Travel Tips

We arrived in Orly, went through customs and immigration, and got a cab to Charles de Gaulle airport. We had a 5 hour wait there, so we got some cappuccino and beer. We arrived at the Venice airport at 4:35pm.

At the Venice airport, we went to a counter to find a hotel. The Hotel Flora had a vacancy and was in our price range, so we made a reservation and took the water bus to the Plaza San Marcos. This trip took about an hour. We dragged out suitcases to the Hotel Flora. It had a sign on a main walkway, but to access the hotel, one had to walk down a narrow alley.

We were tired so we just walked into one of the first places we found for dinner. Bill had spaghetti, and I had a salad.

We had breakfast in the hotel – rolls and coffee. Then we set out to explore. Strolling through Venice was a treat. There were narrow alleyways, large courtyards, small bridges over the various canals. It was like being in a maze. We passed by Guilian Nalesso’s Music Shop which was written up in National Geographic March 1995. Everything goes by water. We saw linen being delivered to hotels via boat, garbage boats, police boats, produce boats.

We went to the Gallerie dell'Accademia first. Then we went to the Basilica of St. Mark in the Plaza San Marco. We were truly impressed by the amazing gold mosaics that cover the whole ceiling with scenes from Bible. We paid the extra fee to go upstairs to see the restored original bronze horses and get a great view of Plaza San Marco.

Then we went next door and toured the Doges Palace. The big hall and walking across the Bridge of Sighs to the dungeons were the high points.

It was time for lunch, so we went to Harry’s Bar. We were originally going to just get a drink and go somewhere cheaper for lunch. The waiter asked if we wanted sandwiches, and we said no. He promptly brought us sandwiches. Oh, well.

We took a ride on the water bus up the Grand Canal to the train station. We had no cash, no passports, so we couldn’t buy our tickets to Rome. We walked back to the hotel, wandering around, getting lost, getting found. We tried to get a gondola ride, but we got aced out by several Japanese tour groups. Finally a guy named Paulo took us. We think he went beyond the usual tour because other gondoliers were hollering at him and making typical Italian rude gestures to him. He just made them back, smiled at us, and kept on going.

We had dinner at Da Ivo near Plaza San Marco. I had a salad and spicy shrimp spaghetti. Bill had pasta with green beans and zucchini.

One of the many side canals that we wandered over.