We began the day with a natural alarm. I woke up on my own a few minutes late to a meeting with the city of Lugano representatives. I signed some paperwork and I headed back to my apartment to get ready with Lele for our trip to Venezia only to find out she had a dream this morning that she turned off my alarm LOL.
We arrived in Venice by train at 7pm. We packed light a backpack apiece because I've been there before and felt we really only needed a day or so to really take in Venice. We caught a taxi boat to the Rialto Bridge in hopes of finding a nice cheap hotel or hostel. We didn't make any reservations or game plan for this trip was to wing it. Luckily for us Hotel Marconi was the first hotel we checked and within our budget. It was a very nice Venetian style hotel and actually served a decent continental breakfast that was included with the room. After we got situated we went out to dinner at a restaurant on the Grande Canale (Grand Canal). At this point we were batting 1.000 when it came to food on our trips but this restaurant just didn't seem to match the quality and taste of Paris. Don't get me wrong, the food was still good just wasn't what we had grown used to on our trips. Following dinner we took a leisurely stroll down one of the main streets that connected the San Lucia train station to the Rialto Bridge. At about the halfway point of the 15-20min walk we stopped at a stand called "Eat, Drink & Relax", which served natural fruit drinks and mixed drinks. They reeled us in with their free samples of sangria and banana, coconut, pineapple & yogurt smoothie. Let's just say that 15-20min walk turned into a 30-35min walk. Once we reached the train station we caught a taxi boat back to the hotel and called it a night.
We woke up early the next morning, had breakfast at the hotel and then headed towards Piazza di San Marco (St. Mark's Square). We stopped at the Rialto Bridge and took a ton pictures because the weather was great but in the distance clouds were rolling in. I was really excited to show Lele the Basilica. The inside of the church has small pieces of tile placed on the wall that portrayed religious stories/meanings. But the gold paint really brightened the church and gave it a spiritual glow. I also found out that the church was an episcopal church that converted to catholicism. It was extremely moving to find a correlation between the church and my dad because he too was episcopal turned catholic. My mom loves rosaries so we purchased one for her at the exit. We walked over to the Bridge of Sighs and took some more pictures. The clouds had finally made it over us by this point and the temperature had definitely dropped a few degrees. We grabbed a coffee and croissant in the square in a near by cafe to warm up.
We hopped on a taxi boat back to the train station but got on the one that made every stop, which actually turned out great because we got see more of Venice. What was cool too is recently we just watched the movie the Tourist starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie-Pitt and it was filmed in both Paris and Venice but mostly Venice and we saw all the buildings where the movie was shot. We bought our return tickets back to Lugano and left some time for us to go back to the hotel and make a few purchases for family. On the walk back to the train station we stopped and shared a margarita pizza at a restaurant to hold us over until dinner. When we continued our walk to San Lucia, we found ourselves halted one last time at a leather stand only to find the gifts we bought earlier at a lower price. This made us wonder whether or not the guy we bought the original gifts from was actually just telling us he was the designer or we fell victims of false salesmanship... We caught our train and made it home safely. Another great trip full of memories and someone to share them with. I hope everyone enjoyed there Christmas break. Until next time........ Love
We woke up early the next morning, had breakfast at the hotel and then headed towards Piazza di San Marco (St. Mark's Square). We stopped at the Rialto Bridge and took a ton pictures because the weather was great but in the distance clouds were rolling in. I was really excited to show Lele the Basilica. The inside of the church has small pieces of tile placed on the wall that portrayed religious stories/meanings. But the gold paint really brightened the church and gave it a spiritual glow. I also found out that the church was an episcopal church that converted to catholicism. It was extremely moving to find a correlation between the church and my dad because he too was episcopal turned catholic. My mom loves rosaries so we purchased one for her at the exit. We walked over to the Bridge of Sighs and took some more pictures. The clouds had finally made it over us by this point and the temperature had definitely dropped a few degrees. We grabbed a coffee and croissant in the square in a near by cafe to warm up.
We hopped on a taxi boat back to the train station but got on the one that made every stop, which actually turned out great because we got see more of Venice. What was cool too is recently we just watched the movie the Tourist starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie-Pitt and it was filmed in both Paris and Venice but mostly Venice and we saw all the buildings where the movie was shot. We bought our return tickets back to Lugano and left some time for us to go back to the hotel and make a few purchases for family. On the walk back to the train station we stopped and shared a margarita pizza at a restaurant to hold us over until dinner. When we continued our walk to San Lucia, we found ourselves halted one last time at a leather stand only to find the gifts we bought earlier at a lower price. This made us wonder whether or not the guy we bought the original gifts from was actually just telling us he was the designer or we fell victims of false salesmanship... We caught our train and made it home safely. Another great trip full of memories and someone to share them with. I hope everyone enjoyed there Christmas break. Until next time........ Love
Love
Bud
