Venice/ Venezia - 2 Days in Venice

When we, my parents and I, first arrived at the train station in Venice from Florence we saw the beautiful greenish water immediately.  All the canals and all the buildings fronting them, their stone steps entirely immersed in the lapping green waves. Walking alongside canal there are quite a few souvenir stands, filled with captain hats and those elaborate glittering Venetian carnival masks but as I was passing one such stand I saw for a brief second a t-shirt that featured a square shaped maze and along the bottom of the maze there was a phrase in white letters, "Venice - Get Lost".

That turned out to be the most appropriate phrase of our stay in Venice, it is sooooo easy to get lost.  Not in a bad way, per se, but a good number of streets dead end at the water of the canals.  Venice is like a maze if you aren't familiar with where you are going.  Fortunately for me, I have a great sense of direction and love getting lost, then finding my way back.  I surprised my mom by finding our hotel, when I sensed that the dead end we kept turning away from actually continued a bit to the right. I just decided to go back to this hole in the wall restaurant where the narrow footpath seemed to dead end and once I stepped up to the door, I saw that the street continued through a tiny alleyway to the right and lo and behold, our hotel!

DAY ONE

The view from the Santa Lucia train station.

Riding the metro boats.

My parents.

This dragon embellishment helped me to remember the way to the hotel.  I would see this guy and know we were on the right path.  This looks straight out of a Harry Potter movie. 

The Lion of Venice. In Rome, a wolf could be found everywhere from the Legend of Romulus and Remus, a shewolf raised both brothers. In Florence, you could find a boar everywhere. In Venice, a winged lion was seen everywhere.

St. Theodore of Amasea, the first patron saint of Venice.

St. Mark's Square

St. Mark's Basilica.

Dinner, spaghetti with clams.

St. Mark's square at night.

Getting a drink at the bar right by our hotel.

DAY TWO

On the way to Murano to see the glass factories.

At one of the glass workshops in Murano.

Master glass-workers only become masters after 40 years.

Construction barges. The construction crane is on a boat.

Rialto Bridge.

Spritz - people were drinking this everywhere. The Spritz (German: "splash" / "sparkling", also called Spritz Veneziano or just Veneziano) is a wine-based cocktail commonly served as an aperitif in Northeast Italy. The drink is prepared with prosecco wine, a dash of some bitter liqueur such as Aperol, Campari, Cynar, or, especially in Venice, with Select.

Dinner - pasta with squid ink at the bar right by our hotel. It was a little salty, kinda earthy but ultimately unique and tasty. The next few days in the bathroom was different experience however.

Goodbye Venice.  You can be sure I'll be back some day, next stop Milan!