We arrived at the train station in Venice mid-afternoon, sort-of refreshed after sleeping on the train for four hours. We immediately we bought our tickets for the vaporetto (the mass transit boats) and started our Rick Steves' tour of the Grand Canal, meaning we pulled out our iPhone/iPod and tuned to the correct Podcast, and listened to good ole Rick tell us about Venice as we (noisily) motored along the canal. Once we got to our stop, just past St. Mark's square, we lugged our suitcases off the boat, and started off to our hotel. After winding our way through the tiny streets and over a few bridges like this:
We made a wrong turn, or two, on the way to the hotel, as streets are sometimes labeled, overhead, on the building, but not always by the street you turn off of, so you have to guess. We made it to our hotel, popped up to the room to drop luggage and then went out to explore St. Mark's Square.
We saw what we thought was a long line outside of the basilica, so went inside the Doge's palace, instead.
The Doge had a very awesome job. He was sort of the mayor of Venice, but didn't have the power to do much, and from what we understand he was the ambassador of Venice, and signed things that the heads of the districts told him he could sign. As you can see it was a little cloudy, and it rained a bit while we were inside the museum, but stopped long enough when we left for us to get back to the hotel before dinner.*Whoops! Almost forgot that we went to find Harry's Bar, which is where the bellini was invented. It's owned by Cipriani's now, but the bellinis were definitely some of the best we had ever had.
Dinner was at a great spot recommended by one of our guide books. A little rustic, but the food was terrific. The beginning of the meal was a little awkward, as the waiter had us sit at a larger table with someone else, who he called "the manager," but we don't think he actually worked there. I felt extremely guilty, as our conversation, being jet-lagged, He did recommend we get the antipasto and a pasta to share. I asked if we should get two antipasti and he said yes, so maybe he did work there, since the plates were HUGE. Huge and delicious, including all sorts of fried, broiled, smashed, and pate-ed fish. For pasta, I may have tricked Mr. D into clams, which he claimed not to like, but we both LOVED this dish - so delicious.
* The day before we left, we checked the weather for each city we were visiting for the days we were going to be there, and the forecast showed RAIN EVERY DAY. Each and every day - it was like monsoon season was coming to Italy. We were bummed that we weren't predicted to have beautiful weather, but we were very lucky. The few times that it rained at the beginning of the trip, it rained while we were in a museum, or it was a quick shower that lasted for maybe 15 minutes, but then cleared right up (until we got to Rome), so it was almost like each non-rainy day was a gift.
