Day 2 - Venice

The Courtyard of the Doge's Palace

In our continuing attempt to avoid tourists, we got up fairly early on Wednesday to go see the Doge's Palace, which served as the center of the government, housing everything from the leader of Venice to the judicial system and the legislature, and even the prisons -  from the late 12th century until Napoleon's occupation began in 1797.  We were once again impressed with the stunning architecture of the palace and the tremendous amount of hand-carved marble that made up the building's facade.  After finishing our tour in the palace, we briefly walked around Piazza San Marco, which was difficult given the wall-to-wall people; stopped at a small gelato cart for some amazing gelato; then took the Vaporetto across the canal to the Dosoduro area for a quick lunch and to see the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Dad, Max, and I at the Entrance to the Collection

Mom on a Bench in Front of the Collection

While our lunch was less than spectacular, the Guggenheim collection was great.  The museum is located in Peggy Guggenheim's home and, with the exception of one small exhibit, was filled with the stunning art that she had collected.  It is also the burial place for all of her beloved pets.  Once we had made our way through the collection, once again we boarded the Vaporetto, to travel up the Grand Canal back to our hotel for what was becoming our customary, afternoon nap.

Dad Enjoying His Tagliatelle

Our second dinner at La Zucca (The Pumpkin) was just around the corner from our first dinner, but was even more spectacular.  Mom had La Flan de Zucca (Pumpkin Flan), one of the best things we have ever eaten; I had another great Lasagna with zucchini; and dad had a scrumptious Tagliatelle Gorgonzola e Pistiche.  This time we made sure that we found some gelato on our way home and with that, day two drew to a close.

Day 1 - Venice

We arrived in Venice on Tuesday morning, a little tired but feeling better than on previous trips to this side of the pond.  Dad and I are still unsure of the logic behind building a city in the middle of a lagoon, but that's not important.

Dad and I on the motoscafi ride into the city.

Our first impressions of the city were from the motoscafi, water taxi, ride to our hotel.  We were surprised to discover that for every truck we are used to seeing on the streets in the U.S. there is a boat.  On our way to the hotel we passed a variety of boats including a UPS boat and a Staples delivery boat.

After arriving at and checking in to our wonderful hotel in the the San Croce area of Venice, we decided to venture out for lunch.  We ate in a great restaurant, then stopped for our first gelato.  By the time we had finished our gelato, we were exhausted so we returned to the hotel for a quick nap.

Feeling refreshed we took our first ride on the Vaporetto, the Venetian

The View From Our Dinner Table

 equivalent to to cable cars in San Francisco, to the famous Rialto Bridge.  The architecture of the bridge was interesting, but overall the area was packed with tourists, something we have tried very hard to avoid, so we quickly moved into a less crowded part of the city for dinner.  At this point it shouldn't come as a surprise, but dad picked a great restaurant for dinner (Trattoria al Ponte), with an amazing, iconic, Venetian view. Mom had a wonderful ravioli in butter and sage, I had the first of many lasagnas and dad tried the famous Venetian calves liver.  All were wonderful. We were somehow unable to find any gelato on our way back to the hotel, but we called it a night anyways, agreeing to make up for the missed gelato later on.