Florence to Venice - Thursday, March 13, 2003

Thursday, March 13:
We had to buy another suitcase. Our big backpacks (the only luggage we took) were so full we couldn’t even add a magazine to them. Literally. We relaxed in the morning and then caught a train for Venice. The train was late and because of this we had to change tracks at the last minute, so we felt like seasoned rail travelers once we made it to the right train.

We got to Venice at about 4 or 4:30. Talk about neat—we walked out the front door to exit the train station and found ... water! Venice was just like we had seen in all the photos. The buildings really do run right up to the water, and some front doors open onto a small platform/dock. We caught a vaporetto (water bus) and rode it down the Grand Canal to get to our hotel. We knew to get off at the San Zaccharia stop, but after that we weren’t sure how to get to the hotel. Luckily, it was almost directly across from the stop.

Our hotel was beautiful and in such a great location—right where the Grand Canal flows into the Venetian lagoon, and just a five min. walk from St. Mark’s Square and Basilica. Tonight was the only time we experienced rain, and our Venice hotel was the only hotel that had a restaurant, so that worked out well. We had dinner in the hotel and called it an early night.