Ah... Venice, aka, the Land of the Lost

We boarded a train early Tuesday morning, leaving Cinque Terre behind, on our way to Venice.  We changed trains in Milano, arriving in Venice around 5pm.   Once again our lodging, Santa Chiara Hotel, (a renovated 500 year old palace), was just a short walk away.  After checking in, we began our first foray into the city, hoping to make our way to the most famous spot, Piazza San Marco, which includes St. Mark’s Basilica.  Armed with a map, our goal was to keep the Grand Canal on our left and make our way walking down narrow streets and crossing quaint little bridges over the many winding canals.   But after several attempts to find our way there, we gave up, as it was getting dark and decided to get dinner instead at a restaurant we had passed by earlier.  Unbelievably, while we were eating, we spotted one of our classmates (from Indianapolis), entering this same restaurant.  She and her daughter had also just arrived in Venice.   After chatting for a while, we found out they had managed to find Piazza San Marco, further explaining that the way was easier if you began your walk on the other side of the Grand Canal.  Good to know!

Armed with this information, Wednesday morning we began again and this time we were able to locate the piazza!  Unfortunately, we found it at the same time as the cruise ships dumped thousands of tourists into the square!!   We left the square, but returned later in the afternoon to begin our previously purchased “walking tour”.  At the end of the tour we had our requisite gondola ride.  I loved it, Jeff, who is not a fan of the water, not so much.:)

After the ride, we began our trek back through the streets to our hotel.  We walked and walked and walked (!) and unfortunately we got lost (again!!) this time ending up in an area that was about as far as you could get from our hotel and still be in Venice.  So we gave up and found a water bus which took us back to a stop near our hotel.