The stop for our bus to Venice was next to the hotel, so we set about to wait. Hot. I started chatting with a young man named Eduardo who had come from Venice to the hardware store by our hotel to have wood cut for canvases. He was an artist. He was suitably impressed when I showed him some of Misha‘s drawings. He currently lived with his parents, was studying to be a teacher (three more years), studied art in London for a year, and had a studio in Venice. He asked about our "flat" in the United States and then innocently asked, “How did you ever hear of Venice?” Chris and I looked at each other incredulously, both at a loss for words. I think we fumbled something like, "Well, it's Venice," but that didn't really do his question justice. What I really wanted to say was, "Dude. You live in the most amazing city of Venice. It is very well known!" We were at our stop; I continued to ponder on his question. Not sure he would have comprehended that he lived in a famous city. To him, it was just home.
Ahhh, Venice. It was fantastic. A photographers dream. We walked a short distance and stopped to take pictures, then I would see something else amazing and stop. Fortunately we were all entranced by the charm of Venice. We wandered along alleyways, past canals with gondoliers, winding our way through the city and across bridges. So awesome. Just one moment of stopping to photograph the city to the next moment. We all loved it. (I'll post a few pictures here. The rest will be posted on My Photography Portfolio website).
We passed through the fish market just as it was cleaned up for the day. The smell still remained.
We finally reached St. Mark’s square where we listened to our first Rick Steve’s tour. The square was teeming with people and tourists as live music played from different high-end restaurants. We FaceTimed with Amy in the heat of the afternoon and were finally ready for lunch around 3pm.
We stopped at a small sidewalk cafe for minestrone, margherita pizza, and caprese salad. It was increasingly overcast as we ate with even a clap of thunder. The waiters were securing the tables, chairs, and canopies as guests finished their lunch. We were sure to make use of the rest room facilities before leaving. I am not a fan of the European concept of paying to pee.
We wandered for the rest of the afternoon until dinner time. Some of the alleys were so narrow that with a backpack on and my camera slung around my neck, I could barely turn around. We changed our mind about one alley and I just backed my way out of it.
Our dinner stop, which was really just a conveniently timed bathroom stop, was in a small piazza with the canal on one side and a church across the way. Just idyllic. And the gnocchi was pretty awesome as well. I have some room for improvement in perfecting my gnocchi-making technique and palatability.
Some pictures of us throughout the day.
We made our way back to the bus/train station. Certainly not the same route we traversed the island earlier in the day, but we made it back just the same. We were hot, sweaty, and tired and decided to take the train back to our hotel in Mestre. Our stop was right next to the mall (though it was closed already) and a five-minute walk to the hotel.
The girls had linens on their bed, and we were all in bed by 11 pm.