8 More People in Venice
Venice is getting really crowded as the summer progresses, but we added 8 more people to the mix on Tuesday. Jeff, Michelle, and Cora spent Monday night in a hotel outside the center of Treviso, while Annie and Gretchen shared our apartment with us. Jim went back to work Tuesday and the rest of us met at the train station to catch a train to Venice. Once there, we got a 36-hour vaparetto pass so that we could use the water buses freely over the next two days, and hopped on the slow boat down the Grand Canal so that we could do Rick Steves' tour of the buildings we were passing. We got off at the second St. Mark's stop and walked back toward St. Mark's square, passing the Bridge of Sighs (where convicted criminals would get their final view of the city on the way to the prison and breathe a deep sigh). St. Mark's square was where all the people were and the line to get into the Basilica was very long. We had purposefully dressed appropriately to get into the Basilica. Luckily we knew the trick of checking your bags and getting to skip the queue - it felt a little sneaky to jump in front of all of those people (though perfectly within the rules they've established) but once inside we were so glad to not have spent those hours waiting.
After appreciating the beautiful mosaics inside and out, we tried to feed the pigeons, picked up our bags and followed the walking tour (that the girls and I had done before) from St. Mark's to the Rialto Bridge, grabbing some yummy slices of pizza along the way. Michelle had the great luck of getting hit with some pigeon poop and resisted the strong temptation to rub it off immediately. You are supposed to wait for it to dry so it flakes off easily rather than rub it off while wet, which just smears it in more.
Once at the Rialto, we reboarded the Vaparetto and went back up the canal to the Accademia museum - a rich collection of Venetian paintings from medieval times through the Renaissance. We stayed together long enough to see the paintings on Rick's tour through the museum but then split up with a plan to meet back at the train station 90 minutes later. The Prices went on a gondola ride (Rachel was happy to be their sixth person on the gondola) while Julia and I went back through the entire museum at her pace. It was nice to be able to give her as long as she wanted...well, up to an hour...to look at the art.
We caught a fast train back to Treviso and Jim met us at the train station to drive us home, by way of Stefano's gelato shop for some granite samplings (lemon, orange, pineapple, and watermelon). We walked to dinner at our favorite pizzeria Da Pino, and as usual it did not disappoint. Jeff declared it the best pizza of his trip so far. While waiting for the pizza, Jeff sketched the clock tower in the Piazza (which is actually askew, not just a bad drawing). After eating, the girls went off to play with "splatty pig" - a squishy pig that splats flat when thrown on the ground but reforms its shape automatically. It got splatted one time too many and broke, much to Cora's devastation. Hopefully some gelato would make it better...the Prices are regular readers of the blog, so already knew what they wanted for dessert: frozen crepes! We walked a circuitous route through the center of town to go the two blocks for the crepes, window shopping along the way. We paused briefly to have a moment of respectful silence for splatty pig. 
When we got to the crepe place we ordered one regular yogurt with sprinkles (Cora), one regular crepe with nutella (Julia), and seven different combinations of frozen crepes with all sorts of ingredients: white chocolate, nutella, berries, peaches, coconut, caramel. Each would argue their combination was the best. Jim guided the Prices back to their hotel - it really isn't easy finding your way especially without GPS.
Venice is getting really crowded as the summer progresses, but we added 8 more people to the mix on Tuesday. Jeff, Michelle, and Cora spent Monday night in a hotel outside the center of Treviso, while Annie and Gretchen shared our apartment with us. Jim went back to work Tuesday and the rest of us met at the train station to catch a train to Venice. Once there, we got a 36-hour vaparetto pass so that we could use the water buses freely over the next two days, and hopped on the slow boat down the Grand Canal so that we could do Rick Steves' tour of the buildings we were passing. We got off at the second St. Mark's stop and walked back toward St. Mark's square, passing the Bridge of Sighs (where convicted criminals would get their final view of the city on the way to the prison and breathe a deep sigh). St. Mark's square was where all the people were and the line to get into the Basilica was very long. We had purposefully dressed appropriately to get into the Basilica. Luckily we knew the trick of checking your bags and getting to skip the queue - it felt a little sneaky to jump in front of all of those people (though perfectly within the rules they've established) but once inside we were so glad to not have spent those hours waiting. 
After appreciating the beautiful mosaics inside and out, we tried to feed the pigeons, picked up our bags and followed the walking tour (that the girls and I had done before) from St. Mark's to the Rialto Bridge, grabbing some yummy slices of pizza along the way. Michelle had the great luck of getting hit with some pigeon poop and resisted the strong temptation to rub it off immediately. You are supposed to wait for it to dry so it flakes off easily rather than rub it off while wet, which just smears it in more.
Once at the Rialto, we reboarded the Vaparetto and went back up the canal to the Accademia museum - a rich collection of Venetian paintings from medieval times through the Renaissance. We stayed together long enough to see the paintings on Rick's tour through the museum but then split up with a plan to meet back at the train station 90 minutes later. The Prices went on a gondola ride (Rachel was happy to be their sixth person on the gondola) while Julia and I went back through the entire museum at her pace. It was nice to be able to give her as long as she wanted...well, up to an hour...to look at the art. 
We caught a fast train back to Treviso and Jim met us at the train station to drive us home, by way of Stefano's gelato shop for some granite samplings (lemon, orange, pineapple, and watermelon). We walked to dinner at our favorite pizzeria Da Pino, and as usual it did not disappoint. Jeff declared it the best pizza of his trip so far. While waiting for the pizza, Jeff sketched the clock tower in the Piazza (which is actually askew, not just a bad drawing). After eating, the girls went off to play with "splatty pig" - a squishy pig that splats flat when thrown on the ground but reforms its shape automatically. It got splatted one time too many and broke, much to Cora's devastation. Hopefully some gelato would make it better...the Prices are regular readers of the blog, so already knew what they wanted for dessert: frozen crepes! We walked a circuitous route through the center of town to go the two blocks for the crepes, window shopping along the way. We paused briefly to have a moment of respectful silence for splatty pig. 
When we got to the crepe place we ordered one regular yogurt with sprinkles (Cora), one regular crepe with nutella (Julia), and seven different combinations of frozen crepes with all sorts of ingredients: white chocolate, nutella, berries, peaches, coconut, caramel. Each would argue their combination was the best. Jim guided the Prices back to their hotel - it really isn't easy finding your way especially without GPS. 
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