Strolling through Venice

Another day and a half down in the "city of water". Jordan finally got here yesterday and upon his arrival we set out to see the city! We had to start out with some gelato of course, but after indulging, we definitely walked it off. Our goal was to make it to Cannaregio which apparently is great for strolling and getting lost in little areas, but no big tourists crowds. Well, we definitely got lost, but that was not the reason for us never making it to our intended destination. About an hour and a half or so into our walk, we decided to stop at this little cafe and grab a glass of wine. The super friendly waitress smiles big and as she sets two glasses down and then presents us with two bottles of wine, we knew we were in for it. Lucky for us, we had plenty of catching up to do so conversation was not an issue....nor was finishing off a bottle of wine each :)

After we had our wine fix (at only 10 euro each too), we took off to find food and our way home. After about an hour of walking we decided it best to grab something quick to eat as we had no real idea were we were (we didn't get a map) or how long it would take to get back. A slice of pizza later and we were rejuvenated to keep pushing forward. Along our walk we saw some absolutely gorgeous scenery, beautiful buildings and alleyways. There are also several little eateries where you can grab tables outside and some even have people to serenade you. At one of these places we passed, the restaurant had a violinist. Jordan plays the violin. A short conversation with the violinist and next song up, Jordan is now serenading the guests while I'm trying to document this with every camera we have! I'm sure that's one for his record book! A short while later and we finally made it to our room and off to sleep.

This morning made for another day full of walking, but we did decide to grab a map to help us out this time! We started out by touring the Basilica de San Marco in the piazza before the line got too long. Beautiful architecture and an amazing view over the piazza if you want to do some people watching (which i love to do). Now for walking...Venice is broken out into 6 main "districts" or major neighborhoods and we hit up 4 of them. Got in about 4 hours of walking along the way. We did stop for lunch at this little outside place so I could finally get some pasta! Been wanting some since I got here, but pizza always seems to win over. After our belly was full, we made our way to a few smaller museums and back to the room for showers, Zurich prep, and waiting on our two visitors to arrive! Last night in the city before the four of us drive to Zurich tomorrow and we have a nice dinner, dancing, and a souvenir or two to buy before then!!

Until next time, here are a few pictures I managed to get on the iPad so I could upload to share! More and better pics will hopefully follow...