When your mom doesn't like water, you take her to Venice of course!

 

LuLu and I set out for our Fall Holidays and first stop was Venice!  Because Thanksgivings falls so late this year, we are fortunate to be able to spend the rest of the year in Italy.  This is her first visit to Itlay and I cannot wait to show her some of my favorite places, things and of course food!

In Venice, you have a few options for arriving to your hotel and by far my favorite is the water taxi.  LuLu was a bit nervous but did a great job getting in and out of the boat and was such a trooper!  The ride from the airport to the Rialto Bridge area (our hotel overlooks the Rialto) is about 20 minutes but the first 15ish are a bit rough as you are on the "interstate" of the waterway so boats go fast and you often get caught in the wake of boats going in the opposite direction.  Once you enter the Grand Canal area, they slow down to speeds we would have on our surface roads in the US.

To combat any potential jet lag, we pushed through the day and stayed busy until it was bedtime in Italy.  LuLu passed the Venetian right of passage and got lost as we made our way to St. Mark's Square so we could go up the Campanile (St. Mark's Tower) to give LuLu a overview of the city.  I definitely recommend booking your ticket in advance as we just walked right in and bypassed the very long queue and it was not even high season in Venice.  Here's the link to St Mark's Campanile Tickets. If you plan to visit Venice and especially if you are here for just a few days, I highly recommend booking any tickets to the things you really want to see in advance as there are always A LOT of tourists in town.  Bit of trivia: there are 49,000 permanent residence of Venice and there are 10+ million visitors each year!

Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped in Caffè Florian for a little something warm as it was chilly and we wanted to see the oldest caffè in Venice.  While normally I would advise against eating in any of the restaurants on St. Mark's Square as they are overpriced, we could not resist seeing the cafe that has been in this exact spot since December 29, 1720 (that is 304 years for the mathematically challenged).  Their famous hot chocolate was tasty but you do need to use the sugar they provide as a heads up.

When I visited Venice in 2007, I met Silvia Donaggio when she took a friend and I around town to see some of the less visited parts of town. I tend to hang on to people I meet along my travels and as fate would have it, Silvia was still giving walking tours of Venice so we spent an afternoon wandering through the calles (streets) of Venice.  While we made our way through town, Silvia shared with us some of the history of Venice as well as about life today.  As I mentioned, there are only 49,000 residents in the city today as many moved out to the mainland or other areas of the region where it is more affordable and frankly easier living as relying on the water and your feet as your only modes of transportation can be challenging.  

One of the very few remaining truly Venetian celebrations is La Festa della Madonna della Salute (The Feast of Our Lady of Good Health) and it took place on November 21 (just 2 days before our arrival).  Silvia wanted to show us the church where the festivies take place: Basilica Santa Maria della Salute as it has special decorations for the celebration and they would come down in a few days.  The church was beautiful and specially draped with Venetian red velvets throughout.

The rest of the afternoon we just meandered our way through the streets, crossed a lot of bridges and got familiar with the vaporetto system.  The vaporetto is the Venetian equivalent of a city bus except the bus stops float.  LuLu definitely liked the vaporetto better than the taxi!

Silvia said babies are so rare that they
celebrate every birth in Venice.  This house
just welcomed a little boy to the world.

We do not buy a lot of things when we travel but LuLu does like to get a small nativity scene from everywhere we go.  We mentioned this to Silvia as we thought it might be fun to find one made of Murano glass but she said she had the perfect spot for more traditional nativity scenes that were like the ones she made with her dad when she was a child.  It was indeed the perfect spot as the shop owner made a nativity scene to LuLu's specifications...I forgot to take a photo before she wrapped it up and I am afraid to unwrap as I might not be able to get it as securely packaged.  I did manage to get a photo of LuLu working with owner on the design.  

Our hotel had a rooftop terrace and it was the perfect
spot to enjoy a glass of Chianti and the view.

Our second full day in Venice started out with coffee and pastries at a local caffè Silvia recommended as she lives in the same neighborhood as our hotel (H10 Palazzo Canova).  The Caffè del Doge was the perfect spot to get us fueled up for the day.  As we headed to the vaporetto stop, we came across a church...shocking!  

The church of San Silvestro and of course had to stop in for a look.  They did have adoration taking place in a little side chapel so we stopped in for a few minutes.

As we made our way to the Chapel of San Sebastiano, we were able to explore calles that were more off the beaten path and not full of many people and we also stumbled upon a floating farmers market where we picked up some clementines. I love how they only eat fruits and vegetables in season in Europe...we really should do more of that in the US as the food tastes so much better when it is picked when it is ripe.

