Day 1: Venice

I made it a point to try and document our comings and goings in Italy as much as possible.  I kept a daily journal. My hope is to take my chicken scratch and blog about our adventures. My reasons for this are three-fold. 
1) We didn't want to forget about all the wonderful memories- especially the small details.  
2) I know some of you- our family and friends- may be genuinely interested in our experience.  Hopefully this blog will give you a taste of what we experienced each day.  I plan to include pictures, videos, and links to reviews. 
3) Some of you may be first-time travelers yourselves and may be looking for someone's brutal honesty about navigating in a foreign country. If you are a seasoned traveler, please excuse my naivete in some respects, but I am hoping that my experiences- no matter how trivial- may help someone else feel more confident while traveling abroad. 
So I hope to write about each of the days we traveled in Italy.  Check back daily to read about the next big adventure!  


Day 1: Venice
By the time we arrived in Italy, Sam and I had spent more than 36 hours awake! We had a three hour car trip to Chicago O'Hare.  Thanks to Sam's mom who drove us up there, but not without a couple close calls! After security and the notorious wait to board the plane, we took off for London Heathrow!  Needless to say, we were excited, as this was our first trip abroad.  Our long flight on the 777 departed at 6 pm and we were so hoping we would sleep on the plane so we could arrive fresh and ready to go once we arrived in Italy.. wishful thinking. Of course airplanes are never comfortable and 8 hours on one is challenging.  However, I must say that the flight did go by fairly quickly thanks to the unlimited free movies and TV shows.  We each managed to watch 2 movies, and I threw in an episode of "The Office" and "New Girl" to boot (pun intended)! 


The service on both British Airlines flights was wonderful.  The attendants were very polite and accommodating.  I am not sure if it is specific to this company, but we received a full meal and drink service, including alcohol- if we desired- in flight.  I chose the garden salad, pasta, and cheesecake, while Sam had chicken curry with rice, salad, and cheesecake.  Not too shabby!  We both accompanied our meal with a glass of wine. 

 It was strange to be treated to this wonderful dinner, watch a few movies in the dark, and then suddenly have the lights flipped on and promptly served breakfast to accommodate for the seven hour time change. 


When we arrived in London, I must say that I felt that the airport there was a bit hodge-podge and somewhat disorganized.  However, there seemed to be airport employees strategically planted all over the airport, directing us this way and that.  


The flight from London to Venice was seemingly short compared to the first- maybe two hours.  I actually slept for a lot of it (finally), but Sam only slept for about 20 minutes.  I woke just in time to see some breath-taking views of the Swiss Alps out my window!  Amazing!


Upon our arrival at Aeroporto Marco Polo in Venice at 11 am, there was no need to retrieve baggage, as we both packed carry-on's only for our two-week stay.  I will post later about what and how we packed, as well as recommended or not-needed items. 

This is one of the convertible carry-on bag/backpacks that we carried. 

We immediately went down and bought a one-time combo pass for land and vaporetto, good for 90 minutes. This pass got us on the bus leaving the airport on the mainland to Piazzale Roma and then we hopped on the Vaporetto (water bus) to get us to the nearest point to our hotel. This combo ticket cost us €12 each. 

We boarded the #1 Line, which slowly inches its away down the grand canal from Piazzale Roma to the other end at St. Mark's Square, stopping at practically every stop along the way.  (By the way, the #1 Line goes in both directions.) This was a wonderful introduction to Venice, as we were lucky enough to get seats out back and it was a perfect picture-taking opportunity! We were able to slowly absorb it and take in Venice piece-by-piece... 

We exited at our stop and after only one wrong turn, we ventured only a few blocks away to find our hotel, Casa Rezzonico.  Please read here for a more detailed review. Our room faced the San Barnaba Canal and the view was very scenic- almost straight out of a movie! Although we were very tired, we decided that since we were here, we needed to get out and see a few things...and eat. 

Our room at Casa Rezzonico

The Key to our room 

View of the San Barnaba Canal from our room 

We immediately ventured over the San Barnaba Canal and into the Campo Santa Margherita.  At 1:30 pm, the campo (square) was not that active, but a few restaurants were open here and there. We opted to eat our first meal at Pizza Pier Dickens, recommended to me by my Aunt Nancy.  See the more detailed review here. We sat outside on the covered patio, ordered water and a Coca Cola Light- no Diet Coke here!  We opted to split some stuffed green olives (not my favorite) and a simple, but delicious margherita pizza.  The pizza was sensational!  It was so simple, yet perfect!  We both still agree that this was by far the best pizza we had anywhere in Italy (and that is saying something, because we had a LOT of pizza).  This particular pizza even inspired us to try to replicate at home...eventually. We need a pizza detox first. Both the service and the price were reasonable. 

