"Venice in April" a Venice Travel Page by johnandlynclarke

We were fortunate enough to find a great apartment in the Dorsoduro area of Venice. We loved being able to leave the crowds of San Marco and the bridges and "go home" every night to peace and quiet. The only thing we heard at night was the church bells from Campo Carmini as we sat on our balcony sipping wine. Ah, the life! After the first night adjusting to the bells and a new bed, we slept like logs. Do remember that window screens are uncommon in Europe and mosquitos exist around water. Our apartment had mosquito coils and a box fan available and we packed 100% DEET.

The classic view of Venice is people standing on every corner with their maps spread out and their necks craning around trying to find the street name. Everyone is lost for the first two days! By the third day, one gathers a sense of where one is in relation to the bridges. By the 5th day, it no longer matters because the must-sees are done and now one can just wander and people watch. Usually, one can tell who is a day-tripper. They are the ones who are upset by being lost. They really need to find a specific place because their time is so limited. After the first day of walking, we realized we only had two apointments for the entire week: St Marks and the Doges Secret Tour, so we embraced being lost and enjoyed it.

Although we enjoyed seeing St Mark's square with all the people and the pigeons and we loved the Doges' Secret Tour, our best adventures were in the neighborhoods. We looked forward to going to our local Billa on the Zattere, we loved wandering through the Castello area on a Sunday morning and seeing all the little altar boys in running home after church, and we loved sitting on a park bench in Campo San Margherita watching the world rush by.