Off to Venice!

It was a short, but pleasant stay in Firenze, but now it is time to move along to our final destination, Venice. 

Ahhh, Venice... This will be my 3rd time in Venice.

The first time I went there was in 1995 when my ship, the USS South Carolina, landed in Trieste for a week. My friend, John Pianka and I took leave and hopped on a train to Venice. It was early in the season, Feburary, as I recall, but we met a couple of local gals there and had a great time.

The second time I was there was with Kim in 2011 for our honeymoon. Jules was there, too, but he was barely the size of a golf ball at the time. 

This will now be my third time in Venice. Kim's second. And Julian's first.

Jules has been reading The Magic Treehouse series of books. In the series the characters visit a few places in Italy, including Venice. They go to many of the big attractions there. Jules really excited to see these places, just like Jack and Annie from the books.

From our apartment in Firenze, we had a leisurely morning and made our way to the train station. Kim had booked three tickets on the high speed train to Venice. It was a fast, smooth ride, and we arrived in Venice by mid-day. Near the train station, we met the woman, Michaela, who owns the apartment we have booked. It was a winding path to get to our aparment. If you have ever been to Venice, you know that it is extremely easy to get off track and get lost. I'm sure that's why she wanted to show us the way.

Our apartment was really nice, and the location was even better! It's in the San Polo area, which is fairly central. Michaela gave us a bunch of really good tips for the city. One of them was a little gondola ferry that takes you across the Grand Canal without walking all the way over to the Rialto bridge.

So that was one of the first things we did. We went from San Toma, directly across the canal and it is only €2 each and kids ride free.

The gondoliers were really nice and chatty. One of them let Jules hold his paddle and pretend to paddle the boat. That was pretty cool.

We explored the city for the rest of the day making a stop on the Rialto Bridge, and some wine and a bite at a ciochita. A ciochita is a small, walk-up style place that is great for wine and small plates of food. The one by our apartment had some of the best wines by the glass, as well as some tasty bites. 

I hadn't heard about these places before, but Kim read about them on the Internet. These places are a great find! If you are in Venice, you should check one out, but remember that they are cash-only establishments.