Venice - The Queen of the Adriatic
To get to Venice, we are going to be taking the TRAIN! I must admit, I was pretty excited about this. We walked to the train station, luggage in tow, in the heat...need I say more? We had to wait quite a while for our train, they say it's a good idea to get there early...so we did. It was a neat train station. In my travels, I believe this was my first!
Oh, a little backstory, while John and I were having a cocktail in Montepulciano one evening, we were talking to our server named Francesca. She was sweet. She told us about this sandwich shop that was at the Florence train station and that we would not regret getting a sandwich there.
Of course, like any good tourist, you trust the locals opinion.
Listen up, on this trip, I have become obsessed with pistachios. I mean, pistachio cream, Sfogliatella (an Italian pastry -stuffed with some kind of cream- of course, I went for the pistachio cream and OMG!!!), pistachio gelato...You get the idea. It is going to be my goal when I get back home to re-create this pistachio cream...it is pretty heavenly. And a side note, if you have it with Nutella...man, that is some good stuff right there. Are you getting hungry yet?
Our train ride to Venice took roughly around 2 hours and 16 minutes. Our train (Italio) went around 185 mph. It wasn't even like we were on the tracks; we were going so fast. We were just hovering...
When we arrived in Venice, you walk out of the train station, and you see this:
You are immediately approached by people who want you to use their water taxi service. Because you can only get where you are going by boat...there are no cars here.
We found a water taxi to take us our hotel. It was only 70 euros for a private water taxi and finding this service was easier than we expected. It was a beautiful boat, and our driver was dressed nicely.
This is the money maker here. John said, "If we lived here, I would totally do this!"
It didn't take long, and I feel in love with Venice.
We arrived safely to our hotel - Hotel Saturnia & International. It was in walking distance to just about everything you wanted to see in Venice. It was also conveniently placed next to all the POSH shops, such as Prada, Hermes, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel, just to name a few.
Our hotel was beautiful. I can't remember when it was built, but it had that old character to it and of course, it had these ornate glass chandeliers. Venetian glass, naturally.
Our headboard. It was decorated in mother of pearl.
First door built in the hotel.
After a moment to catch our breath, we headed out for dinner and to do some light exploring.
By the way, when a stranger offers you a rose, don't take it...they don't give them to you to be nice, they want $$. You see a lot of this around Venice. I fell for it the first night there. But it was pretty.
For dinner, we ended up at Vino Vino. Our server was older, had a great smile, and did not know much English. John and I shared a pizza capricciosa (we had this type of pizza in Capri and fell in love) and a salad. Lydia had pasta with red sauce. After dinner, I tried the most delicious grappa...it was so smooth. I am not a big grappa fan, but this one won my vote. Our server kept on trying to tell us what the name of it was...and I would say it, then he would come back later and then test me if I remembered what kind of grappa it was. I believe he kept on changing how to pronounce it...(Barriacta - he actually wrote it down for us). We shared lots of laughs...
After dinner, we walked around some more and tried to take it all in. Again, we are only minutes from Piazza San Marco, Doge's Palace, and the Basilica di San Marco.
Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
XOXO,
Claudine
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