Gotta love working in Paris in May - Part 2

Alright so to pick up where I left off, Nate and I were headed to Venice early on a Wednesday morning.  If you recall, this was the start of our five day holiday weekend from work.  Yes, life is rough here.  We had talked before about wanting to check out Venice and when Catherine had said they would be there that Wednesday night, well we figured it would be perfect.  We arrived at the airport and then took a water shuttle over to Venice.  Since Venice is an island and no cars are on it, water shuttles, water taxis and water buses are their forms of transportation.  It was cool coming in by boat and seeing Venice from the water.  Once we arrived it was then like a scavenger hunt trying to find our hotel.  No joke the directions from the hotel website went something like this.  “From station, cross main bridge, go right and follow the canal.  Once you hit the foot of the bridge, cross that and go right.  Go past one bridge and then turn right at the next corner.”  It definitely felt like a game.  But we navigated our way and found the hotel.  We dropped off our stuff and proceeded to explore the maze that is Venice.  And boy is it a charming city!  We had a nice lunch near one of the smaller canals and thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing afternoon.  I think just wandering around and getting lost is one of the best ways to explore the city.  

That evening we met up with Catherine, Lisa and Aunt Cynthia to attend a symphony at the Teatro Malibran.  We met up for a drink beforehand and then headed in to watch the performance.  I don’t know that I’d ever been to a symphony performance before but I quite enjoyed it.  Although we did only stay for the first half as part of the group was tired and falling asleep....I’m not naming any names here.  But that was fine as we had reservations for dinner and it probably worked out better to leave a bit earlier anyways.  We finished the evening with a delicious Italian meal (seriously, I love Italy just for the food alone) and bid adieu to the girls who were off the next morning to Rome.

Nate and I still had two more nights left to enjoy Venice.  We actually took the water bus to the island of Lido the next morning to go for a run and explore the island.  It was great for running and is basically like a little beach resort town.  A much different feel from Venice.  We explored the main strip, had lunch, got our gelato (a must do every day of our trip) and then headed back.

The following day we did a 2 hour guided walking tour which gave us some of the history of Venice, showed us the piazza where Marco Polo was born, walked us by the Rialto Bridge and ended us at St. Mark’s Square and Basilica.  As I mentioned before, Venice is a maze of a city with narrow alleyways but St. Mark’s Square is the largest open area in Venice and quite a sight!  The Basilica was pretty amazing as well.  Our tour guide even showed us these platforms stacked up near the entrance and explained that these are put out when it floods so that people can walk into the church.  You can definitely see how pillars are leaning and things aren’t quite straight due to this city basically just sitting on the water.  Overall though a well worth it tour and perfect at just 2 hours.

Since we finished up around 11am we decided to take the water bus out to the island of Burano.  There is Murano, which is famous for its glass and then Burano, which is famous for its lace.  I had asked our tour guide which one she recommended and she highly suggested Burano.  So Burano it was!  It’s much smaller than Murano but very cute.  The one thing that stood out is how each of the houses are painted a different, bright color.  It was really cool to see.  It almost gave it a Disneyland feel.  We had lunch there and walked around a bit....there’s not much more to see beyond the little part of the town with all of the restaurants and shops.

We then headed back over to Venice where we enjoyed our final night in town.  We found this amazing little restaurant not far from our hotel (which by the way was in the Dorsoduro neighborhood....an area I would highly recommend staying in as it’s a bit quieter and a little off the beaten path of all of the tourists).  Anyways, we enjoyed a delicious final Italian meal and before we knew it were off on a morning flight out of Venice on Saturday.  

Overall I would say the trip to Venice is well worth it and since rumor has it that it’s sinking, it may not be around forever!  I’m glad we got to see and explore it but look forward to visiting some of the many other Italian cities.

We were back in Paris by Saturday afternoon and a few hours later greeted Catherine, Aunt Cynthia and Lisa as well.  They had two more nights left in their trip before heading back home again.  It was a mellow couple of days though as everyone was tired.  But we had a great time hearing all about their adventures over the last week before having to say goodbye for good.  Until next time!!!