Venezia: The City of Canals, Bridges, and many other Nicknames

Our day started in crisis - we checked out, returned the key to the apartment, and waited in the street to hail a cab. However, this feat was more difficult than expected, every passing taxi was occupied with passengers. Julie volunteered for the daunting task of finding a taxi elsewhere while I stayed back to watch the luggage and keep my parents in one location. Our cushion to make the train was quickly deflating - the apartment was only ten minutes away from the train station and a half-hour had passed. My father went on his own taxi mission while my mother dictated the play-by-play of escalated stress levels. The anxiety amplified when my dad returned with a cab, but Julie couldn't be found. Then it was my turn to find my wife - after a block and a half of searching I spotted her in a cab en route to our luggage locus. My parents loaded the suitcases into their cab while Julie settled her fare.

Gondoliers on Grand Canal

Building next to Fondaco dei Turchi

Gondola parking

The increasing pressure to make our departure was palpable and the constricting alleyways were all too allegorical of our situation. Despite all the trouble of getting to the station, we made our train with ten minutes to spare. Before we left, another man was also having a stressful morning - shouting on the phone in a Slavic languages (sounded Russian) so the whole train could hear his dissatisfaction with the person on the other side of the line. The next two hours were rather peaceful and our arrival to Venice, punctual.

San Stae

Ponte di Rialto

Basilica Santa Maria della Salute

We gathered our belongings and purchased two-day passes for the water taxis. Our hotel, Villa Laguna, was located outside of Venice on the island of Lido. With a short stay in the City of Bridges, we wouldn't have enough time to see everything. Therefore, we went with the longer of the two options - an hour cruise down Grand Canal. Like cattle, we slowly boarded the ferry along with the entire population of Venice. Fortunately, Julie and I found two vacated seats outside the main cabin after our fifth stop - pouncing on them immediately after the two gentlemen left. Our opportunism was rewarded with a great position to take pictures along Grand Canal for the next forty-five minutes.

Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs)

Piazza San Marco

Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace)

It was early afternoon by the time we had checked into our rooms and we hadn't eaten since we left Florence. Villa Laguna has an incredible view of Venice and to celebrate our arrival to the last city on our tour of Italy, we had wine and cheese on the patio. We planned our evening in Venice and had scheduled to visit the islands of Murano and Burano the following day. After our small siesta, we boarded the water taxi and set our course for Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark's Square).

Glimpse of Basilica San Marco from Palazzo Ducale

Basilica San Marco

Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs above green lady

We exited the water taxi at the San Marco-San Zaccaria stop, as did half the passengers. Heading west towards the square we stopped to enjoy our first land-observed attraction of Venice - the Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri). For a half-hour we admired the sites of Piazza San Marco; Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace), Basilica San Marco, Campanile di San Marco (Bell Tower), and the Torre dell' Orologio (Clock Tower). Another famous sight of Venice, the pigeons of Saint Mark's Square are regulated by two disgruntled pigeon-guards who have to incessantly inform people to not feed the birds. Maybe there is good reason for these avian sentries, there was one pigeon casualty and when exiting the Piazza we saw a dismembered anisodactyl foot.

Campanile di San Marco (Bell Tower)

Piazza San Marco

Torre dell' Orologio (Clock Tower)

The rest of our evening we wondered the canals and bridges of Venice. Limited with time, we thought it would be enjoyable to aimlessly walk the city while foraging for a dinner locale. We settled on a restaurant a few blocks away from Piazza San Marco with outside seating in a quiet courtyard. At dinner, there was a unanimous agreement that our stay in Venice was too short - wishing we could have traded a day in Rome for the City of Canals.