Venice: Part I

I'm still working on reading The Happiness Project, and in an effort to reflect some of her positive thinking, I won't go on about reasons (excuses) for not blogging, but instead will say that we've had a great couple of days in Venice exploring and spending time together. Right now we're sitting on the airplane waiting for a storm to pass through Germany so we can start our journey to Vienna. It's not an ideal situation, but at least I have a little time to catch up on Venice.

We headed to Venice on Sunday afternoon. It's only about an hour flight from Basel, and we arrived around 1pm. We took a speedboat (also known as a private water taxi) from the airport, which was really fun. I've never taken transportation like this from the airport, so it was something new and exciting.

I'm actually convinced this should be my father-in-law's next career, as this type of boat driving is totally up his alley. The taxis don't stop or slow down for other boats, waves, curves- pretty much nothing slows them down- just like RK likes to drive. He likes to think of this as a "relaxing" boat ride. The taxi drivers also love to slam it in and out of gear, and ram it into any parking spot regardless of buoys, walls, poles or anything else they may hit on the way in.

On that note, your other option for transportation from the airport is the public water taxi. And although cheaper than a private water taxi (we paid 120 Euros), every time you see one floating down the main canals, it is absolutely packed with people. I don't just mean a little crowded; it looks like people are on top of each other- not a very pleasant experience and still costs 60 Euro.

KM and I chose the Hilton Milano Stucky to stay at in Venice. It is a really cool hotel in a repurposed building across the channel from the main island. They have a free shuttle to a couple of places on Venice, which makes getting around more convenient. We ate lunch at a great restaurant near the hotel called Trattoria Ai Cacciatori and were able to enjoy the sights of the channel, a refreshing bottle of white wine and make our game plan.

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the city exploring. It's really fun to wander and just kind of let yourself get lost in the narrow alleyways of the city. You find all kinds of really unique buildings, quaint shops and beautiful churches as you make your way around. We eventually made our way to St. Mark's Square then headed back to the hotel.

The Hilton has a great rooftop bar and pool, so to cool down we headed up there in the evening. After cooling off and enjoying a cocktail overlooking the city we got cleaned up and headed to dinner. We ate at Antica Besseta, a great Venetian restaurant recommended by one of KM's colleagues.

Our evening ended with BK and BM letting KM and I try to lead the way back to the hotel shuttle. We got a little off track and took the long way, but eventually (with a little help from BK) we made it back and caught one of the last boats back. More new experiences awaited us the next day.