Weddingbee Blog

Previously: Paris | Lake Como

We arrived in Venice on Wednesday, June 10, by train. We had decided that since we would only be in the city for a few days, we would just take our carry-on luggage and store our large suitcases. There was a luggage storage area in the train station, so that was our first stop.

With small bags in tow, we then tried to figure out how to get to our hotel, the Comfort Hotel Diana which was right off of St. Mark’s Square. We finally figured out which water bus we needed to take and climbed aboard. The trip down the Grand Canal was incredible.

We arrived in St. Mark’s Square and then wandered around looking for the hotel. The directions we had were meager, so we ended up asking someone to point us the right way. We finally found the hotel down a small alley.

After checking in and getting set up in the room, we decided to eat dinner. We went to a small restaurant right outside our hotel. I had pizza and Chianti, of course. This pizza was topped with basil and garlic.

The next morning, we started our sightseeing. Our first stop was St. Mark’s Basilica in the square.

After that, we went to the Doge’s Palace next door. Here we got to go over the Bridge of Sorrows, though we never went to see it from the outside.

Then we crossed the Grand Canal to visit the Accademia and Peggy Guggenheim art museums.

At the Guggenheim, we ate lunch. I had the most delicious ravioli! And Chianti. You wouldn’t believe how much my alcohol tolerance level went up on this trip.

There was a really cute American guy who was interning at the museum that was giving some history to the place, so we sat and listened to him for a while. Then we toured the exhibits and decided to head back to the hotel to cool off… except the only way to the Accademia bridge was flooded.

It didn’t look like the water level would be going down anytime soon, so we followed some other people’s lead, removed our shoes and socks, and waded our way to the other side. Despite Mama Fondue’s concerns, we DID NOT contract any sort of disease from doing this. We did a little more wandering around, bought gelato, and then retired for the night.

The next morning, we grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald’s (I know; I’m ridiculous for going to Europe and then eating at McDonald’s twice). The fries at this one tasted more like the fries here than the ones in Paris did. Then we made our way back to the train station, recovered our bags, and hopped on a train to Florence. (To be continued…)

Overall, I loved Venice and I would really like to go back and spend some more time there, since we basically only had about a day and a half. The hotel was decent, although hidden away; it was also the most expensive of all the hotels we stayed in on the trip, though it was near impossible to find anything reasonably priced in a good location in Venice. The location was definitely the biggest plus of the hotel. Also, we didn’t do a gondola ride (*gasp*) since they are pricey, and I though better suited for a romantic trip. Venice was also easily the most touristy of the places we went, and everyone we came in contact with spoke English.