We then stopped for gelato at Il Doge- again in Campo Santa Margherita- and a bit too convenient to our hotel.  I selected some sort of Italian Wedding Cake flavor (I think...it was in Italian, but this is the only way I could describe it.) and Sam tried the amaretto and dark cherry.  YUM!  Very good choice for our first gelato experience! See the official review here.

We then meandered through the maze of tiny walkways of Venice in search of the St. Mark's Square.  We amazingly found our way there and back with no big issues!  (Tomorrow I will write more about navigating Venice...) Sam was taken back by the enormity and beauty of the area, but especially liked the Campanile, or bell tower. 

St. Mark's Square

Leslie in front of St. Mark's Basillica

We went back to our hotel and reluctantly decided to nap... we slept for four hours.  Luckily we awoke just in time to go on a second jaunt about the island.  At 8:30 pm (20:30) we went back out to explore.  Venice at night is beautiful and fun!  Within just a few feet, we found ourselves back at Campo Santa Margherita and the place had completely transformed!  Being in the Dorsoduro and close to the university, college-aged kids swarmed the campo.  We forgot that tonight was the Euro 2012 soccer match! It was an interesting sight to see- every restaurant and bar filled with people- mostly sitting outside on the cobblestone streets, flimsy TV's set up clumsily on the exteriors, and people drinking and cheering on Italy!  Children played and people picnicked in the square. We mingled amongst them, walked, and just took in the entire scene.


As we made our way out of the Dorsoduro, things calmed down significantly. It was quiet and peaceful wandering from canals to "streets", hoping we were headed in the right direction- or that we would at least be able to find our way back again. We somewhat got "lost" on purpose and ended up by what we know now as the Scalzi Bridge- right by the Santa Lucia train station.  We wandered down the main road leading from the steps of the bridge, people watching and soaking up the Venice scene. We eventually saw a restaurant that had several people outside and decided to stop and give it a try. We decided to eat at La Pizzeria da Giorgio. See the official review here. 

La Pizzeria da Giorgio

We ordered another pizza- this time with prosciutto and a really yummy bruschetta.  We split a carafe of their house white wine, which was surprisingly good for a random stop.  This was one of our first tastes of European (or at least Italian) service and how it differs from the U.S.  Since Italians are not necessarily working for tips, they truly don't kiss your butt.  Our waiter answered his cell phone AS he was taking our order...  At first I was a bit taken aback, but throughout our trip, we found this to be fairly common.  Other than that, the service was average.  However, our British dining neighbors disagreed, as they were appalled by their check, thinking that they ordered one thing, when the waiter obviously thought they ordered something else.  There was a bit of an altercation and let's just say Italians (or at least at this establishment) don't always go by the motto "The customer is always right."  It provided some late-night entertainment for us, however. Luckily, we did not have the same issue.  

We successfully fumbled home through the winding streets. We figured we would swing by to Il Doge for gelato (Yes- for the second time today...). How convenient that it was just a few steps from Casa Rezzonico! This time I opted for the caramel (YUM!) and Sam went for a repeat of the amaretto and black cherry. It was that good. 

Since it was our first night in Italy, we decided we MUST have a bottle of wine to celebrate, right?  Well...  good luck finding a corner store or a gas station on an island where there are no road vehicles.  All groceries and shopping stores have very limited hours in Italy and close at around 7 pm (19:00) so we were out of luck there.  We eventually came across a take-and-go pizza place with a cooler- with wine in it! Hallelujah! We quickly exchanged €10 for what we later found out was the worse possible wine we had ever had in our lives.  We didn't realize at the time that  €10 is a LOT for a bottle of wine in the first place- at a fine winery.  


We split the bottle that night in the back garden of Casa Rezzonico after begging the guy on duty to let us stay out late...I felt like a teenager begging my parents to extend my curfew.  There is someone on duty there all night to unlock the door for guests, but as we accidentally discovered, they sleep on a roll-out cot in the back breakfast room.  On one hand, we felt bad for the guys.  On the other hand, it was somewhat frustrating that we couldn't really go out and enjoy the garden at night without feeling guilty or awkward.  Needless to say, the guy on duty that night let us go out there for about 20 minutes (reluctantly), but then we found out he was waiting up for us so he could go to bed.  After we split our absolutely HORRIBLE worse-than-Boone's wine, we headed up to room and let the poor guy sleep. We stayed awake until about 2 am, obviously still a bit off from the time change. 


Tune in tomorrow for more Italian adventures... 

Venice, Italy Reviews

The following is a list of reviews of hotels, restaurants and other services during our travel to Venice, Italy in July 2012.

