We arrived into Venice around 12:30 starving, so we had the one mediocre meal of the trip--a slice of pizza at the station before boarding the vaporetto for another 45 minute ride to the hotel. It wasn't even that bad, but we were so spoiled by all the other meals that we have become food snobs. Hey, at least the lunch included a token to use the clean restroom for free. I had to pay 70 cents in a Rome bus station and 50 cents somewhere else, and we are talking about paying for squat over the hole in the ground type bathrooms (truthfully).
As we unknowingly boarded the wrong boat (which traveled one stop and we were informed to get off, that it was the end of the line), Pat and I laughed it off, walked a few feet, and boarded the correct slow boat. We plugged in our Rick Steves audiotour and listened to him talk all about the sites along the Grand Canal of Venezia.
Our hotel was a block from the last stop, San Zaccaria. Hotel Campiello is a classy place and we had plenty of room to stretch out here. Around 6 pm, we walked across Rialto Bridge to meet a fun guy named Alessandro who led 8 of us through the baristas of Venice. He taught us some Italian, introduced us to cicheti (bar snacks like marinated octopus on crostini, fresh sliced prociutto, and half a boiled egg topped with a piece of anchovy), and red wine without sulfites they call "next door wine." We drank and laughed a lot, returned to the hotel and passed out without brushing our teeth. As Alessandro promised, the next morning, we woke up without even a hint of a hangover. Bellisimo.
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| Rialto Bridge |
Alessandro and the Prosecco and prociutto stop
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| So many Murano glass gifts to choose from... |
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| What a ham |
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