James & Vilija

About a month ago when I started making inquiries about what Vilija wanted for her birthday, she made the suggestion to go to Venezia. The last time I was in Venezia was 4 years ago and it didn’t leave the best impression. It was cold, smelly and you couldn’t see the hand on the end of your arm thanks to the fog. Needless to say I tried passive and then not so passive resistance to the idea. With a distinct shortage of better ideas we decided to go. After a short time I was actually claiming the idea as mine ;-). What’s a better birthday present than a romantic weekend away on your birthday in Venezia??

So with the help of our L.P. Guide and TrenItalia we found ourselves waking up at 4am Saturday morning in order to catch the 5:45am train to Milano and a connection to Venezia.

Thursday last week saw the first cold day of Autumn so we stepped out of Venezia San Lucia station to a clear still cold day. We had come appropriately dressed breaking out our winter coats for the first time.

Taking a deep breath we plunged into the tourists, Carnival mask stalls and Gondola “dealers” that make up the mass of humanity in Venezia.

The first port of call was the hotel we had found for the night. Ca Riccio turned out to be a lovely family run place about 5-10 minutes away from Piazza San Marco by foot. At €90 (inc. breakfast) by Venetian standards it was fairly cheap and very comfortable. Finding it, however, gave us first insight into navigating the giant Maze that is Venezia. We quickly resigned ourselves to the frequent discussions over the right way to turn, the inevitable giant circles to get somewhere and the sense of comradery felt with other tourists when standing on a street corner, map in hands trying to work out which tiny alley to take.

We spent Saturday afternoon wandering the streets taking in the sights, sounds and smells. Of those to make an impression were the;

- Endless system of canals with an army of Gondola’s
- Crooked ancient buildings leaning perilously over the canals with half submerged doorways at water level
- Countless famous sites, Grand Canale, Piazza San Marco etc…
- The worldwide smells of McDonald’s and Lush
- The whisperings of the Gondola “dealers” as walked past. “Gondola, want a Gondola? Great price, great experience, special price for you…”
- The rough sounds of two Lithuanians (???) speaking a hybrid of Lithuanian/Russian on the ferry. Vilija stopped them to ask what language they were speaking as she recognized the Litho half but was confused at the other half

We eventually made our way to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum to continue our modern art education. Here we saw the sun come down on our first day.

That night, we limped on sore feet to Vecio Fritolin, a restaurant that was recommended to us by the hotel. We enjoyed a meal of delicious seafood and home-made bread. I can highly recommend Vecio Fritolin if you’re ever in Venezia and feel like a good feed. Leaving full and contented we slept very well that night.

After a lazy breakfast and the mandatory “where are we” we found our way to Isola di Murano. Home of the world renowned Venetian glass. We first tried to take a ferry from Piazza San Marco but eventually took one from Fondatmente Nuove. For future reference to everyone, don’t bother trying from anywhere else just walk to Fondatmente Nuove and take the ferry straight from there.

Well, regarding the AMAZING Venetian glass I hope they export the good stuff because from the masses of glassware that we saw only a handful was vaguely inspiring. The rest was suitable only for the Carnival Mask stalls. Though, each to their own…

The funniest thing we saw on Murano was the result of Venetian “Pimping My Ride”. It was a red runabout/dinghy with a stereo fit for a disco. All that could be heard as it passed was boom-boom-boom-…

After Murano, we returned to the main island and visited Palazzo Ducale off Piazza San Marco. Palazzo Ducale was the home of the ruling Doges of the Republic of Venezia and the heart of the government. The building was fit for such a role as well. Ornate ceilings to rival Versailles (though perhaps with less gold) and artwork to shame many museums. It was definitely worth the visit. We even went to see one-time prison of Casanova!

That wrapped up our trip and we are now on the train back to Genova via Milano and another week of work. Hopefully the taste of winter we experienced this week won’t last and we will have a few more weeks of good weather before winter proper (I’m looking at you Greenhouse effect).

P.S. - Apologies to TrenItalia for any previous unkind thoughts, we are now very comfortably traveling on a modern fast’ish train. No wait… Its actually a Swiss train bound for Geneva. I should have guessed given that this train can’t possibly be the minimum 30 years old as is required by TrenItalia

Here are all our photos…

Tags: birthday, photos, venezia

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