Venice, Italy 

Casa Rezzonico
This was our first stop in Italy, and this hotel was recommended by family.  We stayed here for two nights.  The hotel was easy enough to find directly off the Vaporetto stop at Ca' Rezzonnico.  To find it, head straight back past the Ca'Rezzonico building.  When you come to a small campo, cut over to your right to the canal and continue to walk along the left side of the canal. Go past a small bridge and then the hotel will be on your left.  


We had a stately room located right on the canal with a picturesque view. There is a bell tower directly outside, so you do hear bells often, although this was not necessarily disturbing to us and we liked the charm. Very large, updated bathroom by European standards.  The bed was not necessarily wonderful by American standards, but was very much typical of the beds we stayed on in Europe. We never met either of the owners, but most employees were helpful and nice.  Upon checkout we used Travelers Checks in lieu of cash.  I know this is not common practice anymore, but I had pre-approval from the hotel.  (Since many of the places we were staying required cash or travelers checks, we opted for this for hotel payments only so we would not be carrying around huge amounts of cash on a daily basis.)  The employee that checked us out didn't really understand this too well and it ended up being quite a lengthy check-out process. 


Pros:

• We liked how close it was to Campo Santa Margherita.  Very lively at night with college kids, good food at Pier Dickens Pizza (see below) and great gelato at Il Doge (see below). 
• Scenic view from canal-facing window
• Nice, secluded garden
• Typical European breakfast including juice, cereal, coffee, croissants, yogurt
• Formal decor
• Large bathroom
• Air conditioning

Cons: 

• Must ring bell to enter.  Not a huge deal, but somewhat inconvenient. 
• There is always someone on duty to let you in or out, but they sleep on a cot in the "breakfast" room that leads to the back garden. Both nights we were there, we wanted to stay up (past 10:30 pm) and drink a bottle of wine in the garden, but didn't feel like we could due to the fact that we would be walking through the "bedroom" of the on-duty employee or inconveniencing them to stay up and wait for us. 

Pizza Pier Dickens, Campo S. Margherita, Venice, Italy

****We ate here on our first night in town because it was so close to our hotel and it had been recommended by my aunt. It was early for dinner and late for lunch by European standards, but we had just stumbled off of a plane and wanted food.  We were probably there around 1:30 pm. We sat outside under the covered patio.  Service was average. We ordered water, a coca cola light, stuffed green olives, and a margherita pizza. I was not a fan of the green olives, but Sam liked them ok.  I am not really sure what they were stuffed with- some sort of meat mixture.  However, the pizza (our first in Italy!) was amazing!!!!  We still agree that it was by far the best pizza we had in all of Italy!  Simple and perfect. Reasonably priced. $$

Il Doge, Campo Santa Margherita, Venice, Italy

****We stumbled upon this gelateria after wandering around in our first night in Venice. It was our first official sample of the famous Italian gelato, and it was a success!  Very creamy and good. I sampled something similar to Italian Wedding Cake and Sam opted for the amaretto and dark cherry. I highly recommend this place.  It was so good we ended up going back two more times since it was so close to our hotel! Super affordable!  $

La Pizzeria da Giorgio, Cannaregio(Lista di Spagna)230/a-30121 Venezia, Venice, Italy

***Very average in all respects. We stumbled upon this place our first night out in Venice.  We were wandering and ended up in this neighborhood near the Scalzi bridge and the train station.  The area is a bit touristy, but this restaurant had several people out front, which we considered to be a good sign.  We sat and were brought menus, although the server was a bit curt. We order a fairly inexpensive pizza with prosciutto and an awesome bruschetta.  I would say the latter was better than the pizza. We split a carafe of the house white wine, which was surprisingly good!  The service was something to be desired.  Not bad, but not good.  Although we didn't realize that this is much more common in Italy than in the U.S., the waiter actually answered his cell phone while waiting on us.  A couple nearby ate, paid, and then left, but returned several minutes later upset about their bill, as they felt the waiter had deceived the about the cost of the fish.  They were upset and the waiter didn't back down- just yelled back. $$

Bar Pizzeria Vittoria, Calle Lunga delle Chioverette 745, 30135 Venice, Italy

We stopped here in Venice while wandering around.  It has sturdy outdoor booths. It is located directly off of the Ferrovia stop, but on the other side of the bridge. We each ordered a glass of wine and split a margherita pizza. It was cheap and enjoyable.  $$

Bar Olimpia, Steps Nearest Train Station | Northern Side, Venice, Italy

Terrible. As predicted for something directly on the canal and at the stairs of the Scalzi bridge, this was a poor choice.  We were early for our train next door and wanted to grab something to drink while we passed some time. This place was close and looked presentable, so we thought we would give it a try. Mistake!  Sam got a cappuccino, and I ordered a Coca Cole light (the small European bottle) and we sat outside. Our bill was ridiculous!  The cappuccino was €3 and my Coca Cola Light was €6!!!!!  Do not go here!  $$