Walking out of Santa Lucia railway station and seeing Venice for the first time almost made me cry. The atmosphere is incredible and I’ve never felt anything like it. Elena met us across the bridge from the train station near the Mephisto shoe store and guided us through the calles of Venice to our apartment at Ca Guardi on Calle De Oche in Venice.
It is a two-bedroom apartment from the 18th century with a terrace overlooking one of the many famous canals in Venice.
Once we got settled, we decided to try to overcome our jet/train lag and wander through the back alleys of Venice on the recommendations of Matt Harris and Rick Steves and others who had been to Venice before us. After getting settled, we wandered back to the square and had a fantastic lunch at the Trattoria with a big pizza pie for the kids and pasta for the parents. We had a great server in Sergio from Russia who made our meal quite pleasant .
With our bellies full we decided to head back to Ca Guardi to catch up on some sleep and then head back into Venice. We traversed through the various campos and found our way to the famous Rialto Bridge and took the required photos before crossing the bridge and getting to San Marco Square just after sunset. It was a challenge to get through the Sunday cruise crowds and see the magnificence that is San Marco Square in the fading light. Ben and Marley chased pigeons while we ignored the vendors trying to sell us roses and made our way back toward our apartment off Campo San Giacomo.
We stopped on our way back home at a restaurant that served us the best shaved meats and cheeses we ever had while the kids enjoyed more pasta. As we lingered over our food, the kids were getting antsy, so I gave them the appropriate amount of Euros to go to a Gellato stand within our sight and had them conduct their own international transaction, which to my delight they did without our help.
They licked their gelato cones while we walked back toward our apartment. The streets of Venice can be confusing and Marley, who had mastered them, managed to guide us back to Ca Guardi to watch Under the Tuscan Sun on the laptop for the conclusion of a wonderful day in Venice.
ACK – An interesting note on our day in Venice was that there was some kind of foot race going on. I would guess there were a couple hundred people running up and down the alley ways for several hours. It appeared to be some sort of team competition but we never really did figure out how they knew where they were going and where they needed to be next.
Marley fell decidedly in love with Venice and professes that she wants to live there. I love hearing her have such a sense of adventure. I am also sure the pigeons are relieved that Ben and Marley have left Venice as they loved the sport of pigeon chasing.
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