You may remember from my previous post here that there was a public transportation strike the day we arrived in Italy. Well, Venice was no different and when we got to the rental car drop off we learned that there were no taxis or vaperettos going to the island. So, we decided to keep the car, drive across and deal with that later. Pain in the ass that turned out to be.
Finally we arrived at our apartment, which was very cool and modern, which was strange to see inside such an old building (but also the reason that we picked it). Venice is a maze, a tangle of streets, canals, and piazzas with dead ends everywhere. Get a map. A good one, and then cross your fingers that you get where you are going because even the street names change every block in some places! If you do find your way around, Venice is packed with museums, great churches and neat little shops. One of our favorites was a tiny Venetian mask shop. And by tiny I mean it was maybe 10x10' and packed, there was probably only 10 sq ft of space to stand in and the four of us pretty much were cramped in there. The thought was that as a thank you for traveling to my sisters wedding in Italy, she would give them a Venetian mask (along with some other items). The store was so charming filled with all these masks, just magical.
The Wedding party and guests in our masks |
One of the masks from the tiny shop |
In fact, expectation is key to everything. I have heard from so many people, and read so many unhappy reviews, and I often ask, "Well what were you expecting, and why?". When you read reviews, take the exceptionally good and bad with a grain of salt-the truth is in the middle somewhere. And, lighten up some. I read a review once that said "BUGS!! Do not stay here!" in the title. I was totally thinking bed bugs. Ick! It turns out that he saw some ants by the window and it ruined his experience at that hotel. Really. Ants. They ruined his trip. Lighten up-you are in the tropics there are way worse things there than ants.
A typical Venitian canal at night |
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