First Day in Venice

September 20th, 2008

My sister Rose and my Mom flew through Paris and arrived at Venice 6 hours before we did. They took the bus from Marco Polo airport to the city. Once they were on the island, they boarded a vaporetto (water taxi) and rode down the Grand Canal. They got off at the Ca' Rezzinico dock. The representative from the Sleep-in-Italy was there to meet them. Sleep-in-Italy is the service we used to book our apartments. Click here to see the Venice apartments we rented for three nights. We rented both of the apartments for our 3 nights in Venice. After dropping off their bags, Rose and Mom went out to check out the city.

Melanie and I had a six hour layover in the Frankfort airport. That airport is HUGE! Eventually, we boarded our plane and flew over the Alps (which looked very nice - we will have to travel to Switzerland and Austria some day) to land at the Venice airport. Since we travelled lightly, with only carry on luggage, we walked out off the plane and to the ground transportation. We bought some bus tickets for €2.50 each, and then road across the causeway to the bus terminal on Venice.

Venice is very cool. Immediately upon disembarking from the bus, you walk over and see the Grand Canal, with boats motoring up and down. But what is really neat is to see that there are canals and bridges everywhere. I knew from reading the guidebooks that Venice had no automobiles, but until I actually saw the city for myself, I did not appreciate how unique Venice appears. Of course, this meant I had to take dozens of pictures. Everything looked so different.

Our plan was to walk across the city to the apartment. We decided to save the ride down the Grand Canal for another day. All of the guidebooks recommend walking in Venice, and we took that advice to heart. The city is quite small. It is only a couple miles from end to end. However, you can not walk in a straight line - there are canals and bridges and plazas everywhere. Fortunately, our Rough Guide Map to Venice proved to be an ideal map, and we had no trouble figuring out which way to go.

Instead of making a beeline for the apartment, (our luggage was not heavy, we carried it as backpacks,) we wandered around the buildings and bridges that line the Grand Canal near the train station. From the bus terminal, we crossed bridges over the Rio Nuovo and Rio dei Tolentini canals, and then we walked north a little ways along the Grand Canal. We used the Ponte de Scalzi to cross over the Grand Canal, and then we crossed over the new Ponte de Calatrava. (Ponte is the Italian word for bridge.)

I drew a rough map to show our route from the bus station to the apartment. As you can see, we did a loop at the beginning. Then we wandered down the Rio Nuovo canal, went along the Rio del Tre Ponte (Tre Ponte = Three Bridges. I thought I had a picture of the three bridges, but I do not.) Then we crossed the large square Campo di S. Margherita and then the Campo San Barnaba, and soon found the apartments. Rose and Mom were waiting for us. I was pleased that everything had gone so smoothly. It turned out to be a favorable omen for the trip - because everything went perfectly well.

That night, we took an evening walk to Saint Mark's Square. It is only about a mile from the apartment, but with all the winding streets, bridges and squares, it is easy to get turned around. We quickly learned to look for street names and square names painted on the corners of buildings. Soon we arrived at Saint Mark's at night! Despite the fact it was a Saturday, the square was not crowded. There were some live musicians playing, and some tourists walking about. I am not skilled enough with my camera to take night photos, so I don't have any pictures to show you, but it was a nice visit.

We walked back home and went to bed, trying to make up for the jet lag. Italy and Seattle are separated by nine time zones. Our great Italian adventure had begun.