When I came to Venice last month for work, my friend Mitchell Crosby recommended I visit the Chapel of San Sebastiano as he and his partner, Randall Felkel had sponsored the restoration of a side altar in the church in memory of his sister Pati Crosby Croffead.  While I did not have time on the work trip, LuLu and I put it on our list for this trip.  The church is one of the places in Venice to benefit from the work of Save Venice...a US based non-profit dedicated to the conservation and preservation of art and architecture in Venice.  When we asked Silvia the day before if she was familiar with the church, she said it was actually one of her favorite in Venice.

Church Organ

Cristo in Gloria
Altar restored in Pati's memory

Candles lit and prayers said in memory of
Pati and Randall

Here's a few photos of things we saw as we made our way around Venice and over to the Teatro La Fenice (opera house).

The opera house of Venice, Gran Teatro La Fenice, takes its name from the Phoenix and it is very appropriate as the theatre has survived and risen from the ashes of three fires since being built since 1792.

Each chair has air conditioning and heat
underneath to aid in the climate control and the sound
does not interfere with the performance.

A few photos from along the Grand Canal...

Water Taxi

LuLu definitely more comfortable on the vaporetto!

Vaporetto Stop

Two of the most famous and important sites in Venice are Doge Palace and Saint Mark's Basilica.  Of course this means they are usually extremely crowded no matter what time of year you visit.  I have been fortunate to have visited both places on 3 of my previous 4 trips to Venice and this visit was by far the best as we did an after hours tour through Walks of Italy.  There were only 18 other people with us and we had a fabulous guide, Roberta C.  I would highly recommend going this route as you see everything up close and personal without all the crowds and feeling rushed.  As you will see from some of photos and video, there were times when I was the only person in the room...such a nice change from times when it was so crowded it was SRO. The only thing we did not get to do at St. Mark's was go up to the terrace which overlooks the square but honestly if you go up the Campanile, it is the same if not better view.  

Doge Palace is the first stop as they have evening services in St. Mark's.  At Doge Palace, we entered through a side door instead of the main entrance for the regular hours tour.  It was pretty cool to have a special door opened just for us.  Word of warning, to get to the top floor of the Palace, there are 120 steps (not straight as there are a few landing platforms) so if you have a physical challenge, they do have a lift but you need to be escorted so make sure you let your guide know. I do recommend if you are physically able to walk down the stairs you do as this is when you will visit some of the other rooms and cross the Bridge of Sighs to enter the prison.

Courtyard of Doge Palace

Final flight of stairs to the top

Crossing the Bridge of Sighs
For prisoners, this was their last look
at Venice before entering the prison.

We had a 15 minute break between the Doge Palace and St. Mark's which was just enough time to grab a hot chocolate (if you have never had Italian hot chocolate, think liquid warm pudding) and a photo of the Christmas tree.  Roberta said for a couple years the tree was made up of LED monitors and the Venetians were not happy so she was so glad to see they brought back a traditional tree.

San Marco Campanile

Being inside the church when there were only 20 of us was such an amazing experience!  The Basilica of San Marco was built as a state church rather than a traditional parish church.  Unlike most Catholic churches, you do not see as many statues as you are accustom to seeing.  The artwork (all mosaic) in church tells a much of the story of creation of the world, the life and death of Jesus and pays homage to St. Mark.  Legend has it his remains were brought from Egypt in the 800s and the church was built to protect them in 30 years (a major feat as most churches in Europe can take centuries to build).  In fact, his remains are supposedly still in the sarcophagus in the main altar.

St. Mark under the protection of the hand of God

There is a crypt to the church where all but two of the previous bishops of the basilica are buried.  The two not here later became pope and are buried at the Vatican.

One of the most beautiful pieces of artwork in the church is the Pala D'Oro (golden altar).  When the church is open during normal hours, you are not permitted to take any photos anywhere so I was extremely excited to find out we were permitted to take photos and videos during our tour.  The Pala D'Oro is on the backside of the main altar for Christmas and Easter mass, the altar rotates and the Pala D'Oro faces out to the congregation.

Bridge of Sighs

It was a long day but a good day and it was time for
 these two tired travelers to head back to the hotel and rest.

A friend-family lives in Aviano which is about an hour away by train and she came down to visit us for the day.  Originally we had plans for going to Burano but then we decided it would be more fun to go have a good meal, conversation and of course Prosecco!  Ironically the restaurant she suggested is the one I tried to get a reservation to before we came but was told they would not be open.  Lisa goes every time she comes to Venice and talked to the owner and he had a table for us!  It was a small place (maybe 10 tables) and unlike most places in Venice, they do not serve any seafood.  We had a fabulous artichoke in cream pasta, an arugula salad with filet and the house specialty of pork filet.  It was so great to see her and hear what she has been up to and seen the five years she has been living here.  And I finally got gelato...took four days but I finally got my gelato...must not wait so long between gelatos now!!

Alas our time in Venice came to an end so we made our way to the vaporetto and headed to the train station for our trip to Florence.  A few final photos during our ride as we bid arrivederci to Venice!