Greetings from Venice!

I've been away from the blog for a few days for 1 very important reason: we're in VENICE!!!

We don't have internet at the Hotel, but we decided to bite the bullet and spend an hour at Mc Donalds for the sake of informing everyone that we're alive and well!

We got into venice at around 7:30 on Sunday, and after consulting with the travel authorities, decided our best option would be to take the bus into Venice and then walk about 200 yards to our hotel. The bus, unlike the water transport, is very cheap (only 3 EUR) but only gets you so far onto the island. Lucky for us, our hotel was really close to the bus terminal and was located on a main road, so would have no trouble finding the place.

Driving into venice at night feels like flying into neverneverland. There's such a disneyland quality about the place: everything seems too beautiful to be real, too perfectly crafted to look like the magical place that it is. In a strange way, Venice seems to be it's own simulacre, an imitation of itself. Perhaps I feel this way because I've only seen places like this in movies or in theme parks where the beauty is, and can only be, a set. The art directors and themepark designers must have done a good job because (even now) I often find myself thinking that XYZ building looks like a repilica of the building that was actually replicating the one I just saw. Confusing, right?

I'll get back to telling you about our first night...

Upon arrival, we noticed that the city was pretty alive for a Sunday night. In Paris, most things are closed on Sundy, so we were pleased to find a pizzaria open right near by. We each grabbed a HUGE slice (I got mushrooms and proccuto for 2 EUR) and began to walk around. Venice is just gorgeous.

We finished the night with a cone of gelato each. Only 1 EUR/ scoop!? Wow. The gelato here is really cheap. Actually, all the food seemed really cheap, and yet -- it's not. It just shows you how espensive Paris is when food at 2/3 to 1/2 the price of Paris food is still pricey. I find myself lusting after every 1,50 - 2 EUR slice of pizza and gelato stands offering 3 scoops at 2,50 (the price of 1 scoop at the cheap places in Paris).

After a good walk, we took our exhausted and full-bellied selves back to our little hotel. It's actually quite perfect. It's perfectly located with many great shops and eateries around. They speak english at the front desk, serve breakfast starting at 8am, and even gave us a map (in english!) of things to do in venice. The room is also gorgeous -- easily bigger than my room in Paris with a gorgeous view. Sharing the bathroom and shower with the other 4 rooms on our floor seemed like it might become a bit bothersome, but it has been perfectly fine. I haven't even seen any of the other guests on our floor.

Total Damages Sunday:
RER to airport: 8,50 EUR
Bus to venice: 3 EUR
1 slice of pizza: 2 EUR
1 scoop of gelato: 1 EUR

We woke up early to the sounds of church bells and hurried down to the continental breakfast. Wow. What a spread! We wern't expecting much seeing as we had booked this place as a "budget" hotel (actually cheaper than the hostel!), but we were surprised to find our continental breakfast included: 2 slices of bread, full spread of meat and cheese, huge pot of whatever hot beverage you select, fresh juices, nutella, cereal, yogurt, jam, crackers, butter, and honey.

Our day began with a trip down to ponte rialto and the rialto fish markets where we got lost on purpose in the little windy streets.We made our way down tot he piazzale s. marco for a tour of the tourists, some live music, and a great view of the ocean. We then went down to the arsenal and the "military zone" before we found our way back to the hotel through a maze of winding streets.

We found our pizzara of choice closed on mondays and thus went back to the little place by our hotel to grab a slice and some gelato before taking a necessary afternoon nap. I grabbed a margarhita and 2 scoops of gelato (1,50 the slice, 1,90 the two scoops). YUM.

We woke up just in time to go to our "big spender" dinner. We wanted to go to a place where the locals go, and after consulting our guidebook, decided we would grab the set menu at Da Lucca e Fred where the local atmosphere was coupled with excellent seafood. It was important to us to try the local seafood, since the fish markets have taught us that everything is pretty damn fresh around here. We grabbed a set menu of salad, clam spaghetti, and fried calamari and shrimp (13,50 each). There were also some fried anchovies thrown in there; I still can't bring myself to eat a fish's head, so my plate ended up looking rather morbid, covered in little heads. We added on a liter of house wine for 6 EUR to split. I was more than full afterwards.


We went for a night walk, stopped back at da lucca for a glass of wine at the bar, and then wentto another local bar for a glass of white wine (1 EUR a glass!) and some guns and roses on the télé. A great night.

Total damages monday:
pizza margarita: 1,50
2 scoops of gelato: 1,90
dinner and wine: 16,50
1 glass of red 1,50
1 glass of white 1,50

Today we filled up on breakfast and went back town to the pl. s. marco, determined to actually wait in line and go inside the basillica today. Our plan worked -- we arrived just before it opened at 9:45 and made it inside. We did the free tour, enjoying the view, the architecture, the paintings, everything!

We walked along the water and through some streets before coming across another giant church. We went inside and cooled off underneath the giant dome (it's actually been quite hot here -- only down to 16 degrees C even at night!)

Now we're hanging out at mc donalds for an hour or so, resting our feet and checking up on the outside world. Our plans for tonight include pizza, wine, and venitian masks! See you all at our next mc donald's visit!

Total damages so far tuesday:
2 hamburgers at MacDo with a side of internet: 2 EUR

Starting to upload the point-and-shoot photos to the photobucket. The DSLR photos will have to wait until we get back to Paris where I can develop them in the photo lab with Floriane :)
http://s818.photobucket.com/albums/zz101/E_Grossman/