your food order. Post dinner we headed back to the hotel to sleep (1am). Frank had previously left the window open due to how hot the room was when we arrived, so when we returned we went to sleep with the window remaining open. Not did we realize until the next morning that a thousand or so mosquitoes came into our room to feast on the two of us. I counted well over 20 bites between my face, both my arms and my hands. Let me tell you how much I love looking like I am 14 again with emerging zits in conspicuous places all over my face. NOT!
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