Jen and Rebecca have Boatloads of Fun

Venice may be made for lovers, but Jen, Rebecca ,and Anna are figuring out how to have a swell non-romantic time here.  Luckily, Venice was also made for shoppers and the directionally challenged!  We set off in search of San Marco Square this morning, but got distracted by tiny shops and alley ways.  Since there are no direct routes in Venice, it’s exceptionally easy to get turned around.  Happily, each time you do, there’s usually a cute store selling clothes, paintings, glass, paper or souvenirs.  And then eventually you find another sign directing you to the major landmark you were looking for.

Narrow Venetian street.

We hit the fish market at Rialto Bridge (and Anna even plugged her nose to walk through it with us), then found a restaurant for lunch after a tough morning of wandering the Venetian streets.  We broke our general rule of not eating at a place where no one else is eating, but they seated us in the window and we began a trend.  Soon the place was swamped with American tourists like us, all ordering pizza instead of the fancy first and second courses they were offering.  I guess we’re not so cultured, but we can mostly accept that fact (though maybe Rebecca has a tougher time with acceptance). We are on board with the custom of ordering wine with every meal, though. That’s gotta count for semi-cultural emersion!

Octopus at the fish market.

We eventually meandered far enough to see the Piazza San Marco in the daylight and were overwhelmed by the warm and beautiful sunlight.  And all those people.  Our first official site-seeing stop of the day (beyond the nooks and crannies we passed through thus far) was a ride up in the elevator to the top of the campanile to see views over the city. Stunning.  Next we toured the San Marco Basilica.  All of the intricate gold mosaic patterns in the church were also completely stunning.  Check and check on two major tourist sites in Venice.

With a Venetian lion in Piazza San Marco

Our next stop was the “Most Beautiful Bookshop in the World,” according to the bookmark distributed by the shop.  Beautiful is subjective, but it was definitely interesting.  There were rooms upon rooms of books in various languages.  It was difficult to determine the organizational system the owners had in place--there did seem to be one.  We found books stacked in old row boats, bathtubs and even turned into a staircase.

Jen absorbing a lot of knowledge on the book staircase.

After the bookstore, we felt the need for a little more culture in our day so we headed across town to an exhibit about Da Vinci’s various scientific experiments and theories.  Did anyone else know that he was responsible for the bicycle?  Flying machines, sure, but bikes?  Jen and Rebecca took turns trying out the various hands on exhibits (with photos, of course).  Da Vinci certainly was a genius!  (And he shares his birthday with Jen!)

Testing Da Vinci's scientific genius.

Our full day of wandering left us tired and thirsty.  So, we decided to indulge in a local specialty called the Aperol Spritz.  No idea what it was made of, but it was orange, tasted great and came with an olive.  (Thanks to Rebecca’s cousin Marc and his wife Barbara for making that drink recommendation!)  We decided to continue the day of wandering by walking the rest of the way home.  We stopped at the glass bridge for a photo op since it is apparently the only new bridge in Venice since Rebecca was last here 10 years ago (without Jen, tragically.) 

On the glass bridge.

We decided we were too hungry to drop the day’s purchases off at home first, so we consulted Rick Steves again for a dinner recommendation.  We might be trusting Rick too much.  Or rather Rick just doesn’t know us and our preferences very well.  He recommended a nice restaurant in the Canareggio relatively near our apartment, just a short walk through the old Jewish ghetto to get to and with seating directly on a canal.  But seafood was their specialty and of the three of us, only Jen is really interested in seafood.  Anna and Rebecca had an okay pesto dish, and of course the wine was good, but we’ve learned to stop putting all of our faith in Rick (that may have been the fault of Anna and Rebecca more than Jen) and actually consult a menu before choosing a restaurant.  But it’s okay.  We have a wheel of truffle cheese and more wine back at our apartment to round out our day quite nicely.