Venice Part II (Playing catch up!)

**Note: this was written last week on the way to Vienna. I'll catch up soon!

Monday was our first full day in Venice and we intended to make the most out of it. We got up at a decent time and headed to the island of Murano. We decided to take the Hilton's complimentary tour, which was essentially them contracting with a private water taxi and working with a specific glassmaker on the island.

Venice has a couple of islands that are close and known for specific things. Murano is the home of glassmaking. You may have heard of Murano glass- this is where it comes from. Burano is famous for lacemaking and Torcello is an "island full of legends and mysteries." We only hit Murano.

Ultimately I'm glad we went, but I wish the experience would have been better. Like I mentioned, we took the Hilton tour, and they work with a specific glassmaking factory. The shuttle dropped us off at the factory, we saw a 10 minute demonstration (along with other tours), then were guided around their massive showroom. They definitely have their sales pitch down.

The specific glassmaker's prices we went to were astronomical! Having already explored in Venice, we had run across some small shops that also had Murano glass for much cheaper. I realize we didn't buy it ON the island, but the things we got were still very pretty and high quality. Not to mention that the shop owners were much nicer and more appreciative to have us in their stores. Despite not having the best experience, I think this is something you have to do. It's interesting to see this craftsmanship and to experience the smaller islands.

The rest of our day was again spent exploring Venice. We walked around Old Town, which is a little removed from the touristy areas, then took a gondola ride around the canals. I think we must have picked the oldest gondolier and gondola in the city, but it was still a fun experience.

Lastly, we ate at a great restaurant on Monday night called Fiaschetteria Toscana. This restaurant is part of a group of restaurants that have tried to return to traditional Venetian cuisine. The meal and service were excellent, and I would highly recommend if you visit Venice.

Tuesday was a sleep late day and then our journey to Vienna, which sort of brings me to now. I'll update on Vienna and post some pics as soon as possible. It's been a great trip so far, and we still have quite a bit to go!

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.

Great day in Lucerne!

Today we had a great day in Lucerne. We were up and out fairly early this morning and caught the 9:00 train. It's only about an hour ride from Basel, so it was an easy way to start the day. When we arrived in Lucerne, we inquired at the tourist office about what we should do and learned more about the two mountains there: Rigi and Pilatus. In general, I think you hear more about Rigi, but we opted to go to Pilatus, and it was well worth it!

We started with a lake cruise around Lake Lucerne and another lake that is connected to that. The journey takes anywhere from 50 to 90 minutes, so you have quite a lot of time to look around and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The boat is two stories and I think it's absolutely worth it to pay a few more dollars for first class, where you get to sit up top.

On the way to Pilatus

After you get off the boat you then take the world's steepest cog train up to the top of the mountain. The cog train is a remarkable piece of work and is very comfortable for the journey up. The cars are built to handle the ascent and decent and look as if they would not be able to sit flat on a track if needed. The train ride up took about 40ish minutes.

The clouds started rolling in as we got to the top, but luckily we did have the chance to snap some pictures of the view, including all the way down to the lake. Before we did any hiking, we stopped for lunch at one of the restaurants at the top, then headed to the highest point on the mountain at 7,000 feet. The top of the mountain offers five additional points to hike/walk to while you're up there. We chose to do the hardest one, so we only had time to do that specific trail.

View from the top

The Lake is way down below

After we did our hiking at the top of the mountain, we took a cable car down the other side of the mountain. The line is daunting when you first get in it, but it goes pretty quickly, with cable cars coming up every five minutes or so. The ride down can be a bit scary at times, but only because you hanging so far up in the air and some of the descents are a little bit steeper than expected. It was a nice change of pace and something new and different to try.

View of cable car from half way down the mountain

About half-way down the mountain you have to stop and switch the type of cable car you're in. At the top the cars are quite big and hold a lot of people. At the half way point they switch to small cars that hold four people. When we hit this point, BK and BM noticed there was a toboggan track at this stop. We stopped there and they enjoyed flying down the track, although they both admitted to crashing at some point on the course. Luckily, no serious harm done.

View of toboggan run from cable car

After they finished their fun here we loaded into our smaller cable car and finished our descent. When you get down off the mountain you're not quite in Lucerne, so you take Bus 1 to the city center. It's about a 15 minute ride.

We had the evening in Lucerne and decided to go see the Lion Monument, walk around old town and see the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower. The Lion Monument is worth a visit and is different from what I was expecting. It's not your typical sculpture, but instead is carved into the side of the mountain. It's a memorial to fallen Swiss soldiers from the 1700s. The Lion Monument is also quite striking because it's of a lion who has been defeated, which is not usually how this strong animal is portrayed.

After this we walked around and visited a cathedral and the Chapel Bridge- both of which are interesting. The bridge is the oldest in Switzerland and has been beautifully maintained. The cathedral was kind of something we just stumbled upon after seeing the Lion Monument, but was worth the stop to explore both the grounds, as well as inside of the church.

We ended our day on a very non-Swiss note and had Mexican food at a local restaurant. The food was good, but I don't think I'm used to eating it any more. After dinner we headed back to Basel on the train, enjoying lots of laughs along the way. Tomorrow we head to Venice, which is then followed by Vienna and Salzburg. Our fun is just getting started!