The Ponte Vecchio awash in sunlight this morning did not make our departure from Florence and Tuscany all that easy. The PV will forever be for me one of my favorite landmarks. It's history, survival and beauty grabbed at my heart.
Our Eurostar reservations were for 12:07; we were at the Florence Train Station by 11:00 a.m. (I hear you Chris and Matt!!!!) However, watching '9478 Venezia 12:07' pop up on the arrivals/departures board made my heart stop. We were actually going to Venice! Our train looked like a red bullet, sleek and fast. She travels on special rails and literally flies along the tracks. Bologna, Padua, Verona flew by and, in what seemed like no time, we arrived at Santa Lucia Train Station.
Emerging from any train station in the world means seeing taxis, buses, and crowds. Just once in your lifetime I wish you the thrill of exiting the Santa Lucia Train Station in Venice. You walk out to the Grand Canal before you! OMG! We were in Venice and there is the Grand Canal. Jim says that I scraped my chin on the ground when my jaw dropped. I actually began to tear up. On my Mother and Father's living room wall were two watercolor paintings of Venice's back canals. As I child I used to study those pictures, imaging what it would be like to move through those narrow waterways. My imaginings morphed into a huge desire to see Venice. That desire morphed into an item on my bucket list. Well, check that item off!
Our charming little hotel, Antiche Figure, fronts onto the Grand Canal. We have the most delightful corner room with a total of three windows overlooking various parts of the canal!
Our hotel staff told us to get lost ( not figuratively) in our travels,walk the back streets and not worry about our safety. Venice is safe.
And so Jim and I set off to find the Realto Bridge. We wandered narrow cobblestoned streets, passing shops displaying incredibly intricate Venice Carnival masks and costumes, 'dolce' stores luring customers with the most delectable treats we have ever seen and Murano glass artisan shops with the most stunning chandeliers imaginable. Jim saw one chandelier priced at €29,000!
Dinner was at a little trattoria along the canal. Our usual dinner conversation was almost non existent as we sat mesmerized by the traffic on the Grand Canal - taxis, vaporettos (Venice's buses), police boats, garbage boats, gondolas, and even an ambulance (sirens blaring) racing by. Somehow they all manage to share the canal in relative peace.
Tomorrow we are off to famous St Mark's Square, etc. via vaporetto!
Still have to pinch myself to believe that we are here!
A domani!
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