Oh the city of Venice- we think of music and spaghetti right? And water! I was most excited to see Venice I do believe. Although I don’t love the beach, I do enjoy time around water.

Our Day 1 travel from Florence to Venice. This is Ian’s 18th birthday! I presented Ian with a nice wallet with his initials on it from the Leather Store and sang to him in the Breakfast room. I love that my kid loves and hates that I embarrass him… lol.

Driving from Florence to Venice, we had to be at the ferry landing and ready to board by 1230pm. Thankfully we were on time.

Driving up to the ferry in Venice, we all exited the bus until the port opened to allow us on the boat. We walked onto the boat and found our places, mine and many were at the front standing and watching the blue sky and water and the beautiful area as we walked though. Aperol Spritz in hand from on the boat bar, it was one of the most fantastic things to arrive into. Just standing there with wind blowing through our hair while we watched all the things we could see.

We arrived on the island town of Lido and were taken to our hotel to drop off our luggage. Disappointingly the hotel , the Venezia 2000 did not have A-C. We didn’t have time to make a fuss as we were on a schedule. The bus took us the mile to the boat – metro so that we could ride to St. Marcs Square.

Upon arriving to the big island, we disembarked and walked down narrow walkways to arrive at a nice sit down lunch restaurant. There were many options and they weren’t cheap. We had been warned that Venice was not cheap. After looking over the menu I decided on a big sea bass. It arrived whole, however they offered to clean it on the spot for me. Fish and fries were my meal. I thought it was going to be so much food and I was afraid I had ordered too much. However it really wasn’t that much fish in the end. It was just the perfect amount, or maybe a little more. Now I am allergic to shrimp, but never have issues eating fish. However I did note that I had tummy pain after for a few hours indicating to me that I may be intolerant to fish now as well. Disappointing.

Daniel; however tried the seafood spaghetti. This included a small lobster, mussels, fish, shrimp mixed into a dish of spaghetti pasta. He enjoyed this. I was amazed that he chose this and was so excited about it. Ian and his friends shared a few pizzas that they paid for to take care of him on his birthday. There were a lot of different and uncommon options here so many tried out of their element.

After here we walked to St. Marc’s square and had a different guide meet us to walk us around the town. Apparently she was the head of the guide department in the area. She kept us for an hour and walked us around the city.
We were again warned of Pic Pockets as this was the more touristy area. Thankfully none of us were affected personally; however it was easy to see how so many people packed into the square would make us easy targets.

We then took a gondola ride at 5pm. 5 people per gondola and seating was arranged to keep the gondola balance. This was a fun 30 minute activity riding through the canals of Venice. It started in the small watery canals and went through the bigger waters for a moment as we passed a very fancy hotel and back into the small canals to finish the ride.

Amazing that this city is made up of 118 small islands (all separated by canals). And even more interestingly each island has a church. There are over 400 bridges in Venice holding the city together.
We also learned that the city is slowly sinking. They are no longer allowing cruise ships to come to Venice due to too many people being on the island. We were told several times that we were lucky to have this opportunity; as it was harder and harder to have that choice.

We then had free time until dinner. So Daniel and I got lost in the tiny streets of Venice and shops. Found a small supermarket and bought a huge bottle of water for only 2 euros and split between Daniel and I’s water bottles. This was much cheaper than paying $3 euros for a small drink in a cafe. That’s a pro-tip.

We then had Ian meet up with us at a restaurant in the square to allow him to have his first drink as an 18 year old. There was a band playing at several of these outdoor restaurants side by side. They even played and sang Happy Birthday to Ian…then let him make a music choice. He chose Frank Sinatra. What a kid.
These restaurants in the square are very expensive, btw. 90 euros for 2 drinks and 1 dessert.

Dinner was on the island at … and we had yet more Caprese salad and bruschetta. You could tell our group was growing weary of Brushetta and Caprese salads. Some already didn’t love tomato’s, or cheese… We sat outside and had a mini celebration for Ian here; Alex came out with his dessert and a candle so that we could sing to him. He does say he enjoyed his 18th birthday!

Followed by a visit to a popular bridge from the Spiderman movie.

The Metro-boat took a while to return us to Lido. Being late night, there were many people traveling back to their hotels and many stops along the way, which is slower than a subway train, so it took around 45 minutes. We then had a 15-20 min walk to our hotel. The hotel was very hot with no A-C and we opened all the windows. However due to the heat that night, Passports Travel Group came through on their promise to keep us comfortable and booked us another hotel to move into on night 2.

Day 2: On our full Venice day, there was rain in the forecast; however thankfully it was only cloudy. We woke up and enjoyed a lazy breakfast with Champagne. Then literally walked across the street to the beach. The hotel had beach towels. We spent the day lying on the beach, dancing on the beach, sea shell searching on the beach, and the kids played in the water. There are a few restaurants on the beach for lunch that were easy foods to eat and not expensive.

Around 130 we returned to our rooms and packed up our luggage and showered. Then walked to the boat docks where a private boat took us across to Murano. We visited the glass factory and had an excellent deal on purchases afterwards. Then immediately returned to the private boat and our hotel. As we checked out of the Venezia 2000, we were to take the public bus to the next hotel. It was less than a mile away on flat ground and sidewalks, and we feared our entire group would take 2 different busses to actually get to the hotel due to how much space we’d take up and the busses were running 10 minutes apart from each other. So a group of us walked to the new hotel with our luggage. We actually beat the bus group. They all were able to get on the bus though so that helped make us all arrive about the same time rather than having to wait for a 2nd bus.

After getting into our new hotel with A-C- The Atlanta Augustus Hotel, we went to the market to pick up items that are well known for in Italy such as Balsamic Vinegar, cooking olive oil and salad olive oil. Alex gave us all the recommendations of what he uses at home. Our new hotel had such cute features and random balconies. Our room was on the top floor but was split between 2 rooms, 1 with a King sized bed and 1 with a twin. It was so spacious. Most everyone was happy with this hotel. Cute little things that this hotel had was espresso at the check in anytime you wanted it. It was excellent espresso pods for the press as well. And every time you leave the hotel you leave your key at the front desk. We assumed this was so that the keys weren’t lost as they were actual keys and not cards.

Some of the group went to the laundromat as well. At 7 we all made it to the restaurant in Lido which was 6-7 minutes to walk to from our hotel. Dinner included Bruschetta and pasta and of course more wine. Rose is what wine Venice is known for, therefore that is the wine I enjoyed while there.

We made a slow return to the hotel afterwards and to bed.

The following morning another group leader and I made it to watch the sunrise in a tiny sprinkle of rain; however it never got bad and we enjoyed a beautiful view at 530 in the morning.