Day 24 – Reutte to Venice
We have an 8 hour bus ride in front of us today so we were up and on the bus by 8am. Our guide now is named Karen and she has lived in Italy for 8 years and only does tours of Italy. You really can’t sleep on the bus even though everybody has two seats to themselves. Our day started out rainy again but we had our fingers crossed that we would see the sun by the time we got to Venice.
We went through the Austria mountains first and then through the Dolomites once we entered Italy. The countryside was beautiful and we ended up taking a lot of pictures from the bus. There are vineyards everywhere with lots of small towns in valleys surrounded by mountains.
We stopped for lunch in a small Italian village and were served a group salad and then three sandwich halves plus gelato. It was a short lunch but a nice break from the bus. We had two other stops during the trip but they were at gasoline stations or what they call AutoGrille.
When we arrived in Venice, we had to get on a vaporetto, boat taxi, to get to our hotel. They had our reservations changed and we ended up in a 4 star hotel just a short walk from St. Mark’s Square. We have a beautiful room with our first air conditioning. Because we had gotten caught in traffic today due to an accident on the highway, we arrived a little late so we only had a few minutes to store our luggage and then meet back downstairs for a walking orientation of Venice.
We all walked to St. Mark’s Square, Plaza San Marcos, and got our first view of the basilica and Doge’s Palace. It is huge with several mosaics on the front and beautiful towers. We were turned loose to find some dinner and we went with Bruce, Barbara & Jeff to get a bite. We ended up at a pizzeria and paid ridiculously high prices for a very simple meal. They have some interesting rules here. If you sit down to eat your meal you are required to pay extra for the food and the seat. They also charge you an additional 12% fee if you chose to pay with a credit card. Forget sitting on the square as they will charge you a minimum of €15.
After our meal we all met back in the square to walk to the gondolas. Karen had arranged for all of us to go on an evening gondola ride. She surprised us with a bottle of champagne and musicians. Paul and I and Barbara & Bruce got to ride in the gondola with the musicians because we were the two couples who had been married the longest. We also only had to share the bottle between four people whereas all the other gondolas had six people in them. The ride is about 40 minutes long and a lot of fun. When we were out in the Grand Canal, they lined all the boats side by side so everyone got to hear the accordion player and the singer. It was a lot of fun and a very memorable experience.
Afterwards, we all walked back to the square to try a Venetian drink called a spritzer. There are two flavors, one for women and one for men. Paul and I got one of each so we could taste both. They were the most disgusting thing I have ever drunk. Paul’s was much worse, bitter, than mine but they were both pretty bad. Guess we wouldn’t make very good Venetians.
Headed off to bed. Tomorrow we have a walking tour of Venice and then the rest of our day to ourselves. Karen has offered to take us on a Cicchetti which is sort of a pub crawl where you drink and eat finger foods.
We have an 8 hour bus ride in front of us today so we were up and on the bus by 8am. Our guide now is named Karen and she has lived in Italy for 8 years and only does tours of Italy. You really can’t sleep on the bus even though everybody has two seats to themselves. Our day started out rainy again but we had our fingers crossed that we would see the sun by the time we got to Venice.
We went through the Austria mountains first and then through the Dolomites once we entered Italy. The countryside was beautiful and we ended up taking a lot of pictures from the bus. There are vineyards everywhere with lots of small towns in valleys surrounded by mountains.
We stopped for lunch in a small Italian village and were served a group salad and then three sandwich halves plus gelato. It was a short lunch but a nice break from the bus. We had two other stops during the trip but they were at gasoline stations or what they call AutoGrille.
When we arrived in Venice, we had to get on a vaporetto, boat taxi, to get to our hotel. They had our reservations changed and we ended up in a 4 star hotel just a short walk from St. Mark’s Square. We have a beautiful room with our first air conditioning. Because we had gotten caught in traffic today due to an accident on the highway, we arrived a little late so we only had a few minutes to store our luggage and then meet back downstairs for a walking orientation of Venice.
We all walked to St. Mark’s Square, Plaza San Marcos, and got our first view of the basilica and Doge’s Palace. It is huge with several mosaics on the front and beautiful towers. We were turned loose to find some dinner and we went with Bruce, Barbara & Jeff to get a bite. We ended up at a pizzeria and paid ridiculously high prices for a very simple meal. They have some interesting rules here. If you sit down to eat your meal you are required to pay extra for the food and the seat. They also charge you an additional 12% fee if you chose to pay with a credit card. Forget sitting on the square as they will charge you a minimum of €15.
After our meal we all met back in the square to walk to the gondolas. Karen had arranged for all of us to go on an evening gondola ride. She surprised us with a bottle of champagne and musicians. Paul and I and Barbara & Bruce got to ride in the gondola with the musicians because we were the two couples who had been married the longest. We also only had to share the bottle between four people whereas all the other gondolas had six people in them. The ride is about 40 minutes long and a lot of fun. When we were out in the Grand Canal, they lined all the boats side by side so everyone got to hear the accordion player and the singer. It was a lot of fun and a very memorable experience.
Afterwards, we all walked back to the square to try a Venetian drink called a spritzer. There are two flavors, one for women and one for men. Paul and I got one of each so we could taste both. They were the most disgusting thing I have ever drunk. Paul’s was much worse, bitter, than mine but they were both pretty bad. Guess we wouldn’t make very good Venetians.
Headed off to bed. Tomorrow we have a walking tour of Venice and then the rest of our day to ourselves. Karen has offered to take us on a Cicchetti which is sort of a pub crawl where you drink and eat finger foods.
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